40 MICROBES AND THE MICROBE-KILLER. 



all the poisonous drugs I had before used. I felt certain 

 that herein lay the key to my remedy. But to identify 

 it absolutely, to make it artificially, and then to apply it 

 correctly, were problems that occupied my attention for 

 more than a year after. My former experiments had 

 shown me that powerful drugs had little or no effect if 

 applied externally to plants or trees, or if dusted on 

 fruits. I found also that sprinkling and washing pear 

 trees which had blight did very little good, and that 

 even pruning and cutting off diseased parts gave at best 

 but temporary relief, because no sooner was it done 

 than other parts became diseased, and by pruning away 

 all the dead matter there was soon nothing but the 

 stump left, and then that too died. 



This very much resembles what happens in the exer- 

 cise of ^'scientific surgery," where limbs or diseased 

 portions are cut away and the disease breaks out again, 

 so that the patient dies from constant operations, unless 

 the microbes are left undisturbed to fulfil their mission. 

 Of course we all know that surgical operations are often 

 successful, but those are mostly cases of severe injury 

 where it is necessary to remove the injured portion. It 

 is very different when the operation is undertaken to 

 remove parts that are diseased from the presence of 

 micro-organisms, or fungi, or microbes, as, for example, 

 cancer. To cure a tree of tendency to blight it is neces- 

 sary to go to the roots. Most persons know that flowers 

 which grow luxuriantly are less subject to blight than 

 others whose growth is slower and whose appearance is 

 sickly. We must then furnish the tree with better food 

 and drink, that will enter into the sap, pass through the 

 tissues, and produce a condition where bacteria will not 

 live. As soon as I did this to my trees their green color 

 returned, they threw out fresh shoots, put on a more 

 vigorous growth, and presented no further necessity for 

 cutting off the limbs. 



The organs of the body are similar in functions to por- 

 tions of the tree. In plants every cell is a stomach. 

 Nourishment is taken up by the roots. It passes up- 



