50 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



The pear may also be grown ou apple roots. In such cases the root 

 is somewhat blight-resistant, but the tree is short-lived and apparently 

 no advantage is to be found in this direction. No satisfactory pear 

 orchards have been produced on the apple, although top-worked trees 

 sometimes bear well for a few years. At Colfax, in this State, such 

 a tree has borne extra fine fruit for the past five years and is still 

 thrifty. 



The affinity of some varieties of pears for the quince is well known, 

 and orchards of the dwarf trees thus produced are of commercial im- 

 portance in some parts of the country. In the production of such trees 

 the pear is budded on rooted quince cuttings. This root is considerably 

 more blight-resistant than the French pear, and is probably the best 

 root to use in rich soil that is excessively moist. While dwarf pears 

 are not in general favor in California, it is quite probable that under 

 certain conditions they are much to be preferred to standard trees. 

 Stephen Harmeling, a successful grower of AVashington, maintains that 

 under suitable conditions they are more profitable, and it is conceded 

 that they are infinitely easier to inspect and prune if an outbreak of 

 blight occurs in the orchard. ^Nlany varieties must be double-worked 

 wiien grown on quince, thus increasing the cost of trees ; but the fact 

 that dwarf pears bear young and yield heavily, with an improvement in 

 quality and shape for certain varieties, and have a measurable degree 

 of blight-resistance, entitles the quince root to more consideration than 

 it has yet received in California. 



Rooted cuttings of the European-Asiatic hybrid pears, such as 

 Kieffer, Le Conte, Garber, and Smith, have been used to a limited extent, 

 but results have been generally negative. Kielfer is the most promising 

 of those named. Le Conte cuttings were advocated several years since 

 by a few California horticulturists. Of Le Conte Professor Waite says : 

 "It was used in general commercial propagation in the southeastern 

 states. It has not, however, proved particularly suitable. Bartlett 

 orchards * * * on these rooted cuttings have gone down with the 

 blight very seriously in Virginia and Maryland." Personally I have 

 little confidence in rooted cuttings of these hybrids, but think there is a 

 most hopeful field for experiment in testing rooted cuttings of certain 

 varieties of European blood that have shown practically complete 

 immunity to blight. 



We have now to consider the root that in the present state of our 

 knowledge appears to present the greatest combination of advantages 

 of any of the roots having blight-resistant qualities — the Japan pear, 

 Pyrus sinensis, the wild pear of Asia. Some nurserymen mistakenly 

 refer to this root as "blight-proof"; it is not, but it is strongly blight- 

 resistant. There is no blight-proof root thus far knowTi to horticulture. 



The use of this root extends over a relatively short period, and it is a 

 matter of regret that we have no authoritative literature bearing upon 

 the subject in a broad way, and no knowledge of any scientific observa- 

 tions extending over a period sufficient to w^arrant our arriving at 

 wholly definite conclusions. Because no such analytical study of the 

 subject is available I have been compelled to weigh the opinions of 

 numerous observers, both scientific and practical, and to interpret them 

 in the light of my own personal experience, which in itself is too limited 

 to allow me to reach positive convictions. On most points the views 



