[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by the Kura! New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Waahintfton.J 
NEW YORK, JUNE 5, 1880. 
(Pbioe Five Cents. 
J $2.00 Feb Yeab. 
Vox.. XXXIX No. 23. 
Whole No. 1584, 
jg -j Srtoruultural. 
THE MISTLETOE. 
Taken out of the region of romance and 
song, the Mistletoe loses the charm which 
poetry has thrown arouud it. Among its fel¬ 
low plants it bears decidedly a bad character. 
Botany has put the mark of disgrace upon its 
name, as a thief and robber—Phoradendron. 
It is the very pirate of pirates. Many plants 
are parasitical; those like the Dodder and 
Dutchman’s Pipe, in a weak, lazy way, seek¬ 
ing, like beggars and tramps in the vegetable 
kingdom, what they can get from the elaborated 
sap of others, but this thing begins life with an 
apparatus of green leaves purposely to work 
up aud appropriate the nourishment which it 
intends to extract from some host. With 
“malice aforethought," and provided with 
ready-made tools designed for robbery, the 
criminal stands confessed. How the preda¬ 
ceous habit became developed and inherited 
from a liue of honest ancestors, the evolution¬ 
ist must determine. 
We have but one Bpecies of Mistletoe east 
of the Mississippi, Infesting various trees. 
Whether it has a special partiality for, or an 
aversion to any particular host, does not seem 
to have been accurately observed. I have seen 
it more abundant on the Water Oak than on 
any other tree. Iu the pine forests on the 
Beaboard of this State, where the flats and damp 
depressions are occupied by the Pond Tupelo 
(Nyssa aquatica), almost every 
tree is iu tested. So also is the 
Black Gum (Nyssa* multiliora) a 
favorite, but I have never seen it 
on any resin-bearing trees—Pines, 
Junipers, etc. 
The plant is dioecious—blowing 
In April, and maturing seed about 
November and December. The 
peariy-wbite berries each contain 
a single, oval, flattened, pointed 
seed, surrounded by a transparent 
viscous fluid. In dropping from 
the tree, they adhere to any limb 
on whieh they fall, and thus pro¬ 
pagate and increase, so that, after 
a while, a tree may almost be 
robbed to death by these greedy 
parasites. 
In December last I crushed some 
of the berries on a limb of our Eu¬ 
ropean Cherry — Cerasus Caroli- 
niana. There they have remained 
up to this time—May. On gently 
removing the Inclosing membrane 
of the seed, I find small, green 
plantlets about oue-fourth of an 
inch long, with a thickened disc at 
the base, adhering closely to the 
bark. 
The Mistletoe has no roots. It 
has no use for them, as it makes 
the roots of its host do service for 
both. Its connection with the 
host 1 b rather a grafting process, 
as may be seeu by examining a 
section just at the point of union, 
where the amalgamation of the 
woody tissue is complete. The 
crude sap ascends into the Mistle¬ 
toe branch as it does into that of 
the host, aud is there elaborated 
by its own machinery of leaves, 
etc. H, W. Ravenel. 
Aiken, S. C. 
»»» 
Tim Union or the Mistletoe 
WITH THE TllEES Ul’ON WHICH IT 
Gnows.—We have procured half- 
a-dozen or more ol the branches 
from which this parasite growB aud 
sawed them in two lengthwise. 
The union, as Mr. Ravenel re¬ 
marks, is similar to that of a cion 
with its stock, aud so perfect tha 
it is impossible to determine where 
the one begins or the other ends. 
USEFULNESS OF SHELTER BELTS. 
In the Rural of May 15, a quotation is 
made from M. B. Bateham, to the effect that, 
as he thinks, wind-breaks are rather injurious 
than beneficial. Highly as I respect the opin¬ 
ion of Mr. Bateham on the subject of horticul¬ 
ture and kindred matters, and true and weighty 
as are the reasons given in the quotation in 
question for the conclusion he announces, I 
may be allowed the remark that there are two 
aides to the question, and that, while it Is quite 
possible to plant trees about our dwellings and 
farms so in excess as to create the objection¬ 
able conditions he deprecates, it is not only 
possible, but lamentably true, that the reverse 
is almost universally the actual condition of 
affairs. 
To demonstrate the fallacy of Mr. Bateham’s 
position, iu its application to the ordinary 
practice of our people. I need only call atten¬ 
tion to the well-known fact that in his own 
State (Ohio), as well as in our State (Michi¬ 
gan), where there is one person (outside of 
cities and villages) who plants trees in excess, 
there are hundreds who neglect planting al¬ 
most wholly, if not altogether. 
My reasou therefore lor this note of dissent 
grows out of the apprehension that the quali¬ 
fied objection of Mr. B. is very liable to be ac¬ 
cepted by the average land-holder as a reason 
for the neglect of planning. In view of all the 
circumstances, I will venture to the opposite 
extreme, and refer the reader to the well-known 
facts underlying the science of meteorology, 
that in the early history, not ol Ohio and 
Michigan only, but of all the northern timbered 
States, the exemption from drought aud from 
extremes of temperature, before the clearing 
away of forests, was so decided that the 
change has, to a greater or less extent, driven 
some ol the more tender fruits quite out ot culti¬ 
vation over extensive stretches of territory; and 
that some of them are yet grown in other re¬ 
gions only in a very precarious and unprofit¬ 
able way, but slightly better than absolute fail¬ 
ure. That this condition of affairs is mainly, if 
not wholly, due to the wholesale destruction of 
he original forests will, I think, hardly be 
questioned, since the results are the outcome 
of meteorological principles well understood 
and generally recognized. Indeed, a very 
slight knowledge of the laws whieh control 
the relations of heat and moisture, will serve to 
establish the fact that the free admission of all 
winds to the surface of the land, without the 
restraining influence of a timber covering, will 
rapidly dissipate the surface moisture, aud 
that this drying of the surface proceeds at a 
rate greatly dependent upon the velocity of the 
wind. The first and the most observable re¬ 
sult of such exposure is the hastening of 
drought or the increase of Its intensity. 
There is, however, another and a less obvi¬ 
ous, although uo less certain aud calamitous 
result of thiB drying process; aud this is the 
result, indeed, from which the fruit culturist 
has everything to dread. 1 allude to the fact 
that the moisture thus summarily seized upon 
and dissipated has carried with it a certain and 
definite portion of the heat of the.soil, leaving 
It cooler, and hence j ust so much more easily 
reduced during cool nights to and below the 
freezing point, with results such as we'too 
frequently witness. 
I am the more alive to the danger of misap¬ 
prehension on this subject, from the fact that 
during my fifty and more years’ lesidence in 
lower Michigan I have seen this problem fully 
wrought out under my own eye, and all the ca¬ 
lamitous results I have spoken of demonstrated 
fully and unmistakably, aud I cannot too 
strongly urge that even the real qualifications 
of Mr. Bateham, if urged at all, be put forth 
with a consciousness that, as the rule, the dan¬ 
ger lies in the opposite direction. 
T. T. Lyon. 
-»♦» • - . 
ERIOBOTRYA JAPONICA. 
In the notice of this tree by Mr. Ravenel, 
in the Rural of May 15, there are two or three 
mistakes, not on his part, but in the popular 
traditions concerning it at the Bomb. It was 
not introduced into the Southern States by the 
Wilkes’ Expedition, but was grown there as iar 
back as 1S2S at least; for it was noticed pre¬ 
vious to that date by the Agricultural Society 
of South Carolina, in their Desiderata. It was 
grown by the late Wtu. Prince, of Flushing, 
and the late Thomas Hogg, of this city, nur¬ 
serymen who had a considerable trade with 
the south at that date, aud through whom it, 
no doubt, was introduced into mauy private 
collections in that section oi the country. It 
fruited in Mr. Hogg’s greenhouses 
many years ago. l'ne popular 
name of Japan Plum is a misno¬ 
mer, as the tree is a species of 
Medlar. The real Japan Plum was 
fruited by me, and described aud 
figured in the Agriculturist some 
seven or eight years ago. I had 
three varieties sent to me by my 
brother, Mr. Thomas Hogg. 
Jaaies Hogg. 
--- 
Care of Newly-set Trees aud Shrubs 
In view of the drought whieh 
prevails in mauy parts of the 
country and its unusual severity 
over extensive districts, we would 
suggest to those who have planted 
trees or shrubs the past spring 
that there is one method, and so 
far us we know, only oue, by which 
they may be protected against in¬ 
jury or death from that cause. 
Surface watering has been 6hown 
to do more harm than good. The 
ground is made hard and compact, 
thus becomiug a better conductor 
ot heat while it becomes less per¬ 
vious to air and moisture. A por¬ 
tion ot uie Burtaee sod shouia be 
removed, and ttieu paiiiui alter 
paillul uf water thrown iu uuul 
the ground, to a depth ot two teet 
and to a widtli about the stem ot 
not less thau taree teet m diam¬ 
eter, das become saturated. Tueu, 
as soou as the water lias disap¬ 
peared I rum tne surlace, the re¬ 
moved sod should be well pulver¬ 
ized and returned. A coveriug 
ot boards, straw or hay, or eveu 
Of sand or gravel, may uieu be ap¬ 
plied, and uie tree or bdrub, thus 
treated, will pass througn ten days 
of additional drougdt iu saiety. 
As soon as ruin comes to wet the 
eaith thoroughly, we think it is 
better to remove the mulch. Noth¬ 
ing is then gained by permitting it 
to remain. Mellowing me surlace 
soil about the trees, tnuo keeping 
It tree lrom grass aud weeds, is uien 
the most that is needed. We would 
repeat that ttie present is the sea- 
sou when the lemaie borer ueposus 
her eggs ou tuo stems ot fruit 
trees, aud the wasn ot lime, potash, 
Bulpuur, etc. (dorkeued wiLulamp- 
bluckj, should uow be applied and 
re-uppued during June aud July, 
as soon as washed off oy rain. 
