]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBUSHF.U BY JOHN B. RUSSELL, ROGFRS' RUll ULNGS, CONGRKSS STRKF.T, HOSTONf.— THOMAS G. FF.SSF.NDF.N, F.DnX'lt. 



VOL 111. 



FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, U524. 



No. Hi. 



©rt'Btnal crommum'cations. 



TO THE EDITOR OP THK KEW EiMOI.AM) FARMER. 



?,n, H.ivina: inailc snme pn(]iiiiiP3 cnncrrn- 



iii"- the Mast ari iiijnrioiis to tlie St.Gprmain ;uiil 

 SI? Michnel po,Ti-< ivliich iire l>rou!!:til to Boston 

 mnrliot, I submit (he rrsiilt lo your ilispofiil. 



There is so much resenihl.uice between the 

 op.'ts anil cracks on these j)e;u-s, ami llie spots 

 and cracks on the leaves and bark ofpf-ar trees, 

 that 1 have suspected nil ikese diseases lo be 

 the same. This affection of the bark is what 

 is termed canker. As a further proof of the 

 identity of these diseases, I think it uill be 

 found that the leaves, if not the bark, of Ihe 

 trees bearing the St. Germain and St. Mich'.cl^ 

 pears, have a less heallby appearance than 

 those of other pear trees. 



Some of the causes of the blasting' of our 

 pears seem to be easterly weather — the sudden 

 changes in the temperature of the atmosphere 

 — extremes of heat and cold. To these ouc:ht, 

 pel haps, to be added, the old r.ge, or. as it is 

 called, the running out, of the fruit. All these 

 causes are known to produce canker. 



Several circunislanres render it probable, 

 that a temporary remeily. at least, may be found 

 for this deterioration of two of our mosl deli- 

 cious fruits. 



First. There are certain trees in this neigh 



QuKRv. — As pomace abounds with aci<ls, what 

 effect has it, when used as a manure, in remov- 

 ing or preventing canker? 



Yours, with much esteem, 



E. B. KENUICK. 

 JVexeton, Oct. 18,. 1821. 



[bv Tin; F.niTor..] 

 We doubt whether an eastern exposure, and 

 the consequent operation of easterly winds is 

 so injurious to pear trees, and to other fruit 

 trees in the United States, as has been imagin- 

 ed. The pear tree bears cold better llian heat ; 

 and we have been informed that in France, it is 

 t[ie practice to set this tree on the north side of 

 high walls to det'end it against souiherli/ tcinr/s. 

 whkh are there thought lo be a cause of blight 

 or blast. In Massachusetts, if is said that this 

 ttee llourishcs when exposed to easterly winds, 

 blowing directly from Ihe sea. We have, like- 

 wise, observe(l that pear trees, struck wilh 

 I'light were'^pparenlly most injured on the 

 .^oulh and sonlh western sides. We have seen 

 the leaves'>bf pear trees, which had a south and 

 south westerly aspect, quite withered and bronn 

 by the blast, while those leaves on the north- 

 ern and easlern sides of the same trees were 

 little effected, but retained" nearly tlieir mosl 

 fi;ll and vivid verdure. 



Mr Coxe says, '' That species of blight, 



which is sometimes called the lire blight. Ire 

 bourhood, on which these fruits have neverLjug,,,!^ jgg,,.„y^ trees in the fullest apparent 

 blasted. This may be owing lo a situation L.j,,^,,^ gJ,^] j,p.,lll,, ,„ a few hours, turnmg the 

 sheltered from easterly wind', or to the soil, or lei^yeg suddenly brown, as if they had passed 

 (as some good judges think they have observed) I t|,po,,g.|, a hot flame, and causing a morbid mat- 

 te the pears being grafted on wildstocl<<. j ter to exude from the pores of the bark, of a 

 SccontH^. It is said to be a fact, that the St. |,i.,r].j-pr^,i„j„p„,; nppearance ; this happens 

 Michael and St. Germain pears cultivated in through the\vhole course of Ihe warm season 



Boslon, have always been fair. This has been 

 attributed to Ihe protection which the nume- 

 rous buildings and ll'uces afl'ord against Ihe 

 winds. But 1 have lately been told, by a skilful 

 gardener, that the principal, if not the only 

 cause, is not .a sheltered situation, (such as we 

 so often lind ineilectual in Ihe country) but Ihe 

 sea air. Hence 1 have inferred, that salt ap- 

 plied as a manure to pear trees, may be advan- 

 tageous. 



Tliwdbj. In agreement wilh this conjecture. 

 1 have since b^en inlormed that Dr. K.obinson, 

 of Newbur\ poit, has ascertained that a com- 

 position ot sea mud, salt, and clay, applied in 

 the form of paint to the trunks, and tlie lower 

 parts of the larg< r branches of bis pear tree^, 

 preserves not rniy Ihe trees, but ihe fruii. 

 from blast. The clay shoubl be merely suffi- 

 cient to render the composition duly adhesive. 

 Before the paint is laid on, the moss, and the 

 loose and decayed bark, are to be scraped o(i 

 The bark which has been thus coaled, i* said to 

 have a remarkably green and lively appearance. 

 It IS likely that our common marsh mud, as il 

 contain" salt, would in this case, be a good sub- 

 stitute lor sea or duck mud. 



Sir Humphry Davy ascribes canker in tree^ 

 to an alkaline secretion; to neutralize, and 

 thereby remove which, he proposes to ajiply a 

 weak acid, as a lotion, lo the atJected part. 



— more frequently in weather both hot and 

 moist, affording reason lo believe that it ar;s.-s 

 from the rays of the snu operating on the va- 

 pour, or clouds, floating in Ihe atmosphere, ei 

 ther by concentration or reflection. It gener 

 ally, though not always, is perceived most in 

 confined places : certain kinds, and particularly 

 that most excpiisite of our winter pears, ihe St. 

 Germain, seems peculiarly liable to this specie- 

 of blight. I have in twenty years lost upward' 

 of lilly trees in the fullness of vigour — some- 

 limes in the most open airy situations, and in 

 every kind of soil. From repeated observation 

 of the kinds most liable to this malady, I have 

 been led lo believe, (hat it is somewhat con- 

 nected with a principle which appears lo be 

 considered as a sound one, by the most judicious 

 European writers, when treating of apple trees, 

 that is the long duration of the variety. It i= 

 certain, that natural trees, continually springing 

 up from seed, are seldom attacked by this dis- 

 ease ; and the Seckle pear, generally supposed 

 to be a new variety, is but liitle affecied by il 

 — ot titty bearing trees of this kind, of various 

 ages, I have not lost one entire tree from this 

 cause — this year, for Ihe first time, I have per- 

 ceived the limbs of some of them partially at- 

 fected, and in some instances, several large 

 iiranches have been destroyed. From the great 

 vigour and rapiditj of vegelalion in America, 



pear trees, ifmurh pruned, are apt to grow too 

 last; this appears to rentier them more liable 

 to the elT'Ct of the lire blight than otherwise 

 they would be — 1 have therefore changed my 

 mode of trimming them imder this impression, 

 confining it very much to suckering, and mere- 

 y forming the tree — our heal and dryness, do 

 not require the growth lo be so open as in Eu- 

 rope." 



Miller's Gardener's Dictionary says, " There 

 is a sort of blight, which is often destructive to 

 orchards and open plantation", against which 

 we know not a remedy. This is called a fire 

 blast, which in a (e\\ hours has not only de- 

 stroyed the fruit and leaves, but many times 

 |)arls of trees, and sometimes entire trees have 

 been killed by it. 



" This is supposed to have been effected by 

 volumes of transparent flying vapours, which 

 among the many forms they revolve Into, and 

 may somelimcs approach so near to a hemis- 

 phere or hemicylinder, either in their upper or 

 lower surl'aces, as thereby to make the beams 

 of the sun converge enough to scorch plants or 

 trees they fall upon, in proportion to Ihe great- 

 er or less eonvergency of the sun's rays. 



" Against this enemy to our fruits there is no 

 guard to our trees, nor any remedy to cure it : 

 but as ibis more frequently happens in close 

 plantati'.ns (where the staoaating vapours from 

 ihe earlh, and the plentil'ul jicrspirations from 

 ihe trees are pent, in lor want of a free air to 

 dissipate and expel them ; which are oil en ob- 

 served in still weather, to ascend in so [denliful 

 a matiper, as lo he sceji by Ihe naked eye, but 

 especially with reflecting telescopes, so as to 

 make aclear am! distinct object become dim 

 and treiiiulous) th;ai in those which aie planted 

 at a greater distance, or are not surrounded 

 with hills or woods; this directs us, in the first 

 planting of kitchen-gardens and orchards, &c. 

 ihal we sliould allow a greater distance between 

 the trees, and to make choice of clear healthy 

 situations, that the air may freely pass betvi eea 

 the trees lo dissipate those vapours before they 

 ire formed into such volumes, whereby Ihe 

 iM( umambient air will be clear, and less sub- 

 j it ,0 injuries ; as also that fruits which are 

 piodiiceil lu this clearer air Will be much better 

 ta-1'dthan tliose that are siirroumled wilh a 

 thick rancid air ; for as fruits are often in a re- 

 spir Off Slate, they consequently, by imbibing a 

 part of these vapours, are rendered crude and 

 ill tasted." 



In an article written by Dr. Mease, for the 

 Philadelphia edition of \Villicb''s Domestic 

 Encyilopedia, we find the following : — " By ac- 

 cidonl, Idr. Cooper, of New Jersey, discovered 

 some years since, that atiee upon which a num- 

 t.er o! iron l)oo|is and other articles of iron had 

 been huiig, remained free from blight, while all 

 ihe rest siifiVreil severely. Since that year he 

 l,as constantly encircled two or three branches 

 of every tree with an iron hoop, and with uni- 

 form success. As a proof, he pointed out one 

 tree with a withered limb near the top, and ob- 

 served that he had neglected to defend it last 

 year. Philosophers may speculate as to the 



