Orchard Pests and their Control 379 



fall of 1892, and as money was not available to make the neces- 

 sary repairs, the orchards had been abandoned. At the time of 

 my visit, June 25, 1904, many of the trees were still in good con- 

 dition. This was especially true of the Winesap apple. The 

 Jonathan trees were still in condition to be saved, but they were 

 less vigorous than the Winesaps. Most of the Ben Davis trees 

 were still alive, but the majority of them had put forth few or no 

 leaves. About one-half of all of the apple trees of all varieties 

 were dead, as well as most of the peach and plum trees. 



But more remarkable was the appearance of a block of eight- 

 year-old Bartlett pear trees. Most of the trees were still in a 

 fairly vigorous condition, some of the twigs of the previous season's 

 growth measuring 14 inches in length. The average of the cur- 

 rent season's growth was about four inches, and quite a little 

 fruit had set on some of the trees. 



The inspector had visited the orchard each season, and he 

 found that in 1892 blight was quite abundant in the pear trees, 

 and some of them died from its attacks. The following year 

 there was still a good deal of blight, though there was much less 

 damage than before. At the time of my visit, June 25, 1904, 

 there were but few twigs in which the disease had been active 

 that season, and the germs were apparently dead. The dead 

 bark of the blighted areas was surrounded by a definite bound- 

 ary and had separated from the living bark. 



These results show that the germs of blight do not thrive in 

 slow-growing trees, and in fact that the disease may be eradicated 

 by prolonged drought. They also show that pear trees will re- 

 main in good condition for some time without irrigation or culti- 

 vation. But just how far this could be carried in actual practice 

 remains to be seen, but one cannot help but surmise that bearing 

 pear orchards might be successfully handled with very little 

 irrigation, depending upon cultivation or the lack of it to regu- 

 late the water supply. 



The form of trees may be modified so as to lessen the injury 

 by blight. For this reason an open-centered tree is preferable, 

 as three or more main branches take the place of one. The blight- 

 ing of the leader very often causes the death of the two-storied 



