PEAR TREE BLIGHT AND PEACH BLOSSOMS. 



521 



four handsful of iron rust, scattered over the 

 surface of the soil, would, we should think, 

 be a sufficient quantity for a full grown 

 chlorotic pear tree. A heap of old iron 

 might, if more convenient, be laid about the 

 stem, as the rust would then find its way very 

 gradually into the soil. But the most satis- 

 factory mode, is to water the soil with solu- 

 tions of iron water — made at first very weak, 

 and increased in strength as may be indi- 

 cated by the effects produced. 



There are also certain soils, in some parts 

 of the country, otherwise highly fertile, in 

 which several sorts of apples are affected by 

 a disease called the hitter-rot. We have lit- 

 tle personal acquaintance with this malady, 

 but if we understand it rightly, it arises 

 from an unhealthy state of the skin of the 

 fruit, and perhaps it may be prevented by 

 the tonic that we have already pointed 

 out.* 



NOTES ON PEAR TREE BLIGHT AND RETARDING PEACH BLOSSOMS. 



BY WM. ANDREWS, PENFIELD, OHIO. 



Sir — What is commonly known as the Fire 

 Blight, in the pear tree, is a subject of 

 much interest at the present time, and has 

 been the parent of many speculations, but I 

 think it is not yet perfectly understood. I 

 have no doubt that your theory of " Frozen 

 Sap Blight," is, in many respects, true ; 

 yet, 1 can not believe that the most saga- 

 cious observer, cnn always predict with cer- 

 tainty, a season of blight, for the reason 

 that the disease, in its progress, does not 

 demand a late growth of unripened wood, 

 as a sine qua iion. Trees, which have a late 

 autumnal growth of unripened wood, will 

 almost uniformly suffer more or less from 

 the severe frosts of winter. Peach trees 

 will often be killed to the ground. That is 

 sometimes the case with the finer kinds of 

 cherry trees, in our nurseries, as well as 

 with pears, and is particularly and almost 

 uniformly the case with Catalpas, when 

 grown upon rich ground and left to nature. 

 It becomes important then to ascertain 

 whether there are any preventives of this 

 late growth of wood, and if so, what they 

 are. Planting trees upon dry soil, as you 

 suggest, I consider as the most important , 

 Indeed it is all-important for peach trees. I 

 66 



,, Laying bare the roofs" of our trees may 

 answer the purpose, but I have a more sim- 

 ple remedy, which for two years past has 

 proved effectual, when applied to the Ca- 

 talpa. For two or three successive years, I 

 had nearly all my Catalpas killed to the 

 ground by the winter. In the summer of 

 184-5, 1 determined, if possible, to save them, 

 and about the 20th of August, while they 

 were growing vigorously, I clippied off with 

 my knife the ends of all the branches of the 

 trees, to prevent their going higher. In the 

 course of a week, the leaves had evidently 

 changed their colour to a darker hue, the 

 colour of the trunk and branches soon 

 changed, and the wood ripened perfectly, 

 so as to receive no injury from the succeed- 

 ing winter. In August, 1846, I found that 

 many of my trees had ripened their wood 

 well, but such as were growing I clipped in 



* A very remarkable exception to the usual want ot" natural 

 congeniality to the pear tree, in sea side soils, occurs, as 

 we find, in some of the gardens of Plymouth, Mass. On learn- 

 ing, last autumn, with some surprise, the great perfection to 

 which this fruit attains there, we applied to Mr. Washburn 

 one of the most succcsiful growers there, for a sample of his 

 soil. On having it analyzed, by a distinguished chemist, we 

 find that this soil differs from other fertile soils chiefly in con- 

 taining a much larger proportion of oxide of iron. 



