212 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



roots were killed and the trees were seriously injured, the blight 

 seemed to be worse that year than at any other time. I don't think 

 there is anything in any of the remedies that have been suggested 

 that have ever done us any good. There is only one way in which 

 we can remedy blight or in which we can avoid blight, and that is 

 not to plant blighting varieties. We all know, and I think we all 

 agree, that some varieties blight worse than others, and the best 

 thing to do is to avoid planting those varieties. For example, I 

 never think of planting a Transcendent or any other varieties of 

 trees which blight. We could not afford to do it, and we do not do 

 it when we know from actual experience that blight will spread 

 from one variety to another, and we do know that. There are just 

 a few things we know about blight, and there is a whole lot about 

 it we don't know, but we know it will spread, and we know there 

 are varieties that are more susceptible to blight than others. We 

 have a large orchard of Wealth,-. They started to blight a little 

 in the top, and we began to put in a pruner and cut out the affected 

 portion ; we pruned the wood and burned it, and yet we did not 

 fail to get a good crop of apples after all. Practical results are 

 what we are after. I don't give a cent for all your theories, if I 

 know what I know from actual experience. Of course, from a 

 scientific experience you can demonstrate what blight is and how 

 to cure it, and we are very glad to know all that, but we could hardly 

 consider the proposition of slitting the bark of a million trees in 

 the nursery where blight commenced to make its appearance. If 

 we find, as we do, fhat by avoiding the planting of blighting varie- 

 ties we avoid any serious disasters to our nursery stock, it seems to 

 me that is the rule we should apply in buying trees and planting 

 our orchards. 



The Chairman: There are just two points that occur to me in 

 connection with what' Mr. Underwood has said, and that is that 

 we should bear in mind that a good theory is the first step to a most 

 successful practice, and where theory and practice disagree theory 

 is the thing that is wrong, and practice is the best way to overcome 

 the trouble. 



Mr. Johnson : I am not going to talk theory, but I am going to 

 tell you how to stop blight. I stopped blight on the Transcendent, 

 and just as far as I sprayed the w^ood was healthy, and the rest was 

 dead. The Wealthy and the Peter stood near the Transcendent. 

 That is the best cure I know of. If you cut away the tip of the 

 blight it goes further down. Just leave it there until spring. 



The Chairman : What do you spray with ? 



Mr. Johnson : With Bordeaux mixture. 



The Chairman: When did you do it? 



Mr. Johnson: Early in the season before the fungous growth 

 begins to make a start, about the time the scab appears ; it will kill 

 two birds with one stone. 



Mr. Busse : I am growing interested in this discussion. I have 

 a few trees, and I have been thinking this matter over seriously 

 for some time, and I want to say that there has as yet been nothing 

 found that will prevent blight. The nearest thing we can do to 



