THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 147 



bo ^iven, but these ^vill siitificcto illustrate the pririeiple that it is pos- 

 sil)le to ofrow pears wliieh will be measurably resistant to blight. 



Recently a seedling pear in Washington has come to the attention 

 of the speaker. It is a late pear, similar to the Anjou in appearance 

 and fully e(|ual, if not superior to it in quality; a late bloomer and 

 productive. ITp to the ])resent time this seedling has proved entirely 

 free from blight, but it is possible that it has never been exposed to 

 the disease. If this variety should prove reasonably resistant to blight, 

 it would mean a great advance in the pear industry. 



We are now testing at our experiment station hundreds of varieties 

 of [>ears from this country and Kurope. and it is hoped that we will 

 tind among these desirable conunercial varieties which will not be 

 sei iously affected by blight. 



BREEDING PEARS. 



The production of blight resistant varieties of pears offers a s])lendid 

 field for horticult\u-al work, which up to the present time has received 

 too little attention. The speaker is very thoronghlv convinced that 

 desirable blight resistant varieties can be produced by breeding. For 

 exami)le, by crossing such high (juality vari(>ties as Rose or Anjou with 

 such blight resistant varieties as Surprise or Burkett. and then grow- 

 ing thousands of seedlings from these crosses, it will be possible to 

 originate a variety which will possess high quality as well as blight 

 resistance. That this is possible has been repeatedly demonstrated 

 with other fruits and plants. 



In this connection it should be emphasized that high quality and 

 susceptibility to blight are not necessarily correlated. For example, 

 the Seckel, a pear of very high (|uality. shows much greater resistance 

 to blight than most of the low (juality pears. 



BLIGHT RESISTANT STOCKS. 



One of the most pi'omising lines of work, ami one which offers, per- 

 haps, the most innncdiate results, is that of growing our commercial 

 varieties on root svstems and trunks which are resistant to blight. It is 

 well known that the greatest injury of blight, at least on the Pacific 

 Coast, is inflict(Ml en the root-system, trunk and body branches. Here 

 the disease performs its most fat^^l work; and here it is bv all odds the 

 most difficult to combat. The French seedling, on which most of our 

 older peai- orchards were budded or grafted, is very siTsceptible to 

 blight. It is often more susceptible to the disease than many of our 

 cultivated varieties ; and this is responsible for the large amount of 

 pear blight in the roots in our older orchards. 



We now have available an abundance of the Japan pear stock (Pijrus 

 sinoisis), which is far more resistant to blight than the French pear 

 stock (Pyrus coiunnDil'^) . AVhere root blight is as severe as it is here 

 on the Pacific Coast the Freiich pear stock should not be used. The 

 speaker is pleased to note that the local nurserymen are giving this mat- 

 ter serious consideration and are now propagating most of their trees 

 on the Japanese stock. It must be stated that the Japanese pear stock 

 has not been so extensively tested in this country as the French stock; 

 hence, we do not know its shortcomings so well. It is possible that for 



