EDITOR'S TABLE. 



Snsfajjrs to Ci^ornsponlJtntj?. 



The Pear Blight. — I am cultivating the Pear quite extensively, both on its nwn and Quince roots ; and having 

 been a sufrcrer to a very great extent, this season, from the etfects of the frozen sap blight, I have watched with 

 anxiety the Ilorticidturist, and the other horticultural journals (as misery is said to love company), to ascertain 

 whether the evil has prevailed to any great extent elsewhere. I know that many of my neighbors have suffered 

 very severely from the same cause, but I do not learn from the horticultural papers that it has i)revailed in other lo- 

 calities. The disease manifested itself here about the middle of June, at which time my gardener commenced, and 

 still continues, a thorough course of amputation, cutting in all cases where it was practicable, below the part diseased 



— in many cases taking the head of the tree entirely off. My trees were most of them large and very vigorous, com- 

 prising about 150 varieties. No sort was spared, — all were more or less affected, excepting one, Bartlett on Quince, 



— not one of which was diseased,— and a few White Doyenne's that were last year in a torpid state, owing, my 

 gardener thinks, to an application of " Barry's wash." The destruction has been sickening to an amateur cultivator. 

 I have lost already at least two hundred trees, many of them of model forms, all of them of the best sorts, and of all 

 ages from three to fifteen years; and I desire to know whether the disease has prevailed in other parts of the country 

 as in this locality. I desire the information before I can determine whether to replace with Pear or other fruit trees, 

 the vacancies in my orchard occasioned by this fatal enemy to the Pear. Amateue. 



The disease referred to is generally known as ''fire blight" because trees attacked with it, 

 assume the appearance of having been scorched with fire. " Frozen sap blight" would be an im- 

 proper name, because frost has nothing to do with it. Whatever the agency may be, it comes 

 in the growing season. 



It has committed extensive ravages among pears in almost all parts of the country; and it also 

 attacks both Apple and Quince, but is not usually fatal to them as it is, or would be, to the pear. 

 In 1846-'7, and two or three subsequent years, it prevailed alarmingly at Rochester and the 

 country about ; but with the past two or three years it has in a great measure disappeared. In 

 other parts, however, both east and west, where it had not appeared during its prevalence at 

 Rochester, it is now making great havoc among the Pears. Judging from its local prevalence at 

 first, and its mode of attack, we felt convinced that it was some minute insect that stung the 

 tree, and infused a virulent poison into its circulating fluids; but no insect has ever been dis- 

 covered, to which it can reasonably be attributed ; and a multitude of facts have from time to 

 time been collected, which go f;ir to show that the disease is jiroduced by intense solar heat 

 "scalding" the sap, or by some peculiar condition of the atmosphere, which interrupts the natui'- 

 al action of the cells, and produces extravasation of the sap. The latter theory is supported, in 

 some degree, by the fact that blight is very often observed to prevail in a moist, sultry time; and 

 also by the fact that certain varieties in some localities are swept off by it, when others escape, 

 A case was mentioned to us, a short time ago, by a gentleman at Lockport, in which Glout Mor- 

 ceaus, planted alternately in rows with other varieties, were uniformly destroyed, while the 

 others escaped. Passe Cohnar and Stevens' Genesee are among varieties that we have repeatedly 

 heard classed with those particularly liable, and Seckel and Virgalieu among those least liable to 

 its attacks. For our own part, we have seen one variety suffer in one season and in one locality, 

 and escape in others, so much that we do not place much weight on such cases, though they cer- 

 tainly should be carefully taken into account in studying this malady. 



Allow me to ask you a few questions, which, if you will answer through the irorticulturist, will oblige me much. 

 In root-grafting, is it better to wind with waxed paper, or leave them unwound ? (1) 

 "What is tlie best substance to pack grafts in for winter keeping ? I used sawdust. (2) 



Give mo your opinion of nursery tree roots for root-grafting. I put out 10,000, and did not get over 3,000. The 

 ground is low, and clay subsoil, but will raise good com. (3) 

 What course should I take to raise the Mountain Ash? (1) 

 AV'hat are the stocks used for budding the Kose on ? (5) TV. S. IX.— Gallon, OMo. 



(1) Winding with waxed paper keeps the graft in its place, — a matter of some importance. 



(2) We keep them in sand — sawdust will do very well. 



(3) We can recommend nothing but the roots of healthy seedlings one or two years old, and 

 then to use the whole root, setting the graft on the collar. 



(4) Wash out the seed and mix it witli earth, and let it lay for a year, before sowing. 

 The Manelii, and the common Micldgan are both good stocks; as a general thing we prefer ^ 



t. It grows finely in our hottest and dryest seasons. 



