Tear JSTotes. 137 



to ascribe it to the effect of the intense heat of the sun in extremely hot days. I 

 noticed in particular, last summer, after every hot spell, some of my trees were 

 blighted, which before showed no signs of disease, and this continued until the last 

 of the very hot weather, in September. It has occurred to me that " fire blight " may 

 be nothing more than the burning or drying up of the wood from the immense evapo- 

 ration going on from the foliage and all parts of the tree, under the intense heat of an 

 unusually hot summer's sun — one of those days, for instance, when fruit lying on the 

 ground, exposed to the sun, becomes baked, and tomatoes cooked on the vines. A 

 number of such days we had last summer, and I always noticed, immediately after 

 their occurrence, fresh victims of blight. The extreme drouth that prevailed in this 

 neighborhood, nearly all the summer, would seem to favor this theory, for the drier 

 the ground, the less chance a tree would have to obtain a sufficient quantity of mois- 

 ture by its roots to supply the tremendous drain under the intense heat of such a sun. 



Since I have been growing pears, we have never had a summer anything like as dry 

 or as hot as last year was, and this is the first pear blight I have had of any conse- 

 quence. Among many other incidents that led me to think that the disease could not 

 have been in the trees from the previous autumn, I will just mention one : I planted 

 a number of pear trees, received late in the spring from a northern nursery; all of 

 these trees, of the kinds liable to blight, were more or less affected, in the localities 

 on my grounds where bliglit prevailed, and in other localities were exempt. Now, 

 how could that have happened, if the disease had been in the trees from the autumn 

 previous, which, according to the Downing theory, it should have been ? and, besides, 

 I am certain, from having planted and pruned these trees with my own hands, they 

 were entirely free from disease when planted. It maybe asked why blight generally 

 attacks certain portions and not others of the same grounds ; this may be, that from 

 some peculiarity in the soil, in those situations where blight prevails, the trees are 

 not able to obtain as much moisture through their roots to supply the loss by evapo- 

 ration, and consequently are unable to resist as great heat as those in more favored 

 localities. I noticed, also, that the trees that blighted worst were not generally those 

 that had made the rankest or late fall growth, as should be the case, according to 

 Downing ; also, that the worst sufferers were some that had not been manured for 

 several years, and had made but little growth. The above views are thrown out 

 merely by way of suggestion, nothing more ; I consider the question as yet unsettled. 

 One thing, however, seems pretty certain, that whatever the cause may be, it is, in a 

 great measure, if not entirely, beyond our control, and that the only remedy withia 

 our reach is to find out the varieties that are the most exempt from the malady, and 

 to plant only these. Fortunately, I think it will not be difficult to obtain a list of 

 such varieties, embracing as great a number of sorts as is desirable, and extending 

 throughout the season. It must be remembered, however, that varieties good in one 

 place are not always good in another, and here is where the trouble comes in, as every 

 locality must find out for itself what sorts will do best for it. I will, however, give, 

 from the leading varieties, a list of those that I have found liable to blight, and also 

 of those most exempt, which will probably be found to hold good generally : 



Varieties, as blighting badly, I mention Madeleine, Dearborn's Seedling, Osband's 

 Summer, Belle Lucrative, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Marie Louise, Beurre de Mont- 



