STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 127 



free from blight. 1 put on white-wash and a little clay with it. 



Mr. Busse. I set out fifty trees eight years ago. T put a row of 

 currant bushes between the rows. By working thoroughly I kept 

 them clean. In two or three years they got from a foot to a foot 

 and a half growth. I think it was iu June 1880, they commenced 

 blighting. I cut off the blighted part. They didn't blight any 

 more that season. The next year, earh' in the spring, I put about 

 half a barrel of salt around them within about three or four feet of 

 the trees. I did that for two seasons and have not been troubled 

 with blight since. At the same time a neighbor close by is troubled 

 with it yet. I would say that the Iowa gentleman is very correct 

 in his remedy, if he does not choke the trees too much with manure. 



Mr. Somerville. I wish to say a word in regard to blight. I am 

 not going to discuss the cause of it, but I wish to tell of the pre- 

 ventive used in my orchard. I had a large orchard of crab trees 

 which were affected with the blight. I thought I would either de- 

 stroy the orchard or get rid of the blight. I seeded the orchard to 

 i-ed clover, took the rings out of my hogs' noses, and turned them 

 all in there. They rooted the ground all over and over around the 

 trees, and since that time, for four years past I have not seen any 

 blight. 



Mr. Sias. It seems to be admitted that noone knows exactly 

 what this blight is. My opinion is that it is some kind of living 

 organism that gets into the cell structure of the wood. As Mr. 

 Busse says, I believe that salt is a good thing to throw around trees 

 if you don't throw it over them. You are very apt to kill the tree 

 if you throw salt on the top, but throwing it around the roots I 

 think would be a good thing. One gentleman recommends lime. 

 Ashes, sulphur, and kerosene, anything that will destroy these 

 minute, living organisms is beneficiai. I believe it is something 

 that moves in the atmosphere, as Mr. Gaylord says. It floats 

 in the air slowly, and lights on the different trees, and runs in 

 streaks through the country. Some vears it is a great deal worse 

 than others. A great deal depends, he said, upon where the orchard 

 is located. I believe in wind breaks myself, but not in hemming in 

 too close. Usually where I have seen blight was where I thought 

 the trees were hemmed in too close. 



Mr. Kellogg. Mr. President, I know of no subject that is so in- 

 exhaustible as this subject of blight; if you get out of timber, just 

 take up this blight question. 



