312 



PEAR BLIGHT. 



verely scourged. I have this year lost more 

 than one hundred and fifty fine standards, 

 part on quince and part on pear stocks, out 

 of about eight hundred ; and some of my 

 neighbors have suffered in greater propor- 

 tion. Some of these trees belonged to the 

 nursery, and were set among young cherry 

 trees, so that the sun could, neither in win- 

 ter or summer, have had any effect upon 

 them. The trees were as well shaded this 

 summer as if they had been sheathed with 

 straw, (as recommended by one of your 

 correspondents,) and the ground had been 

 well mulched, so that the supply of mois- 

 ture at the roots was uniform. Some of 

 them grew finely, others not at all ; yet, a 

 common fate awaited them — one was taken, 

 and another left. Perhaps this was caused 

 by frozen sap in immature wood, although 

 it was apparently well matured. But the 

 losses in another lot, composed of six hun- 

 dred fine imported dwarfs, which were set 

 in May last, and which were shipped from 

 Paris on the 27th day of February, must be 

 attributed to some other cause ; for I under- 

 stand this disease to be American, and not 

 known in France. Their growth in the 

 nursery where they were raised, had not 

 been rank ; the wood was apparently well 

 matured, and most of that made last year 

 was cut off. They were set 8 feet apart 

 for specimen trees, and summer pruned by 

 pinching off the leaders. I examined them 

 carefully two or three times each week 

 during the summer, and immediately cut 

 off at the ground, or pulled up, every one 

 showing the least blight. During July and 

 August, the disease commenced in the suc- 

 culent wood of this year, and extended 

 downwards ; in September and October it 

 attacked the bodies of the trees, and could 

 not be perceived in the branches either ex- 

 ternally or internally. By much experi- 

 ence, and without cutting, I could discern 



that some trees were entirely ruined, when 

 most persons would have said that they 

 were in perfect health. There was a pecu- 

 liar appearance in the bark that showed all 

 was not right, and an incision would al- 

 ways confirm it. In all cases the sap and 

 bark smelled very sour ; so much so, that 

 many times, in walking among the trees, I 

 have discovered by the odor that some new 

 one was affected, and had merely to follow 

 my nose to find it. Sometimes this odor 

 was perceptible at a distance of twenty feet 

 or more.* 



In two rows of these same imported dwarfs, 

 containing fifty trees each, and set about 

 one foot apart in the row where the affected 

 trees were not removed, every one blighted. 

 From another row, similarly planted, where 

 each one was dug up as soon as it became 

 diseased, we lost but few. Yet Mr. Hooker 

 has in vain tried to affect healthy trees by 

 inoculating them with buds and sap from 

 some of the worst cases. Is it infectious, 

 and not contagious ? 



I send you part of the body and branches 

 of a White Doyenn^ tree, about eight years 

 old, which has borne fruit three years, and 

 this year a fine crop of as beautiful speci- 

 mens as you ever saw. It has grown but 

 moderately. Last year the season was dry; 

 consequently the shoots Avere short and 

 ripened early. This year it made a fair 

 quantity of wood, all of which was cut in 

 August for buds. The fruit was picked the 

 last of September. A few days afterwards, 

 I noticed one morning that a dormant bud 

 had started on the body of the tree, at a 

 point marked X. This I pinched off', and 

 examined the tree very carefully by cutting 

 through the bark, because the starting of 

 this bud had surprised me ; but I found all 

 in a natural condition. In three hours af- 



* When the trunk is attacked, it can often be seen from as 

 great a distance, and before a single leaf hangs out a signal of 

 distress. 



