160 THE SMALL COUNTRY PLACE 



this should prove to be the case, pear growing in some 

 sections may again become a profitable industry. 



The decline in the business of fruit growing during the 

 past few years has been due largely to the poor quality of 

 the fruit put upon the market. We often hear of choice 

 pears selling for from $2 to $4 per bushel, and choice 

 fruit can be grown, though at an increased expense on 

 account of insects and fungous pests. The more good 

 fruit there is put into a market the larger will be the 

 demand, and in the end with better prices, while poor 

 fruit will drive the consumers to buy other kinds. It is 

 therefore "up to" us, the growers, to produce fruit of 

 choice quality, using economically all known means of 

 protecting our crops from insects and disease. 



Fungous Pests. 



Insects are not, however, the worst obstacles of suc- 

 cessful pear growing. Two diseases, known as "leaf 

 blight " and " fire blight, " are even more destructive. In 

 many sections, especially where the trees are in sheltered, 

 frosty locations, the pear trees are attacked by the leaf 

 blight. This is a fungous or spot disease that appears 

 upon leaves in the middle of summer, often causing 

 them to fall. When this occurs in July or early August 

 new shoots and often blossoms start out late in the 

 season. This growth is weak and will not withstand the 

 winter, making the tree more liable to the attack of fire 

 blight the following summer. When this fungus at- 

 tacks the fruit, it becomes hard and woody and cracks 

 open. A remedy for this disease is the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, spraying just before the leaves open, just after the 

 petals have fallen, and twice after at intervals of two or 

 three weeks. Trees that are growing vigorously are less 

 liable to this or any other disease than weak trees. A 

 very rank, soft growth of wood, however, may be injured 



