BLIGHT OF THE PEAR AND APPLE. 295 



healthy tissues. If the bhght is bad in either the pear or apple- 

 orchard, the knife or saw should be sterilized each time it is used 

 by either passing it through a flame or dipping it into weak carbolic 

 acid water or kerosene. The pruned limbs or fragments should 

 be collected and burned, and both pruning and burning should be 

 done mainly in the dormant season, before the sap has started, 

 the bacteria have awakened and the bees are visiting the orchard. 

 This is the best time for pruning and burning, but not the only 

 one ; it should be done whenever the disease makes its appear- 

 ance. All large wounds should be painted over with paint as 

 soon as the tree is trimmed, to prevent re-inoculation through 

 exposed tissues. Where the blight is bad, even young shoots or 

 water-sprouts should have their cut bases painted, for it has been 

 known time and again that the limbs and even trunks have been 

 inoculated through these cut stubs. 



The pear is more easily pruned for this disease than is the apple. 

 On the former it commonly manifests itself in dead or dying 

 shoots, limbs, or trunks, which can readily be cut away below the 

 progress of the disease. On the apple, however, it is commonly 

 the shoots all over the tree, and especially the fruit spurs and 

 their clusters of flowers, which are most affected. Pruning here 

 becomes a much more difficult and even serious undertaking. Where 

 only a few shoots and fruit spurs are affected these can be cut 

 away close to the tree, and the wound immediately covered with 

 paint. Where, however, almost all of the fruit spurs on the whole 

 tree have died, the best wa}' is to cut off entire large limbs, cover the 

 wounds with paint, and stimulate the production of new shoots 

 and subsequent fruit spurs. In one place my attention was called 

 to a very interesting tho sad evidence of the efficacy of bees 

 spreading the disease. All the splendid large apple trees near 

 the hives were without exception seriously injured by blight, while 

 as we proceeded on radii from the hives the blight grew less and 

 less and almost disappeared on the edge of the orchard farthest 

 from the hives. 



It has been often noticed that rapidly growing trees are more 

 subject to blight than slower growers, and that those in low ground 

 or ''swales" are more subject than those on higher ground. Or- 

 chards should therefore be planted on well drained land and should 

 not be stimulated by too much water or too much fertilizer. 



MooNFLOWERS — The moonflower, or evening glory, has large trumpet- 

 shaped, white flowers, often very fragrant, which open during twilight and 

 sometimes last until noon of the following day. They usually expand so fast 

 you can see them move, a bud often becoming a full-blown flower within a 

 minute. 



