TlIK CANADIAN HOKTICCLTURIST. 



153: 



quently takes place and gives rise to 

 the doubtful opinion that some varie- 

 ties are blight-proof. 



Waterloo County, or at least the 

 greater part of it, is the most (or nearly 

 so) elevated county in Ontario, and 

 geologically is in the line of the glacial 

 drift, hilly and broken, and contains a 

 mixture of almost all soils, composed 

 in part of boulder, clay, sand, gravel 

 and alluvial soil strongly impregnated 

 with calcareous matter, and from its 

 elevated position we are more exempt 

 from injuries caused by blight than any 

 other county in Ontario, simply from 

 the fiict that the frost is carried off by 

 the slightest breeze of wind and de- 

 posit<xl in more depressed places. We 

 liere have generally a fair crop of fruit 

 annually. Last year it was in excess 

 and was almost a drug on the market ; 

 every grocery store was fully supplied 

 with mostly Flemish Beauty and Bart- 

 let, which are the popular varieties 

 gi'own here. Some inferior goods were 

 sold by the farmers (rather than to take 

 them home again) at about the same 

 price as apples, thus realizing the 

 wishes of the border Scotchman who 

 carried a banner in one of Gladstone's 

 processions inscribed, " Down with the 

 Peel's," and when interrogated by a 

 bystander why he did so, and being 

 asked if the peei*s had done him any 

 harm, wittily replied, *' Naethin at a' 

 mon, but we maun hae them doon tae 

 the same price wi ar[)els, that's a','' 

 peers being the doric pronounciation 

 '»• pears. 

 I am very doubtful if pear-growing 

 ill be generally successful throughout 

 'iitario and those parts of the States 

 lying contiguous thereto, which are 

 siibjt'ct to late spring oi early summer 



fVosfs. 



TliL' j)(!ar-tree is much more sensitive 

 1) external influences than the apple, 

 nd consequently requires more care in ] 

 ^ cultivation. It must be borne in ' 



mind that the pear which we have in 

 cultivation is indigenous to Asia Minor 

 and Persia and cultivated varieties 

 thereof, or rather seeds thereof, were 

 at first introduced by the Roman con- 

 querors of these countries into Italy. 



Ontario climate cannot at all be com- 

 pared to the fine, equable climate of 

 the countries alluded to, so we must 

 quietly submit to circumstances and 

 endeavour to make the best of it. 



You will observe that pears worked 

 on the Quince are more subject to 

 blight than those worked on the free 

 stock. The reason of this is that the 

 Quince, Vjeing indigenous to the Levant, 

 will force into the pear a premature 

 flow of sap, thus rendering the tree 

 more liable to injury. Various nos- 

 trums have been advised from time to 

 time as specifics, such as sulphate of 

 iron, iron filings and chips, and even 

 inserting sulphur into the stem of the 

 tree — all of no avail. I once read an 

 article by a writer on the pear strongly 

 recommending the placing of iron filings 

 around the base of the tree as far as 

 the roots extended as a specific against 

 blight, giving as authority an instance 

 of what he saw in front of a black- 

 smiths shop at Yincennes, Illinois, 

 which had been liberally supplied with 

 the debris of the shop, thrown out, no 

 doubt, during the winter, when in fact 

 it had nothing at all to do with it save 

 in retaining the frost later in the sea- 

 son ; no doubt the unsightly mass 

 would be cleared off in spring if only 

 for appearance sake. 



Having worked a number of pear 

 trees for my own use at standard 

 height upon rough wildlings, all appear 

 to do well and are bearing fruit. They 

 have as yet exhibited very little or no 

 blight and have the advantage of a 

 hardier stem than those which are 

 grown from buds or grafts worked low 

 down. Foreign or imported stocks are 

 not likely as a rule to conduce to the 



