1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



49 



'•PEAR BLIGHT." 



As it was from my own experience that I wrote of 

 " Pear Blight,'' I have been not a little curious to see 

 how trees in other regions were effected. At Buifalo, 

 in Bryant's Nursery, numerous Pear trees are grow- 

 ing, which have been suffered to remain 30 years, 

 without any digging round them, which stand em- 

 bargoed in turl, that have not been affected at all by 

 "blight.'' At Eatavia and Canandaigua, as well as 

 at Rochester, there are many old trees, which iiave a 

 slow but sure growth, treated as I proposed, and free 

 of blight. " r. P. R.'s," of Sweden, have done pretty 

 well, as he says, for 25 years, without blighting. I 

 have but one word to say about the Pear tree and 

 blight. I believe that if trees were planted on dry 

 and good soil, and suffered to remain without other 

 culture than a dressing of leached ashes, or bone dust, 

 in the fall, that they will not blight. Mind and cover 

 the roots well, and if the turf grows around them, 

 do not disturb it. whatever the " Young Digger" says 

 to the contrary. Let me extract from Mr. Downing's 

 Book on Fruits, about the Pear tree. 



First — he mentions Pear trees, "known as now 

 living near 400 years; and some bearing 120 bushels 

 a year;'" — and says, "that the Pear succeeds so well 

 as an open standard and requires so little care and 

 pruning ; less indeed in the latter respect than any 

 other fruit tree that training is seldom thought of, 

 except in gardens of the curious or skilful. Pear 

 trees in a bearing state, where the growth is no longer 

 luxuriant, should have every autumn a moderate top 

 dressing of manure to keep them in good condition." 

 (Had F. P. R. done this, perhaps he would not have 

 had his trees blight.) "'This, as it promotes steady 

 and regular growtli, is far preferable to occasional 

 neavy manuring, which, as will be presently shown, 

 has a tendency to induce the worst form of blight to 

 which the tree is subject." 



•' The most successful remedies for this disastrous 

 blight, as is evident, are chiefly ^refen/(i)e ones. The 

 principal means of escaping the danger really lies in 

 always studiously avoiding a damp soil for the fruit 

 tree." 



"A rich, dry soil, is, on the whole, the best, because 

 there the tree will make a good growth in time to 

 fully ripen its >vood and will not likely make a second 

 growth." 



" It is in accordance with this that many persons 

 have remarked that those Pear trees growing in com- 

 mon meadow land, were free from blight in seasons 

 when those in rich garden soils were continually 

 suffering from it." 



Throughout, Mr.Downing recommends slow growth 

 — dwarfing, to ensure it. — J. H. Watts. 



DWAET STOCKS-INQtnEIES 



Mr. Barry — Dear Sir : I wish to make some 

 inquiries through your valuable paper, respecting 

 stocks for dwarfing trees. The utility of Dwarf Fruit 

 Trees is every day becoming more and more evident, 

 not only for the amateur, but for those whose circum- 

 stances do not permit their owning much land, who 

 can, if they have the taste, enjoy the production of 

 some of the finest varieties of fruit in the narrow 

 limits of a garden. And the taste will not be slow 

 of formation when it is found that a few delicious 

 pears can be grown on the same ground occupied by 

 a sour currant or worthless gooseberry; in short it is 

 doing for pomology what cheap publications are for 



literature — widely disseminating valuable things at 

 small expense. The very successful dwarfing of the 

 Pear, and more recently of the Apple and Cherry, 

 leaves a deficiency of the Plum, Apricot and Peach, 

 which it is desirable to see supplied. The necessity 

 of dwarfing the latter does not seem to exist, yet how 

 pleasing to the eye of any lover of beauty would be 

 the sight of a mere shrub bending beneath clusters 

 of the Red Rareripe or Melocoton, But the Plum 

 and Apricot might more readily, as dwarfs, be pro- 

 tected from the curculio, their worst enemy in many 

 parts, by whicli a great advantage would be gained. 

 I have long wished to find a fitting dwarf for the 

 plum, and was much pleased by the intelligence 

 recently communicated by Mr. Rivers, that he had 

 succeeded by employing the English Sloe or Black- 

 thorn. This shrub, I presume, is not found in this 

 country, but would it be likely to flourish on our 

 soils ? And is it reasonable to suppose that if the plum 

 grows upon it, the Apricot and Peach wonld be 

 likely to take ? Is it known whether our native wild 

 Plum, upon which the improved kinds grow readily, 

 and vigorously the first year, proves a dwarf or not ? 

 Native stocks seem better adapted to the soil and 

 climate, where they are found growing, than those 

 brought from a distance, and it is not improbable that 

 among our many wild fruit trees, some might be 

 found valuable for dwarfing upon. For instance, 

 the American Crab is said to furnish a good stock for 

 the Apple. Has it been satisfactorily tested ? Has 

 the Service Tree, (Pyrus Terminalis.) ever been 

 tried as a stock for the Apple, to which genus it 

 belongs ? Again, among our many varieties of 

 Wild Cherry, is there none that will make a good stock 

 for the improved sorts ? The common Choke-Cherry 

 is a dwarf, but grafts upon it, though taking readily, 

 prove so short-lived that they seldom exist through 

 the first season. 



Should the Sloe of Mr. Rivers prove valuable, as 

 I hope it will, I trust our nurserymen will not be 

 tardy in importing it. J. Fraser. — .Mecklenburg, 

 Tomp. Co., jy. Y., Dec, 1849. 



The Apricot and the Peach may both be dwarfed 

 on Plum stocks, and perhaps some of our native 

 species would answer that purpose well, whether on a 

 Peach or Plum stock, the tree to be kept in a low 

 and compact bushy form, will require to branch near 

 the ground, and be regularly shortened in every year. 

 We apprehend the Sloe, besides being difficult to 

 work upon, will not make trees of much value; but 

 as we have no such experience, we may be in error. 

 It is certainly worthy of a trial. 



ACKW0V7LEDGEMENTS. 



Wb are indebted to R. G. Pardee, Esq., of Palmyra,- 

 N. Y., for a box of the finest Catawba Grapes, now 

 (January,) as fresh as when gathered ; also for a 

 paper of fVaite's Queen of Dwarf Peas. "They 

 are very productive and curious, as they grow only 

 12 to 15 inches high, but very stout, with heavy 

 dark foliage." We know these to be an excellent 

 Dwarf Pea. Also, a couple of ears of a very 

 early and excellent sweet corn, supposed to be the 

 Early Burlingtcm. 



To M. A. Norton, Esq., of Victor, for a box of 

 a new apple, JVorton's Purple, which promises to be 

 excellent, the specimens were too ripe before reach- 

 ing us, but we hope to see it in perfection next 

 season. 



fl 



s 



