THE MAGAZINE 



or 



HORTICULTURE. 



DECEMBER, 1844. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. The Blight in the Pear Tree; its cause and a 

 remedy for it. By Rev. H. W. Beecher. Read before 

 the Indiana Horticultural Society, and communicated by 

 Mr. Beecher. 



The year 1844 will long be remembered for the exten- 

 sive ravages of that disease hitherto denominated ^re-6/i^^^. 

 Beginning at the Atlantic coast, we have heard of it in 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indi- 

 ana, and as far as Tennessee ; and it is probable that it 

 has been felt in every fruit-growing State in the Union 

 where the season of 1843 was the same as that west of the 

 Alleghany range, namely, cold in spring, dry throughout 

 the summer, and a wet and warm fall, with early and sud- 

 den winter. 



In Indiana and Ohio the blight has prevailed to such an 

 extent as to spread dismay among cultivators; destroying 

 entire collections, — taking half the trees in large orchards, 

 — affecting both young and old trees, whether grafted or 

 seedlings, in soils of every kind. Many have seen the la- 

 bor and fond hope of years cut off, in one season, by an 

 invisible destroyer, against which none could guard; be- 

 cause, in the conflicting opinions, none were certain whether 

 the disease was atmospheric, insect or chemical. 



I shall now proceed to describe that blight known in the 

 western States, (without pretending to identify it with the 

 blight known in New York and New England,) to examine 

 the theories proposed for its causation, and to present what 

 now seems to me the true cause. 



VOL. X. — NO. XII. 56 



