ESSAY ON PEAR TREES. 108 



that tliere is no time for the trees to get started. Another objection 

 to fall planting is that the trees not taking root are more liable to get 

 disturbed in their places by the storms and high winds than -when set 

 out in the Spring. If transplanted in autumn it should be done aa 

 soon as the trees shed their leaves freely. 



Treatment after transplanting. A pear tree needs cultivation af- 

 ter it is set out. The ground should be kept open and mellow, and 

 until the tree has been set out six to eight years at the least, the 

 ground should not be laid down to grass, and then not more than on^ 

 or two years at a time. The best way to enrich the soil about 

 the roots of the tree, is to cover the surface of the ground aroun d 

 the trunk with manure in the autumn, which will serve as a protec- 

 tion against the frost in the winter, and the liquid which leaches from 

 it into the ground will afford proper nouri shment for the roots, and in 

 the spring to spade the manure into the ground. This should be 

 done every year. It is better to do it regularly, than to give it an 

 occasional heavy manuring. If the tree should be too luxuriant, it 

 is well to lay bare the roots two or three weeks in the fall, and with 

 a sharp instrument to cut off the tap root. Air-slacked lime or 

 ashes applied to the soil promotes the growth of fruit spurs and 

 buds. The pear tree needs but very little pruning except when the 

 branches become diseased. 



Diseases of Pear Trees. — The principle diseases to which pear 

 trees are subject are insect blight and the frozen sap blight. The 

 insect blight shows itself in June and July. The end of the branch 

 suddenly turns brown and in a few days black and hard. The in. 

 sect which causes this is called the scolytus pyri. It is a species of 

 beetle not more than one tenth of an inch in length. It deposits its 

 eggs in July and August in or near the bud. The ensuing season 

 the insect perforates toward the centre of the branch and causes the 

 blight. The remedy for this is to cut off and burn the branch some 

 inches below the blighted portion. The symptoms of t\iQ frozen sap 

 blight are, the appearance of a thick clammy sap upon incision of the 

 bark of the tree in spring or autumn, and the appearance in spring 

 and early summer of shrivelled and black portions of bark on the 

 branches. The disease is caused by the winter setting in before the 

 wood of the pear tree is ripe. The vessels being full are frozen and 

 thawed with the change of the temperature and the vitality of the 

 sap is lost and instead of performing its usual functions in promoting 



