THE "WHITE DOYENNE PEAR, AND ITS ENEMY. 



stated that their fruit was nearly all affected, and rarely oue claimed to be even 

 measurably exempt. 



The conclusion to which I was forced to arrive VA'as, that the " exhaustion" 

 theory is incorrect, for I have seen many trees fruiting for the first time, and on 

 land which never grew a pear-tree before, bearing cracked fruit under as good 

 cultivation as pear-trees ordinarily require, and far better than they frequently 

 receive. The " running out" theory I have always considered as being inore 

 ingenious than plausible, and not sustained by the facts. 



The fungus which occasions the disease I conceive to be somewhat similar to 

 that which causes the mildew in grapes, and the minute particles by which it is 

 disseminated being carried by currents of air in contact with the fruit, will account 

 for its rapid increase. The fruit borne by aged or diseased trees naturally affords 

 a more suitable situation for the growth of the fungus than the vigorous and rapidly 

 swelling specimens produced by young, healthy, and highly cultivated trees ; and 

 while the former falls an easy prey to its ravages, and becomes so entirely covered 

 with it as to crack in all directions, the latter exhibits but a few spots of mildew 

 upon the surface. It frequently happens, however, that these fruits, which appear 

 but slightly affected when gathered, will be found, when ripe, to have gained a 

 large accession of mildew, and to be utterly uneatable, in consequence of the in- 

 tense and sickening bitterness with which they are Impregnated. 



I have found no difference in the liability of dwarf and standard trees to become 

 attacked, although Mr. Hovey, in a late number of the Fruits of America, gives 

 it as the result of his experience that the fruit on dwarf-trees remains unhurt, 

 while that on standards, in the immediate vicinity, is destroyed. 



This is already a serious matter, involving the loss of large sums to those who 

 have planted largely of the White Doyenne, and a remedy is of great importance. 

 Who can discover one ? It is an established fact, that the fumes of sulphur are 

 of great benefit in preventing the ravages of the mildew in graperies, but it would 

 be no easy matter to fumigate an orchard, or even a single large tree, effectually. 



Shall we have a remedy ? or must we abandon the White Doyenne ? I confess 

 to a desire to see this subject discussed by more experienced pear-growers, and 

 to know the results of their experiments. 



Remarks. — The White Doyenne, in Pennsylvania, became utterly worthless long 

 before we heard of its injury nearer the sea, in New York City and neighborhood. 

 Some fruit of our own was as hard as a ripe walnut, cracked, shrivelled, and un- 

 worthy the patronage even of a pig; "renovating the outcast" produced no more 

 good than confining an old rogue in the penitentiary. Not discouraged, we planted 

 young, vigorous standards, and the result, with the best cultivation, was the same 

 as Mr. Eaton has described. Has the salt air anything to do with this ? Will 

 salt at the root, in suitable quantities, do anything for this as it has for some other 

 fruits. We advise a trial, and know no better experimenter than our correspond- 

 ent. There is no proof that fungi exist in solutions of sulphur ; seeds will vege- 

 tate in crude sulphur, l)ut this is insoluble in water ; in an impalpable powder, it 

 is a deadly poison to those parasitic moulds which grow on the vine, the hop, the 

 peach, and the rose, &c. Pereira says that a few grains of sulphate of soda, put 

 into a bottle with a fermentable juice, are equally efficacious, the acid decomposing 

 the salt, which evolves sulphurous acid. Bisuljjhate of soda destroys the curious 

 vegetable production which attacks the stomach. Caustic soda is efficacious in the 

 case of fungi, which attack cereals ; the combination of carbonate of lime with 

 sulphate of soda, by which caustic soda is set free on the combination of the 

 huric acid with the lime, should be experimented with. Ilere is a field which 

 be profitably investigated till we obtain control over this scourge. — Ed 



