BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES. 



of the hedges which line the public promenades. The custom prevails there, among 

 private individuals who have beautiful gardens, of annually planting some of their sur- 

 plus materiel along these public promenandes, for the enjoyment of those who have no 

 gardens. And the custom is met in the same beautiful spirit by the people at large ; 

 for in the main, those embellishments that turn the highway into pleasure grounds, are 

 respected, and grow and bloom as if within the enclosures. 



Does not this argue a civilization among these " down- trodden nations" of Central 

 Europe, that would not be unwelcome in this, our land of equal rights and free schools? 



FIRE BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES 



BY A. H. ERNST, CINCINNATI. 



A. J. Downing, Esq. — Dear Sir: Pardon me for again touching a subject on which 

 there has been so much speculation, without reall}' advancing new facts, or shedding ad- 

 ditional light to aid in removing the mist in which it seems enveloped. 



I am led to the subject at this time to correct an error into which Prof. Turner of III., 

 has fallen, in his article in your last number, (June.) I do not mean to review or criti- 

 cise the consistency of his writings on this subject, but leave that for him to do at his 

 leisure. I shall confine myself to bis last mistake, in supposing that he had discovered a 

 nno insect, which he thinks is the cause of the mischief. He .seems truly alarmed at the 

 discovery and the prospect before him. I do not wonder that he is, for if his suspicions 

 were well founded, it would indeed present a hapless despair, which he might well de- 

 nominate the " Pear Devil." Well, for one of a partial and fanciful turn of mind this 

 is certainly a subject on which to display its powers of imagination. lie seems really in 

 an unhappy state of mind, and one might almost infer that he is a believer in total de- 

 pravity, and the idea that all animate and inanimate matter is but one mass of "living 

 atoms," preying on each other's miseries; the only remedy for which is to purge or poi- 

 son them to death. I hope on a little further acquaintance with the new (to him) form 

 of blight, he will not find it so bad; and that there is still much to comfort and reward 

 him for his labor. 



Let us then come to matter of fi\ct, and see how that stands. That he discovered the 

 existence of insects new to him, and described them as he saw them, I presume no one 

 would have required the confirmatory statement of a witness. But, that they have es- 

 caped the observation of others, or that they are the cause of the blight, is quite a different 

 matter. If Prof. T. will turn to "Harris' Treatise on Insects," under the head of 

 " Bark-lice," he will find a full description of the scale insect which he found on the 

 branches of his trees. They are of very common occurrence among young fruit trees, 

 especially in the nursery, and yet this is not the place we find the blight, of which we are 

 speaking. I have seen young trees here, and at the north, where blight is but little known, 

 literally covered with them, and though injurious to the growth and health of the plant, 

 I have never seen the evidence of their connection with blight. The little fellows which 

 resemble the " sow bug," which he saw "running about between thefibres of the bark," 

 were long since introduced to the members of our Hort. Society, in their researcl 

 common with others which are usually found about the vitiated parts of blight. I 



