552 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



From the Cultivalor. 

 BLIGHT IN PEAR TREES. 



Several competitors have already appeared for 

 the five hundred dollars Pliiladelphia premium, 

 lor a preventive of the bliiiht in the pear tree. 

 Two of thecommunicaiions have appeared in the 

 Farmer's Cabinet;* one irom N. H. Watkins, of 

 Prince Edward, Va. and the other I'rom T. Emory, 

 ol" Poplar Grove, IV] d. 



Mr. Watkins, ascribes the blight to plethory. or 

 too great a flow of sap, caused by prunmij and 

 plouirfunii;; and the preventive he siiyiresis, the 

 utility o!' which he considers he has liiily verified, 

 is neither to prune, nor plonrrh among; the trees, 

 after ;hey have become well established, in growth. 

 He reconmiends that manure, if the land is poor, 

 and the trees require it, be ap|ilied to the surface; 

 and thinks ashes constitute a good dressing. 



Mr. Emory is o!" opmion, "that the cause of 

 blii^ht and destruction in the pear and apple tree, is 

 almost always what the French term coup de so- 

 ieil, (stroke ef the sun;") and to avoid the stroke of 

 the sun, he recommends that the trees be planted 

 in a moist, but not wet soil, so as to he sheltered on 

 the south-west by '-tall, dense Ibresl; trees, or a 

 house or /ii7Z." 



We notice these communications, not because 

 we think that either assigns the true cause of the 

 blight, or recommends an efficient remedy or pre- 

 ventive; but rather to point out their fiillacy. 



The blight is not confined to the apple and pear, 

 but extends to many species of the natural order 

 of Pomaceae, as the quince, service, &c. and ap- 

 pears and disappears at intervals of some years; ! 

 and hence we infer, that it is not caused by a 

 stroke of the sun, nor abundant flow of sap. 

 Tliese causes are continually operating; and if 

 they produce blight in one season, they would pro- 

 tluce it any season, and these trees would long 

 since have been extinct among us. Both of these 

 theories are contradicted by the well liuown laws 

 ■of vegetable physiology. But we are not left to 

 conjecture upon this subject. It has been satisfac- 

 torily shown, that the blight is owing to an insect, 

 which is described and figured in the 'Memoirs of 

 The Massachusetts Agricultural Society.' The first 

 appearance of the blight, that we have noticed on 

 record, was in 1780. We hear nothing flirther of 

 il until about 1802, when we witnessed its eflccls 

 during that and four or five sub.?equent years. It 

 appeared in our grounds again in 1824 to 1828— 

 since which it has scarcely' been noticed, though it 

 may have appeared in other sections of the coun- 

 try. During its last visitation, we lost, perhaps, a 

 hundred pear trees, some apple trees, and most of 

 our quince bushes. Of the pears, some grew in 

 dry, and some in moist ground; some in ploughed, 

 some in grass ground, and some in lanes vvhere 

 the ground was trod hard. The blight aflected 

 all alike. The only remedy that we thought 

 beneficial, was promptly to cut off" and burn all The 

 diseased branches, taking care to cut below the 

 discolored bark and cambium. 



From the Mark Lane [Eiig.] Express. 

 BEET ROOT SUGAR. 



When the prospectus for the formation of a 



First in the Farmers' Regrister — En. 



"Beet Root Sugar Company" was first issued, we 

 cautioned our ayricultural readers liom embarking 

 in the speculation, noiwiihstanding the flattering 

 prospeds which were held out. We did so upon 

 two irrounds : — first, Irom a conviction, that should 

 the manuliicture be entered u|)on, a duty would be 

 imposed, so as to p'lace beet-root sugar upon the 

 same liioting with colonial sugar; and, secondly, 

 because the cultivation of beet-root for the pur- 

 pose of making sugar would derange the system of 

 husbandry, and tend to impoverish ihe land. Beet 

 can only be grown by a liberal application of ma- 

 nure; that very manure which sliould be employed 

 in the production of roots, as turnips or mangel 

 wurzel,to be consumed by slock; thereby creating 

 a new stock of manure. It may perhaps be said, 

 that a crop of beet for making sugar is more valu- 

 able than the ordinary produce. The produce of 

 an acre of beet, sold of! the land, may produce a 

 larger amount of money than a crop ol' grain or a 

 crop of turnips consumed by cattle or sheep ; but 

 in land of ordinary quality, the extra amount ob- 

 tained must be exfiended in manure, or the soil 

 will become gradually deteriorated. The cultiva- 

 tion of land upnn the lour course system, vvhere 

 the nature of the soil and the means of the tenant 

 will admit, is, almost by common consent, consid- 

 ered the best. The great merit of the system 

 consists in an extended growth of green ciops, 

 thereby enablino; the farmer to keep a large stock 

 of cattle and sheep, which will produce manure 

 upon the spot, and maintain the li^'riility of the 

 soil. It may be fairly stated, that, under judicious 

 management, the larger the quantity of cattle and 

 sheep kept upon a tillage farm, the greater will be 

 the produce ot' grain. The sale of beet-root ofl' 

 the farm lessens the supply of ibod for cattle, and 

 thereby strikes at the root of good farming. In 

 making these observations, we would have it borne 

 in mind, that we do not deny but that in some 

 isolated instances beet-root may be cultivated lor 

 this purpose with success. But we with confi- 

 dence assert that the introduction of such a system 

 generally, would he in the end injurious, both to 

 the landlord and the tenant. It will be seen from 

 our parliamentary report that a bill has been read 

 a second time in the House of Commons, for im- 

 posing a duty of 24s. per cwt. upon sugar manu- 

 factured from beet-root in this country. 



From the Farmer's Magazine. 

 TO GUARD AGAINST HORSE FLIES. 



In order to prevent horses being teased with 

 flies, take two or three small handfuls of walnut 

 leaves, upon which pour two or three quarts of 

 soft cold water, let it infuse one night, and pour the 

 whole, next morning, into a kettle, and let it boil 

 for a quarter of an hour; when coId.it will be 

 ready for use. Nothing more is required than to 

 moisten a sponge with the liquid, and before the 

 horse goes out of the stable, let those parts which 

 are most irritable be smeared over with the liquor, 

 viz. between and upon the ears, the neck, the 

 flank, &c. Not only the lady or gentleman who 

 rides out for pleasure, will derive benefit from the 

 walnut leaves thus prepared, but the coachman, 

 the wagoner, and all others who use horses during 

 the hot months. 



