STATE HOKTlCULTtJKAL SOCIETY. 127 



FIRE BLIGHT IN FRUIT TREES. 



By F. G. Gould, op Excelsior, Minn. 



The disease in fruit trees known as fire bliglit first developed in 

 this region about twelve years ago. It is a contagious disease; for 

 when it once gets into a orchard it is liable to spread into every tree. 

 Sometimes it drops into a nursery of young trees and destroys every 

 one for rods around. 



In the eastern and middle states this disease is known by the 

 name of Pear Blight. Its ravages are found at intervals all the 

 way from Maine to Dakota, and from Minneapolis to Texas. When 

 it first came to this region, its course was from east to west; we 

 heard from it in Wisconsin before it reached here ; it then took five 

 or six years for it to travel to Meeker county, fifty miles west of this 

 point. Only for this scourge every family living on a farm 

 in Minnesota could have a supply of apples at least of the rich and 

 fruitful Transcendant crab. 



It was believed by many at first to be the effect of some peculiar- 

 ity in the weather or the electricity in thunderstorms, and by 

 others it was thought to be the work of insects, but now, I think, 

 we may as well settle down to the conclusion that blight perpetu- 

 ates itself by the transmission of its virus in the atmosphere being 

 blown about by the winds. 



Unfavorable conditions of the weather or excessive fertilization 

 puts a tree in condition to take the blight on the same principle 

 that yellow fever, small-pox and cholera are most destructive in 

 communities whose vital forces have been weakened by unfa- 

 vorable surroundings, habit or diet. 



It is a well-known fact that some varieties or families of trees 

 are much more subject to blight than others; in fact, it usually, 

 if not always, begins in the crab trees or their relatives, and then 

 spreads to others standing near, which perhaps are less sus- 

 ceptible, and never would have blighted except for the infection or 

 virus from the blighting crabs which overpowered them. 



From the best information at hand, this disease was imported 

 from Russia, being first brought to Russia from China, or, perhaps, 

 was brought direct from China to this country. Many remedies 

 have been recommended. The best, in my opinion, is lime applied 



