96 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



y March, 



ing this essay as was exjirc^soil by Mr. Meehan 

 in tlio Dci-embor nuniKor of the Gardener's 

 Month!}/, and that it was not wortli while to oc- 

 cupy the time of the nieetin<:j hy reatUng or dis- 

 cussing it — for it was ovitU'nt to us that Prof. B. 

 liad not specimens of real hlij^ht uiuler exami- 

 nation at all. He says that uptju tlie closest 

 scrutiny he could fnid no evidence that the dis- 

 ease was caused by fun,e;us, or was of a fungoid 

 nature; l)Ut he goes on to show that blight is a 

 ruptured conilition of the cells of the alburnum, 

 which he believes is caused by the extremes of 

 heat or cold ; and farther on lie says, what is 

 known as fire blight is "caused wholly by ex- 

 cessive solar heat." Some of the alleged facts 

 given in supi)ort of his theory liy Prof. B. are 

 remarkably wide of the truth. He says : " In 

 the Spring' of 1875, in Ohio, and along the lake 

 shore fruit region, after the trees had put forth 

 their leaves, a sudden fall of temijcrature from 

 summer beat to 12 or 15 degrees below freezing, 

 killed outright nearly every pear tree in that 

 extensive district. (?) I examined many trees 

 soon thereafter, and found the external appear- 

 ances exactly similar to what is called fire 

 blight." 



As a fruit grower in the lake shore district in 

 Ohio, I feel called upon to state that no such 

 general destruction of pear trees occurred in this 

 region, in that season or any other. It is well 

 known tiiat the Winter of 1874r-5 caused exten- 

 sive destruction of peach trees and grape vines, 

 also of some pear trees, by killing of the roots, 

 supposed to have been in consequence of severe 

 drouth after a full crop of fruit, more than by 

 the severity of the Winter. Many of the trees 

 thus root-killed in the Winter, leaved out in the 

 Spring, and of course the tops died soon after- 

 wards. But I did not see a single pear tree that 

 died, or had its top killed l)y the late freeze in 

 the Spring, and the number that were killed in 

 the manner before stated did not amount to 

 more than 5 to 10 per cent, in any of the orch- 

 ards within my knowledge. This is true of my 

 own orchard of several hundred trees, also the 

 larger orchard of S. B. Marshall, near West 

 Cleveland, and the still larger one of Mr. Fahne- 

 stock, on the lal^e shore, near Toledo. In no 

 one season has there been a loss of more than 

 5 to 10 per cent, of trees bj' blight, though a 

 larger proportion have sometimes died from 

 overbearing and winter-killing. Again, Prof. B. 

 says in support of his solar heat theory, that 

 pear trees standing on a southern exposure are 

 much more liable to blight than those on a 

 northern slope. This is also contrary to my ex- 

 perience and observation, and my orchard slopes 

 to the south, while several that I know of slope 

 to the north ; but I do not believe this has any- 

 thing to do with causing or preventing blight. 

 Then, if hot weather is the cause, why is there 

 not more blight in Kentucky and Southern Ohio 

 than here in the North ; and why was there not 

 a general visitation of blight last June, when we 

 had the hottest weather ever known in all this 

 region ? 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Tun A.MKKK'AN POMOI.OGK-Ar- SoriKTY. — The 

 biennial meeting of this body, which is always 

 looked forward to with so much interest by hor- 

 ticulturists generally, will be held this year in 

 Baltimore, on the invitation of the Maryland 

 Horticultural Society. This will have its an- 

 nual exhibition on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th 

 of Sei)tember, and the Pomological Society will 

 take the last three days. Col. Wildar has re- 

 covered his health to a great extent, and will 

 probabiy j)reside in person. We know the 

 warmth of Maryland hospitality, and the intelli- 

 gence of its horticulturists, and feel safe in pre- 

 dicting the event will be one "long to be re- 

 membered." Mr. Sands, of the Farmer, is a host 

 in himself. 



Statk Horticultural and Pomological Soci- 

 eties. — The Winter meetings of the various State 

 Societies have been more than usually attract- 

 ive, as we judge from a large number of reports 

 in the newspapers of the various sections that 

 have been sent to us, and which we hope to use 

 as occasion offers. The meetings of the Western 

 New York Horticultural Society, and Fruit 

 Growers' Society of Pennsylvania, are particu- 

 larly well spoken of by the papers, while those 

 of the Western Societies are very fully reported 

 in the excellent agricultural papers of that re- 

 gion. In our present number Mr. Bateham 

 gives an abstract of some points of particular 

 interest to our readers, that grew out of the Ohio 

 meeting. TheGermantown (Philadelphia) Hor- 

 ticultural Society holds monthly meetings, at 

 which premiums are awarded for good plants; 

 remarks on the plants present are made; an 

 essay is read, and discussions follow. At the 

 February meeting, Mr. John Savage spoke on 

 the effects of various temperatures on plants, in 

 a pleasing and instructive manner, and consid- 

 erable discussion ensued. Among the plants on 

 exhibition wei-e several pretty specimens of 

 Chorozcma varium. Australian plants, as a rule, 

 are the best of Winter tlowerers, but do not get 

 through our Summers well. This seems an ex- 

 ception, and should be in every greenhouse. 

 There were hundreds of orange and crimson 

 "butterfly" flowers on these plants. One of the 

 best grown Callas we ever saw was on exhibition ; 

 that is to say, the leaves were not drawn up, but 

 though strong, were as healthy as possible, and 

 the numerous flowers were of a like character. 

 There was also on exhibition a double variety of 

 the "seed strain " of Chinese Primrose, almost 

 as good as the old-fashioned Double white, which 

 does not seed, and which no modern kind has 

 exactly equalled, and the edges were beautifully 

 fringed. The plants at these monthly exhibi- 

 tions have no marks on them by which any one 

 may know who they belong to. This is not any 

 advantage. Instead of jjreventing dishonest 

 judging, it favors it by making a cover for the 

 unfair one. 



