of moisture. You have a garden ; it is a sandy loam ; you keep it clean and manure 

 heavily; everything flourishes, fruit trees and all. I will suppose your pear trees are 

 seven years old or more. You are delighted as you look at their symmetrical tops 

 and vigorous foliage. Did you ever think how much moisture is thrown off by the foli- 

 age of one of these trees from sunrise to sunset ? And have you made provisions to sup- 

 ply the water ? Probably you have not. Some day the mercury will run up to nearly 

 a hundred in the shade. Then could the thousands of little working fibres but speak ! 

 How they would cry out, "Water ! Water !" They are not supplied; alas, they perish ! 

 There are always some branches more favorably situated than others; the sap flows more 

 easily into these, while others get little or none. The latter dry up and wither; the leaves 

 turn almost black, and we exclaim, " It is blighted !" As has already been remarked, 

 stepping on a branch in hot weather will sometimes produce this same effect. In this 

 case you rupture the bark and stop the circulation, which, of course, is followed by death 

 to the foliage. 



It is commonly supposed that blight in a pear tree is contagious. It is not directly, 

 but ib an indirect sense it is, but not any more than in other trees. Dead branches or 

 dead stubs on any tree contribute of their dead, watery substance to the living circulation, 

 and is equivalent to blood poisoning in the human system, and, therefore, should be 

 removed as soon as discovered. 



You can now understand why I contend that the pear must have a great depth of 

 soil. I have asserted that the pear must have clay. This is not so much on account of 

 the substances in the clay that enter into plant food, as it is that clay retains the moisture 

 so much better than light soils. My opinion is that if the method of subterranean water- 

 ing, which is suggested for use in the city of Cleveland, were used (see photo 115) there 

 would be but little or no summer blight in the pear. Blight from late spring freezing is 

 not entirely under our control. 



But very little is ever heard of pear blight in England. If that country is not "the 

 home of the pear," it is a natural climate for it. Never having the late spring freezes 

 nor the excessive summer heat, no destruction of leaf or rootlet is accomplished from 

 those sources. The southern and middle portions of the United States will never be 

 entirely free from pear blight, but it is possible to obviate nine-tenths or more of it by 

 the judicious selection of location and the provision for water in the very hot, trying 

 days, especially when the tree is laden with fruit. 



The Tyson pear seldom ever blights, because its roots correspond directly to the 

 branches. The latter have a straight upivard growth; the former plunge nearly straight 

 down, and if any tree will find moisture the Tyson will. The Bartlett blights quite 

 easily, but we can take you to a place where a large Bartlett stands and bears regularly 

 every year and has never blighted. The whole trunk of the tree and the ground in 

 which it stands is shaded after noon. The soil is thus kept cool and considerable mois- 

 ture retained. Young pear trees do not blight from the heat of summer because, being 

 small and newly planted, they find all the moisture needed. 



Suppose you apply the Golden Rule to the pear tree. Suppose you were the pear 

 tree, and you had stood there year after year faithfully guarding your precious treasures 

 (the buds) in the storms of winter. In spring you develop your leaf and flower bud, and 

 go on through the heat of summer. Now comes a real hot day. You call on all your 

 faithful helpers below to send up " more water !" They work till they are exhausted. 

 You now withhold your support from the weaker branches and try to save the best. You 

 succeed in saving some. Then the owner comes along and exclaims, " Look at that 

 miserable tree ! I have a notion to take an ax and cut it down." Between your sobs I 

 think I hear something as follows: "Sir, we have wrought to the best of our ability; 

 thousands of my assistants have died of thirst. Had you supplied us with water this 

 calamity would not have happened." 



Whatsoever you would that men should do for you, if yen were a pear tree t do iv 

 even so for the tree. 



49 



