202 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



the latter is mine. The first crop I had were Bartletts, B. d'Anjou^ 

 etc. I lost about one hundred Bartletts from blight. My friends 

 were similarly afflicted. I talked to a friend of mine about it. 

 He asked me about my soil, and I described it. It seemed to me to 

 be a good place. I finally told him there was a s-olid stone stratum 

 underneath. He said the roots ran down to the rock, and the trees 

 died of cold feet. In the eastern part of the State we have a gen- 

 tleman who had 1,000 trees and they have done well. I tried to 

 find out why. The only solution I could find was that the soil was 

 good and there was an under stratum of sand. I know trees which 

 have for fifty years borne well. They were planted by the French. 

 They are seedlings. Some other places there are trees which have 

 not been blighted, and have borne well for an equal time. I do 

 not know whether there are pear trees, except seedlings, in other 

 parts of the State which have done well or not. I should like to 

 have this subject discussed. 



DISCUSSION ON PEARS. 



Mr. Greisa, of Kansas — I would like to inquire if those seed- 

 lings are of the same quality ? 



Maj. Nowlin — They are of different sizes and qualities. They 

 are all of fair quality. The largest pears I have ever seen grew in 

 Arkansas. I saw one that weighed thirty two ounces. 



Gov. Cohiian, of Missouri — We all have our theories about blight. 

 For thirty years this has been discussed, and we are not any nearer 

 a remedy than at first. I think there are other horticultural sub- 

 jects about which we can talk to more profit. If we could come at 

 any remedy it would do. 



Mr. Pefer, of Wisconsin — The gentleman says we are no nearer 

 a remedy than ever. I think we are. From Prof. Burrill's exper- 

 iments and others, we have found that it is when the sap descends 

 from the leaves the damage is done. At that time, if the wind and 

 heat are so severe as to evaporate the sap, there is a sort of jelly 

 formed which chokes the cells and blight ensues. About seedlings. 

 Those seedlings stand in our State which seem to be on the place 

 where they have grown from seed. They have not been transplanted. 

 There is one orchard that has stood for a great many years, but it is 



