158 



HORTloolTURi: 



February 9, 1907 



at 



they are. There is an unnamed variety of baccata, a 

 very handsome plant, and very hardy, probably the 

 same as one at Wellesley. Also, T. baccata striata, 

 probably the most distinct and hardiest of all the 

 baccata forms, excepting, perhaps, the golden-leaved. 

 Also T. baccata Dorastoni, a very handsome drooping 

 variety, and T. repanda, of similar habit. Dosoris, I 

 should say, is about the northern limit of the English 

 yew T. baccata; they will live at Wellesley, and some 

 thrive fairly well, but are occasionally winter-killed. 



Wellingtonia gigantea is entirely out of consideration 



Wellesley. Even here it lives in a dubious way. I 

 was surprised, however, to learn that it does well with 

 Ellwanger & Barry at Eochester, New York. Crypto- 

 meria japonica makes a beautiful columnar specimen; 

 C. j. var. Lobbi, neatly pyramidal. The last named is 

 said to be hardier. Of Pinus exeelsa, there are several 

 large specimens; some also of Pinus ayacahuite. That 

 the last named is true, is doubted by one very good 

 authority. Nevertheless, it is different from the typical 

 P. exeelsa. Pinus Lambertiana also, one of our doubt- 

 ful ones which has existed precariously at Wellesley for 

 30 years, is at Dosoris a fine tree. There is a very 

 handsome specimen of Picea Smithiana (morinda) 

 — probably the finest on this continent, and the most 

 beautiful of all— with long needles, and drooping 

 branches. At Wellesley it lives — that is all. Abies 

 Pinsapo makes a handsome specimen. 



Cedrus atlanticus was a pleasant surprise to us. We 

 had seen very fine trees in England last summer. It 

 has been tried at Wellesley, but will not live. There are 

 trees at Dosoris 50 feet" high. The Atlas cedar is a 

 distinctly beautiful evergreen, in green and blue varie- 

 ties, of open and somewhat irregular habit varying the 

 monotony of pyramidal evergreen like firs and spruces. 



Other evergreens — hardy with us — are Abies Veitchii, 

 A. brachyphylla, A. concolor, A. cilicica, A. pectinata, 

 A. sachalineuse, Picea polita, P. orientalis, Pinus flex- 

 ilis, Pinus pungens, and some commoner types. 



Boxes (Buxus) do exceedingly well. We had several 

 large specimens at Wellesley, until a few years ago. 

 Two severe winters finished all but a few in sheltered 

 places. The summer house is completely covered with 

 Wistaria sinensis. Nothing could be more successful 

 for arbor work. It has done its work well — too well — 

 threatening, in the near future, to pull the house down. 

 Schizophragma hydrangeoides has climbed to the top of 

 a tree. It is less common than the climlung hyflrangea 

 — Hydrangea petiolaris. Corylopsis pauciflora and C. 

 spicata are two very pretty early-flowering shrubs. 

 Halesia tetraptera and H. diptera are both large and 

 beautiful specimens; they are especially valuable on 

 account of the varying times of blooming — one follows 

 the other nicely. Magnolias are well represented: M. 

 hypoleuca — white flowers and scarlet filaments, very 

 beautiful; M. Watsoni, another beautiful species, with 

 sweet scented flowers; M. macrophylla, large both in 

 leaf and flower; If. Halleana, a shrubby kind with 

 starry white flowers in early spring; the beautiful 

 native, M. glauca ; M. Kobus, and some other commoner 

 kinds. 



The able and efficient superintendent, Mr. Johnston, 

 has made some very fine pictures of the magnolias at 

 Dosoris which it is hoped will be published, together 

 with cultural notes in the near future. 



The Pear Blight 



The days of the Bartlett pear seem numbered. Cal- 

 ifornia, the State to hold out the longest in the suc- 

 cessful and profitable culture of this delicious fruit, is 

 fast losing ground before the ravages of the dreaded 

 pear blight. 



A number of the middle California valleys famous 

 for their pears are completely wiped out. The effort to 

 save the trees that are left is being concentrated in the 

 northern counties, where the disease has not gone the 

 limit. Even here the conditions are bad. The past 

 year was a very favorable one for the blight. Late 

 heavy, frequent rains caused the blossoming to extend 

 over a long period and induced a soft green, watery 

 growth with the production of many suckers, just the 

 thing for blight infection. 



Failure to frequently remove the suckers gave the 

 blight a chance to get into the trunks and roots of the 

 trees and there are a number of orchards badly off in 

 this respect. As surgery is the only method of getting 

 rid of the blight, the cutting away of a large portion of 

 the root and the cleaning of the trunk entails an enor- 

 mous amount of work and the expenditure of consid- 

 erable money. So profitable has the crop been, how- 

 ever, that many orchardists are doing just this thing in 

 order to prolong the life of their orchards if they can- 

 not eventually save them. If badly gone the tree must 

 be grubbed up; otherwise there is a fighting chance. 



The United States government has seven men in the 

 field and the California Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion has five or six out, all of whom are worldng on 

 this proposition giving all their time to the farmers, 

 sho^\ang them how to recognize the blight and training 

 them in the proper methods of eradication. It means 

 an immense amount of work and the final outcome is 

 an open question. The Californian is not used to insect 

 and fungus ravages — although he thinks he is — and he 

 loses heart very easily. 



To check and hold one's own against the blight re- 

 quires very careful, conscientious work and fully as 

 important, co-operation on the part of all the growers. 

 This is hard to obtain for laziness, ignorance and care- 

 lessness must be fought against here as elsewhere. The 

 worst danger spots are the little backyard orchards, all 

 of which it is impossible to find. These are bad centers 

 from which reinfection will start. Unless everyone 

 takes hold the Bartlett is doomed and that is why I- 

 write "the days of the Bartlett pear seem numbered." 

 General co-operation is difficult and practically impos- 

 sible to obtain. 



A ray of hope filters through in the belief that the 

 vitality of the bacillus is lessening — certain observa- 

 tions in the Vaca, Napa and Suisun valleys leading to 

 this conclusion. If it is true that the blight is dying 

 out it is the man that can tide over his orchard until 

 the crisis is passed who will win out. He will find a 

 market and a good one. 



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