ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 401 



supposed himself to have discovered th 3 cause of this evil ; 

 and to him AVC are indebted for a first sug gestion of the cause. 

 Mr. Reagan has for more than twelve years past suspected 

 that this disease originated in the fall previous to the sum 

 mer on which it declares itself. During the last winter 

 Mr. Reagan predicted the blight, and in his pear-orchards 

 he marked the trees that would suffer, and pointed to 

 the spot which would be the seat of the disease ; and his 

 prognostications were strictly verified. After gathering 

 from him all the information which a limited time would 

 allow, we obtained from Aaron Alldredge, of Indianapolis, 

 a nurseryman of great skill, and possessed of careful, 

 cautious habits of observation, much corroborative informa 

 tion ; and particularly a tabular account of the blight for 

 nine years past in his nursery and orchard. 



The spring of 1843 opened early, but cold and wet, until 

 the last of May. The summer was both dry and cool, and 

 trees made very little growth of new wood. Toward 

 autumn, however, the drought ceased, copious rains satu 

 rated the ground, and warm weather started all trees into 

 vigorous, though late, growth. At this time, while we 

 hoped for a long fall and a late winter, on the contrary we 

 were surprised by an early and sudden winter, and with 

 unusual severity at the very beginning. In the West, 

 much corn was ruined and more damaged ; and hundreds of 

 bushels of apples were caught on the trees and spoiled one 

 cultivator alone losing five hundred bushels. Caught in this 

 early winter, what was the condition of fruit-trees ? They 

 were making rapid growth, every part in a state of excite 

 ment, the wood unripe, the passages of ascent and descent 

 impleted with sap. In this condition, the fluids were sud 

 denly frozen the growth instantly checked ; and the 

 whole tree, from a state of great excitability, was, by one 

 shock, rudely forced into a state of rest. Warm suns, for 

 a time, followed severe nights. What wouf d be the effect 

 of this freezing and sudden thawing upon the fluids and 



