254 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



tions of any sort. Promptly remove 

 every trace of the disease a foot or 

 more below the lowest spot where it 

 shows, and burn the branches. 



PEAR ORCHARDS. 

 The old fashioned pear trees that grew 

 to the size of some oaks and yielded 

 annual crops of many bushels were not, 

 says the Philadelphia Record, affected 

 by blight. The trees were frequently 

 subjected to the axe in order to rid 

 them of their surplus wood, but little 

 caretul j)runing was given them and 

 they received no cultivation at all. The 

 fruit, however, was entirely different 

 from that which is now sold in the mar- 

 ket, being hard and fit only for pres- 

 erving. With the introduction of the 

 Duchess and Bartlett pears and other 

 varieties, the quality of the fruit was 

 greatly improved, but the trees do not 

 grow as lai-ge as the common kind, nor 

 are they as hai-dy. With the advent 

 of the improved pear came the blight, 

 and since it made its first wholesale 

 attack on the pear orchards it has ruled 

 supreme, as no remedy other than the 

 destruction of the tree is known for its 

 cure. The methods of cultivation may 

 have much to do with this disease, but 

 probably forcing the trees to a very 

 rapid growth is the cause, more than 

 anything else, of pear blight. Our 

 orchards of improved pears have not 

 been treated in a natural manner, for the 

 pear tree is a slow grower and does not 

 bear until it is a fair-sized tree, but 

 growers have compelled the improved 

 varieties to assume conditions not suit- 

 able for health and vigor, which render 

 the tree subject to the blight and other 

 diseases incidental to pears. Two fruit 

 growers at Newfield, N. J., procured 

 the same varieties of pears from the 

 same nursery and put the trees in the 

 ground at the same time. They were 

 cultivated, however, quite differently. 

 One of the growers yearly cultivated in 



his orchard garden crops, with occasion- 

 ally corn, applying liberal dressings of 

 manure, under which treatment the 

 trees grew rapidly, and not only im- 

 proved in appearance and color, but 

 bore early and gave large yields. His 

 neighbor did not use his orchard for 

 any other purpose than the growing of 

 grass, which was occasionally mowed, 

 ploughed and seeded to grass again. 

 The orchard that was kept in grass has 

 on it to-day trees that are only half the 

 size of those in the orchard that was 

 cultivated with hoed crops. It has 

 never borne as well, nor has it equalled 

 it in appearance and other respects. 

 The bliglit, however, has nearly des- 

 troyed the orchard that looked the most 

 promising, %v4nle the slow growing trees 

 ai"e as sound as when first set out, al- 

 though both orchards are very near each 

 other. The pear orchard that gave its 

 owner such heavy yields is nearly des- 

 troyed, but the other seems likely to 

 last for several years, not a ti'ee being 

 affected with the blight. As these or- 

 chards were alike (soil included) in 

 ever}' respect, but differently treated, 

 this ex[)eriment may furnish a lesson to 

 pear growers. 



xMY CELERY HOUSE. 



I have used this house for three 

 years for storing and blanching. It 

 will hold 30,000 stools, and I have not 

 lost %5 worth from rot or other causes. 

 The plants have been well blanched^ 

 crisp, without rust or earthy flavor. I 

 have no trenches to dig, no banking 

 for winter and less earthing during 

 growth. My stock can be inspected 

 any time, taken out in cold or rain or 

 at night, cleaned, washed and packed 

 for market in the 'same place. Celery 

 once handled can hei-e be blanched in 

 three weeks, and the temperature can 

 be kept cool and damp, to insure the 

 best quality. 



