GOOSEBERRY MILDEW. 



the life of his trees. " O, yes, I suppose 

 so, but for a pear tree a short life and a 

 merry one is the most profitable. What 

 use is a tree of any kind if it does not 

 give regular crops of saleable fruit? If 

 by this method, I can get a crop that 

 will more than pay for high-priced land 

 every year, what matters it if my trees do 

 die twenty or thirty years sooner than 

 those of some man who is coddling a lot 

 of barren trees ? What I want is more 

 results while I live." 



At the recent Western New York 

 Horticultural Meeting, President Barry 

 showed some very fine winter pears. He 

 has done the same thing for many years, 

 and this year I asked him to tell the 



Society how he managed to grow Winter 

 Nelis to about four times the size that 

 it commonly reaches under ordinary 

 management. 



His answer (somewhat abbreviated) 

 was that trees growing in rich ground 

 were severely pruned in late winter, and 

 the fruit thinned so;r!ewhat, if necessary, 

 when partly grown. The latter, how- 

 ever, under his man's severe pruning, 

 was rarely necessary. His man pruned 

 more severely than he himself would if 

 he had it to do, but the results certainly 

 were all that could be wished for. The 

 same results may be reached by thinning 

 the canes of red raspberries and black- 

 berries — Green's F G 



GOOSEBERRY MILDEW. 



T has been a theory of mine for 

 some years that all one requires to 

 produce a perfect gooseberry is to 

 give them plenty of sunlight, a free 

 circulation of air, and keep the soil 

 about them well mulched with hard- 

 wood ashes. Whether this theory is 

 sound and to be depended on in all 

 seasons I would not like to give a 

 voucher. But I will say with positive- 

 ness that gooseberry mildew cannot be 

 prevented by the use of Bordeaux 

 mixture. 



Three years ago I gave up the use of 

 ashes. Two years ago 1 saw indica- 

 tions of mildew on the leaves of my 

 bushes, the fruit all having been ki'led 

 by the spring frosts I at once sprayed 

 with Bordeaux mixture, it being then in 

 the month of August. Last year I pre- 

 pared early and w^hile the buds were 

 opening I gave the first spraying. .\n- 

 other application was given when the 

 blossom was fading, and a third about 

 ten days later, when the fruit was form- 

 ing. The last application was a very 

 thorough one, as I saw indications of 



mildew on the tender shoots. In less 

 than three weeks the ground was covered 

 with fruit, and there was scarcely a 

 clean berry to be found on the bushes. 

 One side of the fruit would be coated 

 with the mixture and the other with 

 mildew, and the many cases the mildew 

 had developed under the coating of the 

 mixture. 



My neighbor. Dr. Hurlburt, had an 

 experience with Bordeaux mixture pre- 

 cisely similar to mine ; but on his 

 bushes, which he had treated early in 

 the spring with an application of 

 ammoniacal copper corbonate solution 

 he had a clean handsome crop. 



I still believe had I continued ray 

 system of cultivation with the annual 

 application of ashes, I would have had 

 no mildew; but the disease once in it 

 requires a more radical remedy than air, 

 sunlight and ashes, though all are good. 

 What that remedy is I would like to 

 know That it is not to be found in 

 Bordeaux mixture I am now satisfied. 



T. H. Race. 



Mitchell. 



185 



