106 
American Blights—On tlie best practical [Sept. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AVING observed' in several Num¬ 
bers of ibe Monthly IMagazine, an 
account of the Stramonium, and its good 
effects on those wlio were troubled with 
spasmodic asthma, by your correspondent, 
Verax; I beg to add for the benefit of 
those who may now labour under tiiat 
distressing ailment, that a lady at Ply¬ 
mouth, (a friend of mine) who had for 
many years suffered greatly, and often 
nearly sinking under tlie affliction, was 
induced to try the efficacy of Stramonium. 
She declared to me, that she found in¬ 
stant relief; “ It seemed, (to use her own 
worcls) when I look a whiff, to unbur¬ 
then my chest of a mighty weight, and 
I felt heavenly comfort/^ I have no in¬ 
terested motives in making this known, 
but a wish to diffuse ease and comfort 
among my fellow creatures. 
Cadw'aladr.’^^ 
^Richmond Buildings, Soho Square, 
August 3, 1811. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AM a constant reader of your useful 
Miscellany, and it would, I am per¬ 
suaded, be productive of very great 
utility to many of your friends, as well as 
to myself, to be favoured with an account 
from some of your ingenious correspon¬ 
dents, of the nature, and of the best 
means of prevention and cure, of the 
blight lately (as is said) imported to this 
country from America, and which I be¬ 
lieve is pretty generally known by the 
appellation of the “ American Blight.” 
As far as I have been able to observe, 
I cannot perceive that it affects any other 
trees than those of the apple species; 
and in them it is producing, in this 
neighbourhood, the most! desolating ef- 
fects: the different branches upon which 
this pernicious insect settles,_soon get 
hlled with protuberances, and fall to 
decay ; the leaves do not seem so much 
V ^ • 1 • 
to be its prey as is the case in several, 
species of the Aphis. 
The lovers of that excellent beverage, 
cyder, are greatly interested in the en¬ 
quiry; and if the ravages of this destruc¬ 
tive visitant be not soon checked, they 
w'ill have to lament the total exclusion of 
the graceful liquor from their cellars and 
tables. Sciox. 
Gloucester, July 1 , 1811. 
♦ The name of this correspondent is left 
with the Editor, No. 5, Buckingham-gate. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
BSERVING in several of your 
Numbers, articles on musical sub¬ 
jects, I flatter myself that you may gra¬ 
tify some of your numerous readers by 
inserting the following observations on, 
and the best practical method of, tuning 
keyed stringed instruments. 
From whatever tone the tuner begins, 
it is still the practice, as in the old sys¬ 
tem of temperament, to end the succes¬ 
sion of fifths tuned from notes below in 
G sharp; and in those tuned from tones 
above in E flat, whereby the inequalities 
arising from careless or defective divi¬ 
sions, are thrown into the key^of A flat; 
with this view I prefer tuning-from A 
the second space in the treble cliff, as 
being less remote from these two finishing 
fifths, than any other point of departure; 
the A being tuned to the fork, tune A 
below' an octave, then E above (that 
octave) a fifth; then B above a fifth, then 
B below an octave, then F sharp a fifth 
above, then its octave F sharp below', 
then C sharp its fifth above, then G sharp 
its fifth above, and then G sharp its oc¬ 
tave below. We then take a fresh de¬ 
parture from A, tuning D its fifth be¬ 
low', then G its fifth below’, then G its 
octave above, then C its fifth below, then 
C its octave above, then F its fifth be¬ 
low', then B kat its fifth below, then B 
flat its octave above, then E flat its fifth 
below'. 
The five fifths tuned from notes below’, 
are to be tuned flatter than the perfect 
fifth, and the six fifths tuned from tones 
above, be made sharper than the perfect 
in a proportion, I will endeavour to ex¬ 
plain. If the whole be tuned correctly, 
the G sharp with the D sharp, (which is 
the same tone on the piano.forte as E 
flat) will be found to make the same 
concord, that is, possess the same in¬ 
terval as the other fifths. 
There are many amateurs who can 
draw' up tw'o strings to an unison, or pro¬ 
duce a good octave, or perfect fifth, yet 
are unable to appreciate or make a pro¬ 
per fifth, w'ithout which, the tempera¬ 
ment necessary to these instruments 
cannot be formed. This proper fifth is 
not that given to the violin, or pitched 
by the voice, which are perfect fifths, 
but is somewhat a flatter fifth, that is, the 
interval between A and^E on the piano¬ 
forte, is rather less than the same in¬ 
terval on the violin, both being under¬ 
stood to be relatively and properly well 
tuned. 
This 
