138 STATE HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



effects of winter, but not unfreqnently it remains slowly active during the win- 

 ter and in springtime assumes its original virulence. 



As direct preventives, everything that tends in any way to wound the epider- 

 mis or bark, whether it is man with his pruning knife, or gnawing and boring 

 insects, must be banished as far as possible. Then some protective wash or 

 paint may be advantageously applied. Linseed oil (raw), lime wash in which 

 carbolic acid has been stirred, etc., doubtless may help to keep out the bacteria. 



The discussion of indirect prophylactics must be vague and speculative to a 

 great extent. Cultivation or starvation, sun or shade, root pruning or double 

 working, these and such as these have their day and are forgotten until by some 

 new brain evolution they are restored. There is no doubt whatever but that 

 the general surroundings and conditions have much to do with the more or less 

 rapid progress of the disease, just as scarlet fever in man rages at one time 

 more than another, and in one place more than another; but these conditions 

 are exceedingly complex and apparently not always uniform. The safest plan 

 is to manage so as to secure good, thrifty growth with well-ripened wood, with- 

 out placing much reliance on the temporary successes and failures of Messrs. 

 A. and B. With careful selection of varieties and intelligent management, 

 pear growing can be made successful throughout large areas of our country, 

 but I have no hope that any medicinal treatment of soil or tree will ever be 

 found as a specific against blight. 



Mr. S. D. Willard, Geneva, N. Y. : The work done by Prof. Burrill has 

 been very valuable in setting us aright as to the cause of these terrible plant 

 diseases. I have noted a marked analogy between diphtheria and pear -blight. 

 In that grade of society where there is less physical strength and vitality, the 

 disease has proved more fatal than in a rank where there is a more robust 

 health as a result of regular physical labor and out-of-door exercise. In our 

 native varieties of the pear we find less difficulty with blight than with tlie finer- 

 bred, imported sorts. 1 should expect, from my observation, to find the Seckel 

 and Winter Nelis less troubled than others that have come to us with long 

 French names. My convictions are all in favor of rather light, sandy soil for 

 pears. This comes from my knowledge of the largest pear orchard on this 

 continent, which is on the James river, in Virginia, on soil that is very sandy. 

 This orchard is singularlv free from blight. I have noted others in Canada 

 similarly situated that are very little injured by the disease. 



Mr. Gibson : My trees the past season were attacked very seriously with 

 blight. I used the knife freely, and all the oils and nostrums that are recom- 

 mended, with no success. Finally, bringing to bear a little knowledge I had 

 of human diseases and remedies, I saw an analog}', and went to work accord- 

 ingly. I mixed a wash of lime, sulphur, and carbolic acid in water and put 

 it upon the bodies and limbs as far as I could reach. Then I bought some 

 mineral paint and placed it among the feeding roots. The trees stopped 

 blighting, and have made a vigorous growth, 



Mr. Woodward, in answer to a question as to the Kieffer's hybrid being 

 blight proof, said it was not, and as a pear to eat, was worthless, anyway. He 

 further remarked : The Duchesse is more free from blight than any variety I 

 grow. In an orcliard of 4,500 trees, there has not one blighted enough to kill 

 it. I treat my pear trees to a dose of salt, bone-dust, ashes, and copj^eras. I 

 have faith in Saunders' (of Washington) solution of slacked lime, sulphur, 

 with a little carbolic acid added, as a good wash to prevent blight. It should 

 be applied twice a year. 



