152 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



It grew so rapidly that my garden was 

 in danger of being wholly shaded by 

 its branches. To avoid this I have 

 just removed it to its proper place — 

 the lawn. For a man blessed with 

 only an ordinary city lot, and who is 

 desirous of utilizing the major portion 

 for a garden, the Russian Mulberry is 

 not the tree he wants. But on the 

 lawn it will give every satisfaction. 

 It can be sheared to any desired shape. 

 It will grow from a cutting almost as 

 freely as a currant bush. It will grow 

 faster than any other tree that I know 

 except the " Balm of Gilead." It con- 

 tinues to grow until stopped by the 

 frosts of October or November, con- 

 sequently the tips winter-kill, but it 

 makes up any loss so sustained by 

 growing at the average rate of an inch 

 in three days during the following 

 summer. 

 Ottawa City. P. G. Keys. 



BLIGHT ON THE PEAR TREE AND 

 ITS PROBABLE CAUSE. 



Various causes have from time to 

 time been assigned to pear tree blight, 

 some asserting that it is caused by a 

 stroke of lightning, being led to this 

 opinion from the sudden wilted appear- 

 ance of the tree ; others again hold 

 with tenacity to the opinion that it is 

 caused by a fungus, from the fact that 

 «uch is frequently seen on the surface 

 of the bark of affected trees; others 

 again suppose it is caused by perfora- 

 tions of some insect which poisons the 

 liber, hence its spreading upwards, 

 while others nearer the point assert 

 that it is caused by an open winter 

 with alternate freezing and thawing. 



Blight is without doubt caused by 

 the action of the frost, but not, how- 

 ever, in winter, but in early summer. 

 It is in the latter part of spring or in 

 early summer that the damage is done, 

 the ascent or flow of the sap being 



injured by frost, the cellular tissue and 

 capillary conduits of the sap are rup- 

 tured immediately under the epider- 

 mis, which is usually thin, on such 

 parts of the tree so affected ; thus the 

 sap becomes fermented, followed by de- 

 composition and imparting a species of 

 blood-poisoning to the limb. Other 

 effects of a similar character may likely 

 occur in the descent of the sap in the 

 fall, it being overtaken by an early 

 frost. Winter pears are very subject 

 to this calamity in certain seasons, and 

 some summer pears, which apparently 

 had finished the descent of the sap, 

 will, upon warm weather late in the 

 fall, start another flow of spp, which is 

 almost certain death to the tree. 

 Against these two latter calamities I 

 cannot advise any precaution. The 

 first or blight proper may be averted 

 by judicious management, either by the 

 selection of elevated sites retentive of 

 winter frosts in the ground, thus check- 

 ing a premature fiow of the sap until 

 all danger of late spring frosts are over, 

 or when low or flat sites are selected, 

 with soil of a porous character, mulch- 

 ing is absolutely necessary for the same 

 purpose. 



I was on a visit to Hamilton some 

 ten years ago, or perhaps more, and 

 visited our old friend the Rev. Robert 

 Burnet, and as a matter of course I was 

 called into the garden to view his pear 

 trees, in which he took much pleasure. 

 I felt cheap when comparing his trees 

 with ours in Waterloo County. Tlie 

 thrifty appearance and fine-looking fruit 

 made me wish that I had a similar 

 site. I then went over to Mr. Hol- 

 ton's, at the east end, and saw Mr. 

 Springer's apparently fine dwarf pear 

 orchard, which, of course, I very much 

 admired. The following season I 

 visited the same places and saw that 

 the destroying angel had passed over, 

 such was the complete character of the 

 calamity. Partial destruction fre- 



