AND HORTICULTURIST. 



Ill 



extending in all directions. Sometimes they run 

 from one row to another, where they are torn up 

 by the cultivator, and sometimes two plants send 

 their runners toward each other, making some 

 parts of the row too thick, and leaving others va- 

 cant. All this may be avoided by setting the 

 plants in such a position that they will run in a 

 given direction. I discovered years ago that the 

 strawberry plant sends out runners in but one di- 



The Schumaker Peach. 



rection, or from one side, and that is the side oppo- 

 site the old runner that produced it. If the side of 

 the plant from which the main runner was cut is 

 set toward the north that plant will run to the 

 south." This hint will be useful in the patch as 

 well as in the small fruit garden. 



THE SCHUMAKER PEACH. 



BY C. S. CARR, ERIE. PA. 



It is acknowledged to be the leading peach in 

 this section, and earlier than any other by ten 

 days, and has not failed to bear since beginning, 

 in 1877, every year. Young trees last season had 

 from five to fifteen peaches, and the owners, citi- 

 zens of our city, were so proud that we had many 

 samples left and requests to call and see our new 



peach from July 3d to loth. We sent you speci- 

 mens two years ago. 



[Our readers will remember the favorable no- 

 tice we gave of the fruit at that time. — Ed. G. M.] 



PEAR-TREE "BLIGHT." 



KY CHAS. D. ZIMMERMAN, BUFF.VLO, N. Y. 



This subject has probably been before you at 

 every meeting since the organization of the society, 

 and in looking over the 

 proceedings we feel very 

 much like a member 

 who said at a meeting 

 as long ago as 1855, " I 

 have read a wheelbar- 

 row load of books on 

 the subject and have 

 learned nothing," and 

 in a recent publication 

 we find: "Now, Mr. 

 Editor, I have a firm. 

 belief that nobody 

 knows anything about 

 this disease more than 

 another, and it is a. 

 waste of time to listen 

 to anybody's say about 

 it." Hoping your soci- 

 ety will pardon me for 

 adding another "straw," 

 I will be as brief as pos- 

 sible. 



The progress made 



toward discovering the 



cause of pear " blight " 



has certainly appeared 



very slow to those who 



have been compelled to see their trees stricken 



down under the best (?) of care, nearly powerless 



to prevent the spread of the disease. 



Nearly every writer on pear cultui;e in the past, 

 has advanced different theories as to the cause 

 and treatment of the disease, variously termed 

 "fire blight," "sap blight," "frozen sap blight," 

 "insect blight," "summer blight," "winter blight," 

 etc. 



Insects were often accused of being at the bot- 

 tom of all the trouble, and we are not quite ready 

 to give them a verdict of acquittal. They are 

 charged with aiding in spreading the poison, and 

 for many it would be hard to prove an alibi. 



Electricity was believed by some to be the cause, 

 with plenty of argument to back it. The appear- 

 ance of "blight" after a thunder shower is a well 



