INDIANA HORTICULTUKAX SOCIETY. 51o 



times audibly, if there Is nobody near. I consult them about cutting off 

 this limb, or that one, and I almost imagine I hear it halloo when I cut 

 off a limb that is too large, just as a person would if you would ampu- 

 tate a linger. 



Now. what few rambling remarks I shall make will be along the line 

 of my experience, and will be a plea, as I said, for help. What shall we 

 do to be saved from the pear blight? I hope Professor Troop will tell 

 us of some remedy, as his theme comes next and bears directly on that 

 subject. We had no trouble, as I said, in raising an orchard. You can 

 raise a pear orchard easier and quicker than an apple orchard. It comes 

 into bearing earlier, beginning to realize some profit for you when it is 

 three or four years old. We raised pi'incipally the Keiffer, because we 

 could not raise the others. They blighted. Nurserymen and dealers have 

 told us that this variety would not blight, but it did, very much; it 

 strikes the trunk— it first appeared in the twigs, and went downward 

 and enveloped the entire tree, and the tree will die. Following the rem- 

 edy recommended we began amputating at the top and kept going lower, 

 until it took the entire tree. We have been cutting and burning now for 

 two years, hauling out loads of dead limbs and branches and burning 

 them. 



This destruction began at the top and took in the whole tree. We 

 raised the Keiffer because we understood that the Bartlett and other 

 fruits (the Seckel not so much) would blight and die before they were 

 old enough to bear; but the disease did not manifest itself in the Keiffer 

 until it was large enough to bear. 



Now, as to the location. I would select high ground. The blight 

 first appeared with us in low ground. We have them in the bottom, on 

 the hill and on the hillside, and the higher lands appear to be freer from 

 the blight. I should not select the strongest soil. A medium soil is best— 

 a soil that does not produce too rank growth, for the larger the growth the 

 more susceptible are the trees to disease. Those on the higher ground, 

 having a slower growth, are freer from the blight. 



I would want yearlings, especially for growing Keiffer and Garber. I 

 want yearlings because I can head them at any height I wish. At two or 

 three years the tree has been shaped in the nursery. I would head very 

 low, not to exceed eighteen inches, for the reason that it is a tall grower, 

 and I want to dwarf it some, because I want it to shade the ground and 

 help to fertilize and retain the moisture. There is every reason for low 

 heading. An apple tree, I think, should also be headed low. It prevents 

 the sunburn and prevents that tall body, swaying with every breeze. 

 You do not have to tie It to a stake so much if the head is low. It keeps 

 the soil damp beneath and helps to fertilize, keeps the sun from the 

 body of the tree, and you can pick the fruit more easily. Tliere 

 is every reason for low heading, is my experience, with all kinds of 

 trees— apples, peaches, pears, and all kinds. The old professional pruner 



S3-AL'ri. 



