BLIGHT. 221 



General Grant and other blighters. I saw the man recently who 

 bought the trees, and he told me that there never has been a blighted 

 limb on any of those trees, and yet out of the same lot were sold 

 trees in other localities, and they are nearly all gone. I think it is 

 on account of climatic conditions. 



Mr. Hartwell: There was a paper read in our association (the Illi- 

 nois society), by Col. Forbes, on pear blight, and I recall this illus- 

 tration of his experimental work: He had a large pear orchard, and 

 he worked three tests on it, and one was that he thoroughly cultiva- 

 ted certain rows and left uncultivated and in sod other rows. The 

 rows cultivated blighted almost to kill while those uncultivated did 

 not. 



Mr. Seth Kenney: I would like to ask why that orchard in Idaho 

 did not blight. 



Prof. Green: Mr. Hartwell recalls Col. Forbes' experiment with 

 one row of trees in sod that did not blight. I remember in New 

 York carrying on an experiment for Prof. Penhallow for prevention 

 of the yellows in the peach, and the line of experiment was in using 

 fertilizers, and wherever we used a large amount of nitrogenous 

 fertilizer we would get blight. Phosphoric acid would encourage 

 early maturity and hardiness, and while we were in a measure suc- 

 cessful, yet I do not think the test was conclusive. 



Mr. Patten (Iowa): As to the effect of budding a tree to prevent 

 its blighting. I made certain experiments with a tree that is known 

 as a blighting variety, in budding it with a Duchess. I budded it 

 just above the surface of the ground, as it is usually done, and to 

 my surprise those budded trees have blighted very badly. It is the 

 only place where the Duchess of Oldenburg has blighted to any ex- 

 tent. 



The President: I do not think any of us can say definitely what 

 causes blight and what will prevent it. I do not think that question 

 has ever been answered, but it does seem as though climatic influ- 

 ences have something to do with it. That is the reason why I intro- 

 duced the inquiry whether there has been as much difficulty exper- 

 ienced this year as in previous years. Where I have made my ob- 

 servations this year there has been no blight on blighting varieties 

 of trees, and I came to the conclusion it was because the season was 

 different owing to climatic conditions, and I think what Prof. Green 

 has said and what Mr. Kenney has said indicate the same con- 

 clusion. 



Mr. Dartt: I think one point has been overlooked. High cultiva- 

 tion of an orchard always induces blight. Always. I can make 

 that as a positive statement. Anything that induces rapid growth 

 will be most likely to cause blight. 



The President: In a large experience in growing trees I have 

 found just the opposite to be the case. There is no condition of 

 trees you can mention under which blight will not occur. Whether 

 you mulch or not, whether you cultivate or not, whether the trees 

 are in sod or not, I have never seen any condition in which they do 

 not blight. I have seen trees in the nursery that were root-killed 

 that blighted badly, and I have seen trees in perfect condition, with 



