THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 
place of some fungus; which fungus is the most 
powerful agent in effecting those changes. It is suf¬ 
ficient to specify the blue mould of cheese, the bead 
mould on preserves, the white mould of our ink, and 
the leathery crust on the grounds in our beer-casks. 
These are all distinct forms or species of fungus, and 
they all produce crops of stems and seeds, which the 
microscope reveals to us in those minute down-like 
coverings on their surfaces. But every fungus does 
not produce these crops, for many of them spread 
out in the form of minute fibres when excluded 
from the sun and air, in the manner so familiar to 
us in mushroom spawn, and in those minute cob¬ 
web-like films so common over the walls of our wine- 
cellars. These are merely the spawn of various 
kinds of fungi, which are believed never to arrive at 
a state in which they produce seed, but go on vege¬ 
tating, forming thick masses, and throwing out 
offsets capable of reproduction in a similar mode. 
Even the yeast with which the fermentation in our 
breweries and bakehouses is promoted is believed 
by some naturalists to be the result of a fungus 
vegetation; and we shall conclude with a quotation 
relative to this subject from Dr. Carpenter’s excellent 
volume on “Vegetable Physiology and Botany”:— 
“Another very curious example of vegetation of a 
Oj b 
a, single vesicles ; h, vesicles, with 
95 
fungus character, in a situation where its existence 
was not until recently suspected, is presented in the 
process of fermentation. It appears from microscopic 
examination of a mass of yeast, that it consists of a 
number of minute disconnected vesicles, which 
closely resemble those of the Red Snow, and appear 
to constitute one of the simplest possible forms of 
vegetation. These, like seeds, may remain for almost 
any length of time inactive, without losing their vi¬ 
tality; and their power of growing, when placed in 
proper circumstances, is not destroyed by their being 
entirely dried up, nor by their being exposed to such 
extremes of temperature, as the boiling point of water 
and 108 degrees below its freezing point. When 
these bodies are placed in a fluid in which any kind 
of sugary matter is contained, they commence vegetat¬ 
ing actively, provided the temperature be sufficiently 
high; arid the decomposition which they effect in the 
fluid is that which constitutes its fermentation. 
“ If a small portion of a fermenting fluid be ex¬ 
amined at intervals with a powerful microscope, it is 
observed that each of the little vesicles it contained 
puts forth one or more prolongations or buds, which 
in time become new vesicles like their parents; 
these, again, perform the same process; so that, 
within a few hours, the single vesicles have developed 
themselves into rows of four, five, or six, thus:— 
Is ; c and <?, the same, more advanced. 
This is not the only way, however, in which they 
multiply; for, sometimes the vesicles are observed to 
burst, and to emit minute little grains, which are the 
germs of new plants, and which soon develop them¬ 
selves into additional cells.” 
The chief phenomena attendant upon fermenta¬ 
tion, whether it terminates in the formation of spirit 
or vinegar—the production of carbonic acid gas—is 
such as attends upon the vegetation of fungi; for 
these, unlike other vegetables, give out that gas dur¬ 
ing their growth. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
Anomalous Position or Fruit-trees. —After such a 
fearful period of starving weather and severe frosts as 
we experienced through the greater part of April and 
into the beginning of May, it may well be expected 
that our fruits in general must be flung out of their 
usual condition, and that peculiar means must be 
taken to restore the breach made by such an unto¬ 
ward season. We have gardened in various parts of 
the kingdom for some thirty-five years, but never 
before did we experience such April frosts. We have, 
in consequence, put our fruit trees of all descriptions 
under a severe scrutiny, in order to see what measures 
are necessary to adopt to restore the balance, and 
ensure fruitfulness in the ensuing year, for we must 
not be cast down; “none but the brave deserve suc¬ 
cess,” to use an old saying applied to other affairs. 
The elaboration, or, in plainer words, the formation 
of the next year’s blossom, is chiefly performed by 
the first developed leaves of the spring; such are in 
many cases destroyed or seriously injured, especially 
on the apricot, and some tender pears. 
Now, the most ordinary observer must have learned 
to distinguish between late made shoots, commonly 
termed “ midsummer shoots,” and the wood of the 
early spring, which assumes betimes a more lusty 
appearance, and acquires very soon after midsummer 
a brownish tint, the mere consequence of early ela¬ 
boration of the sap. Nobody expects fruitfulness 
from the watery shoots made after midsummer; such 
shoots are in, what we term, “ an anomalous position;” 
that is, are flung out, of course. To be sure, they are 
not productive of serious injury immediately to the 
very constitution of the tree, since trees of all kinds 
produce such in the order of nature; but this they 
do, they prevent a concentration of the elaborated 
sap, on which fruitfulness depends; they are robbers, 
and, what is more, they shade and incline to barren¬ 
ness the more mature branches. 
Another point—in tender sorts of fruits, such mid- 
