THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



HORTICULTURE. 



OCTOBER, 1849. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. The Blight in Pear Trees. By J. H. James, Esq., 

 Urbana, Ohio. 



In a foot note to the article on the blight in pear trees, 

 published in the January number of your Magazine, you 

 assure me, that the destructive blight of the West, is distinct 

 from the insect blight as described by Mr. Lowell, and you 

 promise to discuss the subject in another number, and to 

 show, on the authority of Dr. Harris, the true nature of the 

 insect blight. 



You have not recurred to the subject, and I resume it. In 

 the article referred to, I have given an extract from Dr. Har- 

 ris's Book on Insects, which contains all he says on the Sco- 

 lytus pyri, and the blight in pear trees. This authority is to 

 me conclusive proof, that there is no such thing as insect 

 blight in pear trees. The account given by Mr. Lowell, 

 which is followed by Dr. Harris, is thus : — "The insect had 

 eaten from the root of a bud, behind which, probably, the 

 egg was deposited, following the course of the eye of the bud 

 into the pith, which he had consumed, together with all the 

 heart wood." All the descriptions of insect blight that I have 

 read, are copied from this description of Mr. Lowell's, and, if 

 the cause thus assigned is inadequate to produce blight, or 

 death in the limb, the hypothesis must be abandoned. 



It is here assumed, that the destruction of the pith and of 

 the heart wood, would cause the limb to perish. If this were 

 true, no hollow tree could live, and yet our forests abound 

 with evidence, that trees will live for ages, with a mere shell 



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