492 THE PEAR. 



sively attacked, till all the seedlings become more or less de- 

 nuded, those last affected occupying the most favorable por- 

 tions of the soil. As a necessary consequence, growth 

 immediately ceases ; and if they are attacked early, and have 

 made but little previous growth, they are nearly ruined, and 

 few will survive the succeeding winter, for they never make 

 a second growth the same year of any value. But if their 

 previous growth has been vigorous, and the blight appears 

 late in summer, much less injury is sustained. The best 

 remedy is high cultivation, on good new soil, and taking out 

 daily every diseased tree. 



Wintering the Young Seedlings. The frequent destruction of 

 the trees the first winter is another serious evil. The danger 

 is least with those that have made the best well-ripened 

 growth ; hence it becomes very important to secure healthful 

 vigor by the adoption of the cultivation previously mentioned. 

 But in many localities, pear seedlings, which are always re- 

 markably free from fibrous or lateral roots the first year, are 

 drawn out by the freezing of the soil, and either destroyed or 

 greatly injured. Several modes have been proposed to pre- 

 vent this result, and have been tried to a greater or less ex- 

 tent. One is to induce the emission of lateral roots, by taking 

 up the young seedlings from the thickly sown beds early in 

 the season, and, as soon as four leaves have appeared, cut off 

 their tap-roots and reset them in the nursery-rows. Robert 

 Nelson, of Newburyport, Mass., pursued this course with great 

 success ; but its general utility may be questioned, except dur- 

 ing a rainy period or on favorable soils, unless abundant water- 

 ing is given. A more easy as well as safe mode would perhaps 

 be to cut off the tap-roots, at the same age, by means of a 

 sharp spade thrust beneath the soil, and without transplant- 

 ing. Neither of these modes could be successfully applied 

 except to large, vigorous seedlings growing in deep, rich soil. 



But where tne growth of lateral roots has not been effected, 

 and the consequent danger is greater of their being drawn 

 upward by frost, much protection may be given them by 

 covering the whole ground with forest leaves to a depth of 

 several inches ; and, if the rows are near each other and the 

 trees several inches or a foot high, they will prevent the leaves 

 from being swept off by the winds. The incursion of mice 



