fninistrial Societies, 
N. J. STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
DISCUSSIONS PEAR BLIGHT. 
Mr. Quinn thought, without doubt, this was 
the most important and interesting question that 
could lie presented, especially to pear growers. 
It was insidious in its approaches, like a thief in 
the night. Had uotioed orchards entirely de¬ 
stroyed. Flemish Beauty, Beurre Diel, and 
Vicar of Wakefield seemed more liable to this 
scourge than any others. 
Mr. Barnett of Connecticut, asked if a case 
had been known on poor sandy soil. Ho had 
some trees on such soil, which were all right, 
lie then manured a row of Vicars heavily, and 
lost them all. 
Mr. Thompson thought that was just the 
point: that excessive feeding and blight went 
hand in hand. He had heard of an nil remedy, 
which had come so well authenticated he was in¬ 
clined to think there was something in it. Had 
never seen a slow-growing variety blighted. 
Mr. Van Doreu had tried it, and thought then, 
and still thinks, he made a mistake. Had slit 
the bark, which he thought helped the B ees. 
Mr. Fsaird inquired if he had removed the dead 
or diseased wood before applying the oil. He 
replied he had not. 
Mr. Roberts had used gas lime on a young 
orchard, and had no blight in it; but did not 
know whether thiH was a preventive. 
Mr. Voorbies thought it useless to prescribe a 
remedy for a disease we did not understand. 
His theory w r as, it was excessive growth and 
severe winters. 
Mr. Tracy of Philadelphia said the subject 
was little understood; there were two distinct 
forms of this blight. The Pennsylvania Horti¬ 
cultural Society discussed this matter recently, 
and it was recommended to whitewash the trees. 
Mr. Collins had blight on whitewashed trees at 
least two seasons in succession, ilis experience 
and observation had led him to believe it was 
more fatal on natural soils though undordrained, 
and that raw, unformented manure was almost 
fatal to the pear. He thought that cutting back 
was only a temporary check; that a tree once 
affected w'ould last but a year or two. 
Mr. Devoe found the Lawrence most exempt, 
and thought drainago a preventive. 
Mr.Goldsmith said the Lawrence was one of 
the worst to blight with him. 
Ex-Gov. Nowall had 1,400 trees well cared for 
up to 1866, when the slug injured them very 
much. They leaved out so feebly the next, 
spring lie eradicated them and replaced them 
with Lawrence, Vicar, and Beurro d’Anjou, and 
would recommend the latter as a good tree to 
set. Had allowed one orchard to stand in grass, 
and this, so far, was a success. n« hold the 
disease to he internal and radical, and could uot 
bo eradicated by cutting off the limbs. 
Mr. Durand had made up his mind that excess 
of sap was conducive to the disease. 
Mr. Barnett of Connecticut wished to correct 
the idea that sandy soil was a preventive. His 
theory was, that excessive, late growth and un¬ 
ripe wood, when frost came, left unripe roots, 
which wiutcr killed; aud a fungus spore devel¬ 
oping at the root and was absorbed in the sap in 
the hot, muggy days of June, wlieu the fungus 
began to grow between the bark and sapwood, 
producing the blight. 
Mr. Beekmau cited an instance where the 
blight went through an orchard diagonally, from 
the southwest. The lines were well defined. A 
locust tree standing in the track was destroyed 
also. Six acres of Vicar of Wakefield, after 
being left to starve for twelve years on pooi- 
soil, were stimulated with fish, and the next 
year were destroyed by blight, and it looked to 
him as if it might be atmosphaiic. 
Mr. Hance was pleased to bear so free an ex¬ 
pression on this question, and asked how we 
were to reconcile the theories of extreme cold 
winters aud undrained grounds. He knew an 
orchard set on low grouud, so wet the water was 
bailed out of the holes before setting the trees; 
yet this orchard, now nearly twenty years old, is 
doing well, with less blight than contiguous ones 
on high, naturally dry soil. On the other hand. 
Pear trees never did better thau during the 
eight to ten years succeeding the severe winter 
of 1856-'57. 
ORCHARDING*. 
Is it overdone in our State regarding the 
Apple or Pear ? was tho next question, and was 
opened by Edwin Boekinan of Monmouth with 
a paper on the Apple. In the discussion follow¬ 
ing Mr. Hance stated that an extensive apple- 
grower in Monmouth Co., who had formerly 
worked up his refuse apples into cider, vinegar, 
and whisky, now admitted that he found it more 
profitable to feed them to the hogs. 
Mr. Parry thought Apple culture w as not over¬ 
done in New Jersey by any means. She made 
but a poor, show at the Centennial. With the 
advantages we possessed, we were far behind 
other States in apple-growing. 
Mr. Barnett saw at the Centennial evaporated 
apple-juice, which, If put in water, would dis¬ 
solve and make cider. 
Mr. Beckman claimed that the West and South 
had advantages of timber belts, the absence of 
which was tho cause of our defective fruits. 
Early sorts paid the best. Considered Orange 
Pippins one of the most profitable. 
Mr. Roberts thought late apples were as profit¬ 
able as early ones. The Orange Pippin was quite 
satisfactory: but they muBt be disposed of at 
once when ready, as they would not wait on a 
market. With him, Smith’s Cider was one of the 
best and most profitable. 
Mr. Moll said that some growers would find it 
more profitable if they would send less of their 
poor fruit to market. It was this that made 
prices average low. 
The Secretary stated he had sent blanks to the 
members, with the request that they be filled out 
with a list of such varieties as their experience 
and judgment would justify, both for family use 
and market purposes, These votes he had tabu¬ 
lated, and gave the result on apples, naming the 
ten receiving the highest votes out of seventy- 
seven varieties. Ho considered this a fair repre¬ 
sentation of the views of the members. A mo¬ 
tion to adopt these as tbn foundation of a list for 
general culture was, after some discussion, laid 
over till tho next day, to w’liich time the Society 
adjourned. 
jSritirfiftt attfr IsfM. 
THE TELEPHONE. 
The science of electricity, although already 
productive of many signal blessings to mankind, 
can hardly be said to have yet advanced far be¬ 
yond its infancy. The nature of the element is 
still a mystery to those who have studied it most 
diligently, while from time to time, novel mani¬ 
festations of its powers and properties excite 
afresh tho wonder ami admiration of the multi¬ 
tude. 
The most recent revelation of its adaptability 
to civilized needs is the telephone. The telegraph 
hashed intelligence to distant places by represen¬ 
ting there, by signs or written characters, the 
manipulations of an operator at the starting 
poiut; but the telephone does the same by re¬ 
producing at one end of the lino, the sounds, 
vocal and instrumental made at the other. So 
accurately are these transmitted that a distant 
speaker can be recognized by the accent and tone 
of the voice almost as easily as if standing beside 
the listener. Dnring the first public exhibition 
ol tho instrument, a ballad sung by a young lady 
at ono end of the line, in Boston, delighted an 
audience six miles aw T ay at the other end in Mal¬ 
den. At a still Jater trial 44 Auld Lang Syne ” 
and “Yankee Doodle,” played upon an or¬ 
gan at one end of the line in the 
“ Hub," w-ei - 0 greeted eighteen miles away, 
at the other end in Salem, as enthusiastically 
as eitbei was ever hailed by a fuddled Scot or 
patriotic New Englander. Still more recently 
several other tests, over longer distances and 
under more severe conditions, have even more 
clearly demonstrated the wonderful capabilities 
of the instrument. Nor are loud utterances the 
only ones that can be transmitted by it, even 
low tones aud whispers are said to be audible 
over the wires with equal distinctness. The 
volume of sound, at the point where the message 
is delivered is equal to that at the end whence 
it is sent, so that a speech made at. the latter is 
heard at the former over an area equal to that 
across which the voice would penetrate in the 
immediate neighborhood of tho speaker. 
The present form of tho instrument by means 
of which these marvelous acoustic effects are 
produced, consists of a very powerful, compound 
magnet, formed by the junction of a number of 
single magnets. This compound form can be 
much more strongly magnetized than one made 
from a Biugle bar of metal, while the process of 
magnetizing adopted in such cases, produces a 
permaueut magnetic effect. To the poles of this 
are attached coils of ordinary insulated telegraph 
wire, the spiral arrangement of which intensifies 
electric action. In front of the poles thus sur¬ 
rounded. is placed a thin sheet, or diapbram of 
iron, aud a mouth-piece to concentrate the sound 
upon this, substantially completes the device. 
It has long been loiown to scientists that the 
motion of iron or steel in front of the poles of a 
magnet, develops, or in technical phrase, induces 
electricity in the coils encircling them. When 
the human voice or the tones of an instrument, 
set the diuphram vibrating, electric undulations 
are induced in tho coils environing the magnet, 
precisely corresponding to the atmospheric un¬ 
dulations produced by the sounds. These coils 
are connected with the telegraph wire, and along 
this the undulations are transmitted to the dis¬ 
tant station, where, after passing through the 
coils of an instrument precisely similar in form, 
they again set this second diapbram vibrating, 
which in its turn produces atmospheric undula¬ 
tions as audible as those to which they owe their 
origin. 
The essential requisites are an exact similarity 
between tho instruments at each end of the line, 
and the complete insulation of the connecting 
wire. The voltaic battery, indispensable to the 
telegraph, is entirely dispensed with in the tele¬ 
phone, as the electric current induced by the 
apparatus i.s amply sufficient to convey messages 
over the distances hitherto tried. Whether dis¬ 
patches can thus be sent to remote points, time 
aud experiments can alone decide, but there is 
every likelihood that the difficulties in this re¬ 
gard already overcome in telegraphing will be 
also obviated in telephoning. 
Progress owes this stride in advance to the 
ingenuity, thought and labor of Professor A 
Graham Bell, who is already honorably known 
in connection with an improved method of teach¬ 
ing the deaf and dumb. Should the promises of 
usefulness held out by his present invention be 
fulfilled, his name will long hold an honorable 
place among the benefactors of mankind. 
-♦♦♦- 
HYDRAULICS OF THE ANCIENTS, 
Among the vast works of the ancient Romans, 
which excite the admiration arid surprise even of 
these days, not the least marvelous were those 
designed either for irrigating or draining pur¬ 
poses, or to furnish the inhabitants of t heir citieB 
with an abundant supply of water. 
Father Seechi has written a letter to the French 
Academy of Sciences on this curious subject. 
The monuments he mentious have beou mostly 
discovered by him in the environs of Rome. The 
first, mentioned by him is an aqueduct, built at 
Alatri, 200 years before the Christian era. It is 
an inverted syphon, its lowest point being 101 
metres below the orifice from which the water 
(lowed into the town. The pipes of this aqueduct 
are of earthenware, buried in a thick bed of con¬ 
crete; they were very firmly joined together 
along a length of wilei*. This work seems 
to have been the model on which Vitruvius 
founded his description of Byphou aqueducts. 
The second remarkable relic of antiquity found 
at the same plaoe is a complete system of drain¬ 
age composed of enormous porous stoneware 
pipes a metre in length, fourteen centimetres in 
diameter, and only two in thickness. This was 
done to dry up a plain intended for military 
manoeuvres. 
Next come inclined planes expressly laid down 
on substantial foundations, and near the top of 
a mountain, in order to collect, rain water on a 
largo surface, with a basin to purify it and cis¬ 
terns to preserve it. This was done to provide 
the town of Segni with potable water. Then 
follow contrivances of the ancients for turning 
the water filtering through porous ground into 
tho aqueducts by turning (ho clayey strata to ac¬ 
count. They used also to nd water of its car¬ 
bonates of lime by boiling, and then cooling it 
again by applying snow to the outside. They 
likewise had an ingenious way of cooling their 
44 aqua tepula,” which was too warm for drinking 
after it had been brought over to the Capitol. 
Father Secehi has discovered the spring whence 
it came, and found that it marks 18- Centig. (64 
Fahr.) in winter. The Romans used to mix it 
with water from the Julia, which only marked 
11.° The other spring, now called Preziosa, 
issues from an old volcanic crater. 
VERIFIABLE INCIDENTS IN CROW- 
NOLOGY. 
Among all the Passoxs. probably there is no 
species which exhibits so much croft or memory 
as our common Crow. Their cautions approach 
to corn fields containing strings tied to sticks 
aud various devices of the scare-crow order, 
their employment of Bentinels while feeding, 
and their adroitness in evading pursuit, with 
other evidences, certainly indicate considerable 
intelligence. 'When tamed, some specimens 
manifest quite a shrewd faculty of apprehen¬ 
sion. Among the many means resorted to for 
lessening their number is that of shooting down 
the nests containing young, during their breed¬ 
ing season. 
About two yews ago a young friend of mine 
brought back, all alive, from one of these expe¬ 
ditions, three young inhabitants of a bombarded 
nest. Dick, the one kept, has proved to be very 
talkative, and his inquisitiveness is perfectly 
comical when he has come upon something new 
to him. He will look it all over very carefully, 
chattering aud making the queerest of noises, 
until he has thoroughly satisfied his curiosity. 
After he became old enough to fiy. his primaries 
were kept clipped; hut afterwards, by an over¬ 
sight, his wings grew out enough to enable him 
to fly off to the woods, where he remained two 
days and then lit in a neighbor’s orchard, and 
there kept up a continuous cawing. Finally 
the owner went out with his gun, saying, “I’ll 
just let Mr. Crow have a little of the benefit of 
my yesterday's 4 trap-shooting.’ " 
The rejiort of the gun frightened Dick nearly 
out of his wits; he flew to the ground at the 
farmer’s feet, entirely unhurt, but uttering the 
most frightful screams and fluttering about in 
the greatest distress, until he was recognized as 
Dick, promptly captured and borne to his home, 
where he has since remained, with full-fledged 
wings, in perfect contentment. 
Dick understands farming enough to know 
that after a crop is planted it should be har¬ 
vested : but he was a trifle too ready to har¬ 
vest some rare bulbs, which were set out in 
flo wen-plats, with the Crow along as an observer. 
No virideseent blades were seen to shoot forth 
in the little parterre, nor was a single bulb to he 
found, until a moutli afterwards, when all were 
discovered snugly piled under some rubbish in a 
corner. 
lie soon had the house plants fixed in the 
same way. His keepers, thinking they had broken 
him of his mischievousness, let the plants re¬ 
main on the piazza; but more than once in 
Dick’s favorite working hours, just before light, 
a crash of crockery and the Crow’s peculiar 
laugh and caw told them that a favorite coleus 
or gerauium was riddled to pieces. His per¬ 
formances when the cat is eating are sure to 
excite a laugh all round. Ho will strut up lie- 
side pussy and suddenly strike her with his talon, 
and then run off, making tho queerest kind of a 
chuckle, seeming to invite the attention of all to 
his smartness. His treatment of two kittens, 
however, was even a trifle worse. He killed aud 
devoured every morsel of them, except their 
skins, and these he buried under some chips in a 
corner of the wood-house. There he guards 
them by fighting when necessary and screeching 
w hen any one approaches the spot, as vigorously 
to-day as when ho first put them there. Once 
ho killed a young turkey; but being “ caught in 
the act,” tho owner took him by the legs with 
one hand and whipped his head over the palm of 
the other, until Dick was in .a very demoralized 
condition, so that ever since his memory is ex¬ 
cellent concerning the rightful “ management of 
poultry.” Not ft dog dares touch him, except in 
play. A largo Newfoundland and himself have 
great fun in mutual frolics. This dog has a Binull 
tuft, of white hairs at the end of his tail, and in 
this Dick lias always been so greatly interested 
that ho has picked them out, little by little, until 
but few remain. 
He will tin over an eiglit-quart pail of water 
left in his way. When he cannot reach the rim 
so as to take hold with his beak, ho has beon 
known to drag a wash-basin and tip it over 
close to the pail aud stand on it. One after¬ 
noon ho was about the piazza, where a lady was 
engaged in sewing. Dick watched her closely. 
Soon she went in to supper, laying her thimble 
on a chair. Immediately Dick grabbed it up in 
his beak and flew into a neighboring tree, talking 
away at the greatest rate. Nothing would in¬ 
duce him to come down; but a well-directed 
stick brought out one of his wide-mouthed 
shrieks, and down came the thimble. 
He. hugely enjoys a wash-off in a rain-storm, 
and in w inter lie has great sport, diving into the 
snow, plowing under it out of sight, like a mole, 
aud uttering his peculiar chatter and laugh of 
pleasure continually. The other night his owner, 
aroused by the most frightful screams in the 
wood-shed, rushed out there in a hurry, expect¬ 
ing to find Dick the prey or an owl; but a care¬ 
ful “canvass” disclosed nothing but tho fact 
that liis ueat had fallen from its perch. 
Without discussing the protection of birds or 
their benefits to man, it is certain tbat tho 
Crow’s alert and suspicious nature, in its wild 
state, is beneficial to tlic farmer. If lie but 
stretches twine across his com field before a 
single blade has appeared above ground, he will 
not be molested by this inconsistently-detested 
bird, which in no year destroys as much of his 
crop as that not-to-he-frightened species, the 
purple Crackle or common Blackbird. 
De Vreacx. 
CARE OF CANARY BIRDS. 
A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune 
gives the following hints in regard to keeping 
canaries in health: 
Place the cage so that no draft of air can 
strike the bird. Give nothing to healthy birds 
but rape aud canary seed, water, cuttle-fish bone, 
and gravel paper or sand on the floor of the 
cage. No hemp seed. A bath three times a 
week. The room should not be over-heated— 
never above 70 degrees. When molting (shed¬ 
ding feathers) keep warm, avoid all drafts of air. 
Give plenty of German rape seed; a little hard- 
boiled egg, mixed with crackers grated fine, is 
excellent. Feed at a certain hour iu the morn¬ 
ing. By observing these simple rules birds may 
be kept in fine condition for years. For birds 
that are sick, or have lost their song procure 
bird tonic at a bird store. Very many keep 
