THE TREE DOCTOR 



101 



Photo 87 

 Sweeping the Ground. 



beetles, it is another problem. But even in such cases, scien- 

 tists tell us that the parent lays her eggs on the weakest plants, 

 just as the fish goes into the shallow stream to spawn, from an 

 instinct of safety to her young. Nine-tenths of your victory is 

 won in having a healthy plant. "Pear blight," so-called, can be 

 avoided by planting on eastern, western or northern slopes, 

 avoiding the southern ; and, above all things, give it a clay soil. 

 If you have sandy soil, excavate a hole six feet in diameter and 

 four feet deep, and fill, not with "raw clay," but with a clay 

 loam. Keep the tree cultivated, and all dead branches and twigs 

 cut out, as they appear, and you will have no serious trouble 

 with "Pear blight." The climate of Great Britain is just right 

 for the pear. In the too-hot or too-cold or changeable climate 

 of the United States, it will always be subjected to more or less 

 injury. 



