BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN. PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



Blight Resistance in Pears and Pear Stocks 



By F. C. Reimer, Southern Oregon Experiment Station, Talent, Oregon. 



FOR more than two centuries the 

 pear has been a very popular fruit 

 in this country. At one time it 

 even exceeded tlie apple in popularity. 

 During the past half century the fruit 

 has usually sold for very profitable 

 prices. In the Northeastern States 

 there is a vast territory well suited to 

 pear culture. In the three Pacific Coast 

 / States climatic and soil conditions are 

 almost ideal for the growing of pears. 

 Yet according to the 1910 census the 

 total number of pear trees and the 

 total output of pears amounted to less 

 than one-tenth the number of apple 

 trees and the output of apples. 



The question naturally arises, Why 

 is the output of this fruit not greater? 

 It is hardly necessary to answer this 

 question. Every pear grower is well 

 aware of the fact that the pear is very 

 susceptible to pear blight — the most 

 destructive disease known to our de- 

 ciduous fruits. For considerably more 

 than a century this disease has been a 

 "nightmare" to the pear growers in all 

 of the older fruit regions of this coun- 

 try. In the older pear districts the fight 

 against this disease has been given up 

 by many of the pear growers, and the 

 disease has been the victor. This is 

 due to the fact that this disease usually 

 works rapidly, often persists from >ear 

 to year, and by its insidious nature 

 bafTlcs the average fruitgrower. The 

 pear industry in the Eastern States has 

 been held in check by this disease. The 

 disease is native to that region and as 

 long as a century ago it began to de- 

 stroy the pear orchards there. The 

 pear industry had just become well 

 established in the Southern States when 

 this disease made its appearance and 

 practically wiped out the industry. 

 About 1900 pear blight made its ap- 

 pearance in the San Joaquin Valley of 

 California, and its history on the 

 Pacific Coast dates from that time. The 

 only place where this disease has been 

 fought persistently on a large scale is 

 among the pear growers of the Pacific 

 Coast. But even here the fight has 

 been expensive and in soine instances 

 not a successful one. Many growers 

 have not appreciated the fact that this 

 disease must be fought promptly, per- 

 sistently and thoroughly. For exaiuple, 

 in the San .loaquin Valley the disease 

 practically wiped out a magnificent 

 pear industry in two years. 



The question naturally arises, Shall 

 we keep up the present fight against 

 blight? The reply is yes. The small 

 total output of pears will certainly in- 

 sure excellent prices. It is also certain 

 that the Pacific Coast, because of its 



suitable climate, will be the home of 

 the pear industry in this country. If 

 it will pay to keep up the present costly 

 fight against pear blight anywhere it 

 will certainly do so here. It is well 

 known that the only successful method 

 ever devised for combating blight is 

 that of cutting out all the afi'ected parts 

 and disinfecting the wounds, but this 

 should not deter us from improving 

 the method nor from trying to find a 

 better one. The science of plant path- 

 ology is a comparatively new one, and 

 we are still in our infancy so far as 

 methods of fighting plant diseases are 



Features of this Issue 



BLIGHT RESISTANCE IN PEARS AND 

 PEAR STOCKS 



THE END OF SOUTH WATER STREET 



CONTROL OF THE TENT CATERPILLAR 



DESCRIPTION OF AN EVAPORATOR 



EXPLANATION OF GOVERNMENT 

 CROP REPORTS 



NORTHWEST GRADING RULES 

 SEASON 1915 



concerned. Hence the work of im- 

 proving our present method, or finding 

 a new and better one, should be pushed 

 vigorously by our plant pathologists. 



Every pear grower will readily admit 

 that the ideal method of combating 

 pear blight would be to gi-ow varieties 

 which would naturally be resistant to 

 the disease. The writer wishes to state 

 emphatically that the ultiiuate solution 

 of the pear blight problem will be in 

 growing such resistant varieties. Can 

 such varieties be found or produced? 

 It is a fact, well known to fruitgrowers, 

 that some varieties of pears suflfer 

 much less than others from blight. 

 Coniice and Anjou are much more re- 

 sistant than Bartlett and Howell. The 

 I)ear industry in the South and some 

 sections of the East is dependent on 

 the Kiefl'er because it is more resistant 

 to blight than our better varieties. 

 There are in cultivation at the present 

 time more than two thousand varieties 

 of pears. Of this number coiupara- 

 tively few varieties have been thor- 

 oughly tested to determine their resist- 

 ance to pear blight. Is it not possible 

 that among this host of varieties some 



will be found which will be compara- 

 tively free from blight and still be de- 

 sirable commercial varieties? To show 

 that this is possible, it is only necessary 

 to state that we already have varieties 

 which are known to approximate this 

 ideal. The Lucy Duke, a seedling of 

 the Bartlett, which has been in culti- 

 vation for more than thirty-five years, 

 has shown marked resistance to pear 

 blight. This is a pear of excellent 

 quality and promises to be of commer- 

 cial value. Another promising variety 

 is the Douglass, which originated as a 

 seedling of Kiefl'er, probably crossed 

 with the Angoulene. This variety has 

 been growing in Central Kansas, in a 

 region where blight is very severe, for 

 fourteen years, but has never sho\vn a 

 trace of blight. It is not among the 

 best in qualify, but it is markedly bet- 

 ter than the Kieffer, and apparently far 

 more resistant to blight. 



We have several varieties of poor 

 (piality but remarkably resistant to 

 blight. A variety locally known as the 

 Florida Sand Pear, and which belongs 

 to the Chinese Sand Pear group, has 

 been grown in the Southeastern States 

 for more than thirty years, under the 

 severest possible conditions; with 

 badly blighted trees of other varieties 

 in adjoining rows, this variety has 

 never shown a trace of blight. The 

 Burkett is a variety which has been 

 grown in the Upper Mississippi Valley 

 for the past fifty years, and there under 

 conditions where very few of our vari- 

 eties can be grown because of the 

 severity of blight, this variety has 

 proved practically free from this dis- 

 ease. The Surprise is another variety 

 from the Middle West, where under the 

 severest conditions it has never shown 

 a trace of blight. Other varieties show- 

 ing resistance are Krull. Fluke and 

 Orel No. 1,5. Other examples might be 

 given, but these will sufiice to illustrate 

 the principle that it is possible to grow 

 pears which will be measurably resist- 

 ant to blight. Recently a seedling pear 

 in Washington has come to the atten- 

 tion of the writer, which is a late i)ear 

 similar to the Anjou in appearance and 

 fully equal, if not superior to it in 

 quality; a late bloomer and productive. 

 Up to the present time this seedling has 

 proved entirely free from blight, but it 

 is possible that it has never been ex- 

 I)ose(l to the disease. If this variety 

 should prove reasonably resistant to 

 l)light, it would mean a great advance 

 in the pear industry. We are now test- 

 ing at oin- Ivxpcrimcnt Station hundreds 

 of varieties of pears from this country 

 and Europe, and it is hoped that we 



