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Webster of Haverhill, says that he has been almost entirely 

 exempt from this disease in an orchard of over four hundred 

 pear trees. He laid it down to grass seven years ago, and it 

 has borne heavy crops of fine hardy fruit most every year 

 since. He also says that his orchard has had no top dressing 

 of any kind during that time, which is a strong argument 

 against heavy manuring. We have said, and believe it, that 

 over manuring and imperfect drainage are some of the causes 

 that produce the blight ; still there are other agents that work 

 death to all kinds of fruit trees, and that is growing corn, oats, 

 barley or rye between and around them, especially corn, vs^hich 

 draws from the soil its woody substance, or materials ; robbing 

 the trees of that which by nature belongs to them. This is 

 proved by the present appearance of a once beautiful pear 

 orchard of some one hundred trees or more, owned and culti- 

 vated by Mr. Albert Kimball of Bradford. This orchard was 

 set out in 1864, and has been planted to our knowledge with 

 corn almost every year for the last ten years, and growing 

 every year a heavy crop of that produce ; but what has been 

 the result ? The trees made a fine growth during the first eight 

 years, ani after that Mr. Kimball began to lose some of his 

 trees from the blight, and kept losing more and more every 

 year, till this season, when the destroyer made a wholesale 

 sweep, leaving in its march but very few of what might be 

 called sound trees in the whole orchard. We must ascribe 

 this to being planted with corn so long rather than to 

 heavy manuring, though it is well known to fruit grow- 

 ers that trees grown in rich soils are about the only ones 

 affected with the disease. Any kind of plants that make a 

 hard, woody fibre, like corn, rye, &c., should not be grown 

 around fruit trees, as such plants being fast growers take to 

 themselves most all the woody particles in the soil at the ex- 

 pense of the trees. We hope to obtain the experience of others 

 on this point, in next year's report, as it is a question that in- 

 terests every fruit grower, throughout the country. 



Before bringing this report to a close, we would ask permis- 



