"Rose-grower," Brooklyn, N. Y., writes : " It seems to be granted now, that some of the lower forms of plant life, of which mildew is a type, will attack the healthiest vegetation, though at one time it was supposed to be only connected with disease. If this view is correct, how can we prevent mildew and such attacks? What is the remedy ?"

[It may be taken for granted, we think, that fungus, as a general rule, only attacks that which is diseased. The cases where it attacks wholly healthy vegetation, though such cases are undoubted, are quite exceptional. Between these, however, are a large number of cases, where the plants are supposed to be healthy, and are attacked by fungus, which cannot be said to be healthy in the fullest sense of this term. For instance, a lot of cuttings are put into a propagating bench to root. They are perfectly healthy; but fungus appears in the bench, and may clear the whole lot in a day or two. In a certain sense the fungus has attacked healthy vegetation. But the cutting is in unfavorable conditions of life. It has no roots. Numbers die without any fungus attack, simply because the unfavorable vital conditions have conquered. We may say that low vital conditions, as well as absolute disease, favor the growth of mildew. In the case of mildew on roses, mildew on grapes, mildew on lilacs, oaks, and other things, we know in many cases what these conditions are. Our belief is, that where the conditions of good health are tolerably perfect mildew or fungus troubles of any kind seldom bother the cultivator.

In the case of the rose and carnation, which are so often attacked by fungus in various forms during the winter, the unfavorable conditions of the roots are often very apparent. - Ed. G. M].