FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT. 27 



Mr. Smjthe — Mr, Fritz, will you please tell your experience. 



Mr. Fritz — Well, I just cut it out whenever it occurs and I have been 

 able to control it for years. I have had no damage from the blight now 

 for six or seven or eight years. I cultivate very thoroughly and quit the 

 first week in July. I use no fertilizer to amount to anything except 

 bone meal and potash. When I cut the blight out I burn it, and as I 

 said before, have been able to control it for a long time. 



Q. When you cut out the blight do you paint it over witli anything? 



Mr. Fritz — No, sir. 



Q. Do you disinfect your tools? 



Mr. Fritz — No, sir; I do not think it necessary. I cut eighteen inches 

 below the infected part and so do not think it necessary to sterilize my 

 instruments. 



Q. Have your pears been heavy bearers? 



Mr. Fritz — ^Yes, for the most part. I have 4,000 trees and a great 

 many of them produce from three to five barrels a year. The Bartlett 

 is the best bearer. My success has been very gratifying to me. I average 

 a profit of about |150 per acre above all expenses. 



Q. What do you spray with? 



Mr. Fritz — Only the Bordeaux mixture, as a rule, for three or four 

 years. I have sprayed with lime-sulphur a little before the buds come 

 out — that is for the scale, but for the most part I have used only 

 Bordeaux. 



Q. How many times do you spray? 



Mr, Fritz — Three times. 

 • Q. When ? 



Mr. Fritz — Before the buds are out and immediately after the blossom 

 falls and then about ten or twelve days after that. 



Q. Have you ever had to s^jray for the codling moth? 



Mr. Fritz — No, however, this last year I have had some worms but 

 they have not bothered me to any extent. 



Q. Why do j^ou think you have worms? 



Mr. Fritz — I suppose they come the same as any worms. 



Q. What is the nature of your soil ? 



Mr, Fritz — Olay soil. 



A Member — I would like to ask if these trees are not heavily in bear- 

 ing at the present time, I have an idea that the whole trouble with pear 

 blight is not with trees after they come into bearing but before. I 

 would like to ask Mr. Sherwood this question. 



Mr. Sherwood — I am quite sure thiit trees that are bearing do not 

 have so much tendency to blight as those that are younger. It is up to 

 the time that the trees are four or five or possibly six years old that 

 blight is a greater danger to the orchard, Mr. Fritz is not that so? 



Mr. Fntz — Yes, sir, I think it is. 



Mr. Smythe^ — Mr. Fritz began pear raising as a novice but has kept at 

 it until now he has become a real expert and an authority on the sub- 

 ject. 



A Member — That has been my experience in raising pears. The blight 

 does not trouble the tree so vei'y much aifter it is in bearing. 



Mr. Smythe — The fruit takes what the blight would. 



Q. Will Mr. Fritz give us his metliod of trimming? 



Mr. Fritz — I used to prune a little too much, but of late, I only take 



