30 ANNUAL REPORT. 
a very high price. 1 concluded they must be something much better than I had 
seen, and could lose nothing by orderjng a hundred trees. They came, not as. 
my order specified, for the Tetofskys were entirely left out, and only ten soulards 
arrived, but the number was made up of mammoth yellow, which he now said 
was really the best ofall. The fault, he said, was with Sabin, who had taken 
more orders than he had trees to fill. 1 concluded to take the soulards and fifty 
of the latter, which when they came into bearing proved to be nothing but the 
little golden beauty, of which | had already a superabundance. Of the soulard 
I leave those acquainted with it to decide. I now came to the conclusion, to let 
all tree-peddlers severely alone. Nurserymen generally have at stake a reputa- 
tion upon which their success in business depends. Then why should we pat- 
ronize those brazen-faced, smooth-tongued organizations, and persist in refus- 
ing to read anything on the subject of fruit culture, thus throwing open the 
door to that very class who are close observers and ever ready to impose upon 
our ignorance and credulity. 
Blight. 
Blight in orchard trees has been the subject of close investigation by some of 
the most throughly scientific men, but the exact cause has not yet been discov- 
ered, or an effectual remedy provided. Prof. Burrell, of the Illinois Industrial 
University, claims that it is not only contageous, but can easily be transferred 
by inoculation. The past winter was unusually severe and has severely injured 
the vitality of many of our orchard treets. With the first hot, showery days of 
summer, blight sets in, quite severe in many places, but did not spread to so 
great an extent as it has done in former years. From my own observation | 
have come to the conclusion that electricity and humidity have something -to do 
in originating it. Last year I fenced in a plum orchard for a calf pasture, using 
common fencing wire, and fastening it with staples to a row of transcendant ap- 
ple trees on one side, and plum trees and lombardy poplars on the other sides. 
Those apple trees remained entirely free from blight, while all the other tran- 
scendants in my grounds were more or less affected. As Col. Sellers says, 
“there’s millions in it,’’ but until we have more conclusive evidence of its efficacy 
better keep it a profound secret. 
‘Tell it not in Gath, tell it not in the streets of Askalon,”’ for once the light- 
ning-rod pedlers get hold of it, we should not be able to get off with anything 
short of a lightning-rod to every apple tree. When J built my dwelling house, 
how they all found it out | do not know, but they came from far and near—from 
St. Paul, Shakopee, Stillwater, Minneapolis, and I don’t know where, each with 
something different and far better than anything that had preceeded it or was 
likely to follow, drawing the lightning from the very clouds and laying it harm- 
less at our feet, in a way that would have astonished a Franklin and put his 
lnte toshame. But strange as it may seem, each rod had some particular vir- 
tues which were patented and endorsed by all scientific men. There was the 
roumd rod, the square rod, the flat rod, the hollow rod and the twisted rod, with 
as many different kinds of points. Now I had but little faith in lightning-rods, 
and the insurance agent said that [| had better keep them off the building, for 
in nine cases out of ten they do more harm than good, But I found that I must 
yield to the inevitable, so I hadjthem put up, and am pleased to say that they 
have been a complete protection against lightning-rod peddlers. 
