146 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[May, 



etarvntion, the sponpioica will absorb almost any 

 foreign niuttor i>re.sen(cd to them in solution. 

 Absolute experiments have sliown this. Again, 

 try the experiment witli a solution of common 

 salt, covering the hole with a sheet of tin tightly. 

 Twenty-four hours thereafter, suddenly remove 

 the cover, and the distinct smell of chlorine will 

 be found. This shows that the spongioles not only 

 have power to select the earihy compounds the 

 tree and fruit require, but by their "presence ac- 

 tion " absolutely decompose compounds, and re- 

 compose them with unerring certainty, so long 

 as they are in a state of health. 



All these experiments upon the fibrous roots 

 are to be made in the night by the aid of artifi- 

 cial light, as they do not bear sunlight or dry 

 air without injury. Apply a solution of com- 

 mon salt to a non-bearing pear tree, and it will 

 not be affected by the roots, because there is no 

 soda either in the wood, bark or leaf. The fruit, 

 however, contains about 8J per cent, of soda in 

 its ash. The writer is of opinion that fungus is 

 not the cause of blight, but one of its effects. 

 The germ of fungi not being found in healthy 

 sap, it would not be unreasonable to conclude 

 that the vital fluid itself is in a partial state of 

 decomposition before the sporidia can exist. 

 And then pear trees that have been supplied 

 with the plant food the tree requires, remain 

 sound, while those near by, left to exhaust the 

 soil of necessary earthy matter, exhibit fungoid 

 blight. It has been a great misfortune to those 

 actively engaged in growing the pear, that 

 80 many theories of the diseases incident to the 

 tree have been advanced, and so few absolute 

 experiments made to substantiate them. The 

 pear tree and fruit contain eight compounds, 

 which are received through the roots. Now, 

 suppose one or more of these substances are 

 not in the soil, is it reasonable to suppose that 

 the circulation of the tree can long remain 

 healthy ? The cambium is but wood and fruit 

 in solution, and if it has not all the elements of 

 wood and fruit, neither can be true wood and 

 fruit of its kind. Earnest men have often sup- 

 posed they had placed within reach of the roots 

 all these substances, and still their trees blighted. 

 They have planted metallic iron under the tree, 

 thinking to supply the soluble phosphate of 

 this metal found in the ash of the fruit. As 

 well might the physician administer a dose of 

 lath nails to his patient, with a view of enrich- 

 ing the blood. They have dosed the tree with 

 guano and all sorts of famous fertilizers, but it 



has starved, nevertheless. Its appetite has be- 

 come morbid, and disintegration has followed. 



It is not the aim of this communication to 

 give the practice of the writer upon his own 

 pear trees, several thousand of which are in 

 bearing, and do not blight. It would require 

 too much space. It is enough to say that pears 

 can be grown with great success in any ordinary, 

 well-drained soil, between the 34th° and 42d° of 

 N. latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 

 that the materials necessary to the successful 

 fruiting of the tree merely cost the hauling, ex- 

 cept a little common salt, twenty-five cents 

 worth of which will last a bearing tree for eight 

 or ten years, though a whole barrel has been 

 emptied under a single healthy bearing tree 

 without injury. 



[We know of no experiments whfch show 

 that the spores of the fungus which causes the 

 fire-blight exist in the sup of the tree, as drawn 

 up through the roots. — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



A Good Dwarf Cklery.— We think this is 

 still to be desired. We have some fair varieties, 

 but they are often disposed to be branchy, and 

 to have more leaves and stalks. 



Monstrous Asparagus. — Under this caption 

 we read the following in a German paper : "Take 

 the strongest, just as they show above the ground, 

 and put dark green bottles over them. They 

 must be put vertically, not be more than half an 

 inch in the ground, and therefore must be sup- 

 ported by sticks. Deprived of sun and air, the 

 asparagus now quickly grows to the top of the 

 bottle, and unable to grow higher, grows now 

 along the walls of the bottle until the whole 

 bottle is filled by it, and gets lifted from the 

 ground. Now is the time to cut your asparagus 

 and to break the bottle." Asparagus has thus 

 been grown, weighing twelve ounces, of delightful 

 flavor and very tender. May we add to this Ger- 

 man precept the German proverb " Wer's glaubt 

 zahlt einen thaler," " Whoever believes it, pays 

 one dollar ; " or translated into American, " You 

 pays you money, etc., etc." 



The Mother Apple.— There were few apples 

 of more beauty and average merit on exhibition 

 at the Centennial than the Mother Apple, 

 but we do not find it in many collections. 



