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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



The Plum and Cherry Knot.— The cause of 

 the plum knot — a fungus working from the out- 

 side of the bark inwardly— has been so clearly de- 

 veloped by Professor W. G. Farlow that there is 

 no longer any excuse for knots in a good orchard- 

 ist's grounds. "Washes must certainly* destroy 

 them. We fancy that no tree annually white- 

 washed would suffer from plum kiipt. Of course 

 one may put clay or soot into the whitewash to 

 destroy the glaring white. 



QUERIES. 



Fire Blight in the Pear. — An Elyria, (Ohio) 

 correspondent says that the fire blight has been 

 80 destructive there that pear growers are much 

 discouraged. 



Since it has been demonstrated that this dis- 

 ease is the work of a fungus operating from the 

 outside, washes in early spring ought to be an 

 " infallible cvn-e." Indeed, Mr. Saunders, of the 

 Agricultural Department at Washington, made 

 this fact tolerably clear long ago, and before Dr. 

 Hunt explained so lucidly how the fire blight 

 fungus operated. 



Pear Disease. — A Frankford (we believe Pa.) 

 correspondent says : " Enclosed I send you a 

 piece of bark from a twig on a Bartlett pear. 

 Will you in the Gardener's Monthly please to ex- 

 plain the nature of the disease if disease, it is; 

 and the cure, if cure there is? I find that it 

 causes the smaller limbs to die slowly, and gives 

 the tree a stunted or premature appearance. 

 My trees are much injured by a short, green, 

 big-headed slug that eats away the tender por- 

 tion of the leaves from the upper side, and 

 leaves only the woody fibre. Can the ravages of 

 this vile thing be prevented or stopped? By 

 causing the trees to put out a second growth of 

 leaves, I have blossoms in the fall and no fruit 

 next year." 



[The disease shows itself in blackened leaves, 

 and in black splotches in the growth of the past 

 year, as the leaves arc growing in spring. We 

 have always identified it with what is known in 

 the books as " Frozen s;ip blight," though we are 

 quite sure frost has nothing whatever to do with 

 it. As our correspondent says, it is very likely 

 to appear on branches that have had the leaves 

 prematurely destroyed by the leaf blight of the 

 Bununer j'revious. As leaf blight is a fungus, it 

 is quite likely the "frozen sap blight" is a phase 



of development of the same fungus ; but of this 

 we have no certain evidence. For the leaf slug 

 see article in another column. — Ed. G. M.] 



Pear Trees and XJnderdraining. — There is 

 nothing in the following to show where it comes 

 from. It appears to be from some place in Ohio. 

 Correspondents should be careful to note their 

 localities, as it is half the interest of inquiries 

 through the Monthly. 



"Can you tell me something about under- 

 draining, the price per rod for drain tiles, and 

 where to procure them. A correspondent of 

 the Ohio Farmer recommends the tiles manufac- 

 tured in Drake County, 0., and says underdrain- 

 ing pays on the capital invested in tiles, in one 

 ordinary season, from twenty-five to one hun- 

 dred per cent; and that one should always use 

 the genuine drain tiles, with oval cavity. There 

 is not a garden or orchard in this section of 

 country underdrained. Now, if you will suggest 

 something that will make our lands more pro- 

 ductive, and reclaim the worn-out hill-sides, how 

 much greater benefactor would you be than "he 

 who causes two blades of grass to grow where 

 but one grew before." Fruits of almost every 

 variety do well here, pears, however, do better 

 than peaches or apples, and but little subject to 

 the blight; there are pear trees on my place 

 nearly forty years old, planted by my father soon 

 after settling here in 1836, and some of them, 

 standing in the yard, were never cultivated. Do 

 you think it would pay here (six miles from a 

 railroad), to grow pears for market? Would you 

 plant standards or dwarf trees? Are the former 

 less subject to blight than the latter. They have 

 proven to be so with me. The dew-berry is 

 found her6 in our old fields, sending out runners 

 ten feet in length, and ripens nearly as early as 

 the strawberry, and by some considered about as 

 good a berry — can you say anything in its 

 favor ! " 



[Underdraining is not profitable in ordinary 

 land, unless one proposes to hold it for a number 

 of years. Americans seldom feel sure of this. 

 In orcharding wc prefer planting on the ground 

 surface, drawing the soil up about the roots 

 to cover witli, that is, making ridges or hillocks, 

 in wet ground ri.ither than to underdrain it. A 

 few dwarf pear orchards have been profitable, 

 but those who have made most on pears did it 

 by standards. — Ed. G. M.] 



Vanilla Culture. — Some friends went from 

 Philadelphia a year or so ago to engage in 



