320 
Accoiinl of the American Blight, 
[Nov. 
a 
bable bv the circumstance of the cocIUk 
tree being the nearest tree to the pop¬ 
lars ; the insect that often covers the 
green shoots of the poplar is different in 
some respects from the Blight we are 
speaking of, but v^hether a variety of the 
To the Editor ef the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
C AN any of your readers inform me 
what is the meaning of the word 
Gambit,” found in French and English 
chess-books, as “ the king's gambit,” 
“ Cunningham’s gambit,” “the gambit- same kind I cannot say. 
pawn,” &c. ? I have had a fruitless On examining the American 
search after its meaning in the treatises through 
on that interesting game, and in a great 
luimber of dictionaries.—And can any 
one explain how the piece called by the 
French the fool, came to be called by the 
English a bishop ? A. Budorgan. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Blight 
a microscqpe, I discovered that 
what appears a white mould, is a kind of 
fine cotton fila\nents, that adhere to, or 
grow on, the rump of the animal; and 
about the arms, although it is scattered 
more or less over the other parts of the 
body, which is something like that of a 
flea, only not covered with so hard, or so 
complete, a shell; they have six legs, two 
AM clad to see in your respectable horns, and a long proboscis, or trunk: 
_ Magazine the letter of Sciox, con- some of them have wings, but seem to 
cerning what is called, or seems likely to make little use of them. The birds of the 
be called, the American Blight, which is finch-kind eat them greedily. Whether 
row becoming every day more formida- the charge against the poplars he true or 
ble, and bids fair, if no remedy be found, false, many gentlemen have cut all of 
to ruin our orchards. I wish there was them down on their premises: your read¬ 
ers will do vvell to examine into the mat¬ 
ter ; and, if the poplars are found gnilty, 
let them be brouglit to instant execution. 
Allow nie to make another observa¬ 
tion. I do not observe tliat all apple trees 
are equally alFected with tliis disease: in 
all the plantations that have fallen under 
my observation, I have observed the 
orange pearmain, the Blenheim orange^ 
and some otiier apples, principally of the 
eating sort, selected from among others 
by tliis ravager; I have not seen them 
attack the hard cider fruit. It is surpri- 
sins: flow soon thev will kill a larf-e tree: 
a friend of mine in one orchard, has, at 
this time, nine large ajiple-trees, all to¬ 
tally destroyed in about three years. I 
think that the attention of yriur ingenious 
correspondents cannot be called to many 
subjects of equal importance, and hope 
soon to see some remedy applied to stop 
tlie progress of tliis destructive ravager. 
Eveshamy > J. Cclleti, 
Sept, 17 th, 1811. 
a necessity for describing it; but it is to 
be feared that too many of your corres¬ 
pondents and friends have an oppor¬ 
tunity of examining it, as few,^ if any, 
orchards In this country are free from this 
pestilential insect, llie first I observed 
of it was about ten years ago, on acodlin 
Tree in my garden; I was amused with it 
a.t first as a' very curious insect, and such 
as I had never seen before, nor could I 
find any description of it in any natural 
bisiorv; but my curiosity was succeeded 
by a much more unpleasant sensation. 
When I found the deleterious effect it pro- 
rluced on the tree, and observed that the 
disease had spread to a fine young apple 
tree that stood near it. I procured a 
pair of fumigating bellows, and threw' 
upon them a powerful fume of brimstone; 
and finding that of little avail, I put some 
tobacco in the chamber of the bellows, 
tried that upon them, but except where 
I threw the stream sufficiently hot to 
burn them, I saw very little effect pro¬ 
duced, and this I attributed in a great 
measure to the insects being enveloped 
in a kind of white fur, and likewise be¬ 
cause it bnriows in the crevices of the 
bark, and thus entrenched bids defiance 
to its enemies. 
A report ran through this part of the 
country tliat this disease v\'as introduced 
by the poplar, \Guch is often very foul; 
and I was at first much inclined to believe 
the report, because the disease came on 
my tree about the time I planted the first 
puplars, and it was rendered more pro- 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
N answer to your correspondent, “ En¬ 
quirer,” (in the last Number of your 
Magazine) respecting “ the shade of dif¬ 
ference between ttait and futf I will 
endeavour to satisfy him as clearly and 
concisely as I am able, and shall be hap¬ 
py if the attempt meets his expecta¬ 
tion. 
The word Unit is the vnparfait oupre- 
s&nt 
