322 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



wards, destroying the young growing tissues between the bark and wood, there 

 is no way to get any fungicde material to them. Though the blight begins its 

 growth early in the season, its presence is only known to the ordinary observer 

 by the sudden wilting and blackening of the foliage on the affected limb. The 

 only way to check it is to cut the affected limb off well into the sound wood, 

 and to keep the knife used constantly sterilized by dipping it into a solution 

 of carbolic acid, to prevent transferring live bacteria to sound wood. Then 

 burn all the cut-off wood at once, and keep on planting more pear trees. 

 Some varieties are less liable to the blight than others, but all are to some 

 extent, subject to it, and if anyone tells you that a certain variety is blight 

 proof you can be sure he does not know what he is talking about. 



Since writing the foregoing I have visited one of the famous Pippin or- 

 chards in the mountains of Albemarle County, Virginia. The owner wished 

 me to give him some advice in regard to the twig blight, which was very trou- 

 blesome. I spent some hours in the study of a large number of trees, and 

 what struck me most was the fact that there was no signs of blight on the 

 trees which were destitute of fruit, but on those carrying a crop there was 

 uniformly blighted twigs. This fact seems to confirm the experiments made 

 at one of our Stations, showing that the point of infection with the blight 

 bacteria is the blossoms, and when these fill without setting fruit there was 

 no infection. The important point in preventing fire blight in pears and 

 apples is to watch its first start in spring and cut it out before the whole limb 

 is affected, for there is no infection later in the season. 



One thing that we have learned by experience, and that is that pear trees 

 growing in sod are far less affected by blight than (hose cultivated and heavily 

 manured. The rank growth induced by heavy manuring is peculiarly the 

 prey of the blight. We once had two plantations of pears in a similar soil, 

 and only separated by an evergreen hedge. One lot were in a piece of land 

 which was used as a vegetable garden and annually manured and well culti- 

 vated. These blighted continually, with the sole exception of a tree of the 

 Buerre D'Anjou, which had such a luxuriant growth and spreading habit that 

 nothing would grow near it, and the land there was only cultivated to the 

 extent of the wide spreading limbs. Over the other side of the hedge was an- 

 other plantation of pears which were set on a lawn and had never been culti- 

 vated from the start. The lawn was constantly mown and kept in perfect 

 order, and all the cut grass allowed to remain where it fell. It was also an- 

 nually top dressed with bone and potash. We never saw a blighted limb 

 on these trees in the six years we had them in charge, and while they did not 

 make as heavy growth as the trees in the cultivated land, they bore annual 

 (rops of fine fruit. 



