188 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



1871 



wise would be clear enough. Dr. Stayman's views 

 are going through this ordeal." 



How remarkably prophetic is the above saying 

 in the present case. We hope Mr. Husman will 

 copy this and give us a hearing before his readers. 



The Failure of the Pear and Apple Crop this 

 Year, 1871— What Is Its Cause. 



By the Corresponding Editor. 



That the Pear and the Apple crop this year, will 

 be very greatly reduced over a very large portion 

 of the Mississippi Valley, is a fact which has been 

 ascertained from correspondents. These persons 

 live at different points of the country named, and are 

 well qualified to know the facts of which they speak. 

 In Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and 

 Kentucky, this failure is strikingly visible. It is in 

 most cases confined to certain varieties, especially 

 where the trees have borne but few crops. So far 

 as varieties are concerned, the Wiiie Sup has suc- 

 ceeded better thau almost any other variety in Kan- 

 sas. In the correspondence above referred to, the 

 crop, of both the pear and apjjlc. Is supposed not to 

 exceed a half, and perhaps not more than a third of 

 what is usual. 



The above facts being established, the question 

 arises, why this failure, seeing that all the stone 

 fruits passed the winter safely and will produce 

 fine crops, excepting those which were cut off by 

 the frost of 22d April, last. As a general thing, the 

 mercury throughout the West, did not fall lower 

 than from 10 to 12 below zero. And since the time 

 of blooming, did not in many instances fall lower 

 than 27 above zero. Neither of the above degrees 

 was sufficient, the first to kill the peach in the bud, 

 (much less the apple or pear,) and the second not 

 low enough to kill the peach in the bloom. Seeing 

 then, that the tender peach has escaped the frosts of 

 both the AVinter and Spring, the question recurs 

 again, why is it, that the pear and apple have so 

 generally failed. 



We have given much thought and observation to 

 this subject, and have been forced to the following 

 conclusion ; and that is, that the freeze of 15th, 16th 

 and 17th of April, 1870 was so intense as to kill not 

 only the fruit buds and blossoms for that year, but 

 also to kill the buds that would otherwise have 

 bloomed and fruited this year upon the pear and 

 apple. The the foregoing is our theory. Now we 

 will give some of the fiicts which have brought us 

 to this conclusion. 



Fir.st, in trimming our trees during the last sum- 

 mer, we found that from one-eighth to one-third of 

 an inch of a great many of the points of the fruit 

 spurs sloughed ofl" from the ballance, thus destroy- 

 ing the blossom-bud for this year, as well as that of 

 last year. 



Secondly, we have some twelve bearing trees of 



the McAfee's Nonsuch, not a single one of which 

 showed any bloom the past spring. Three Ram- 

 bos, which ought to have borne from six to eight 

 bushels each, upon all of which there will not be 

 one dozen specimens. Five Pryor's Red, each of 

 which ought to have produced from four to eight 

 bushels each, that will not, all taken together, 

 yield two dozen specimens. This last variety 

 showed some blossoms on the very tip ends of the 

 topmost shoots, which were made during the grow- 

 ing season of 1870, but showing scarcely a bloom 

 on the side spurs where they uniformly bear their 

 fruit. Three bearing trees of the Ben Davis variety 

 —all of which will not produce a peck of fruit, and 

 the few specimens they have are inclined to drop 

 from the tree prematurely. Twenty-five trees of 

 the Raules Jannette, most of which bore well in '69, 

 and as an alternate bearer ought to, and would have 

 borne under ordinary circumstances, a tine crop this 

 year, but are, on the contrary, bearing very 

 sparcely. These blossomed in '70 after the freeze of 

 April 17th, but the fruit all dropped off. We 

 might name many others thit are failing alike from 

 like influences. 



Thirdly, most of the trees which show any fruit 

 this year, show it in the tops, and scarcely any on 

 the lower limb.s, on which fruit usually first appears 

 — thus showing that frost has had a telling infHu- 

 ence upon the crop. 



Now, we know that the apple and the pear crop 

 is almost uniformly borne on the side spurs, con- 

 sisting of wood not less than two years old, and 

 that those spurs which bloomed last year, and were 

 killed, would have bloomed and borne this year, it 

 the bloom - bud for this year had not been 

 killed last year; seeing there has been no frost 

 during the past winter or spring to kill either bud 

 in the winter or blossom in the spring — why, then, 

 with the above condition of the mercury during the 

 past winter and spring did we not have bloom and 

 fruit on trees that had borne fruit in previous 

 years ? If the bud for '71 was killed in '70, the fact 

 of no bloom or fruit in '71 is in strict accord with 

 the above theory. If it was not killed in '70, then 

 there is no accounting for the entire failure of some 

 varieties the present season, that have heretofore 

 been uniform bearers. 



Again, if some kinds have failed to bloom on the 

 two years' old wood, and have nevertheless bloomed 

 on wood made since the freeze of April, 1870, it 

 would seem that the evil was done before the grow- 

 ing of this young wood. All the blossoms produced 

 however, on the young wood made since April, 

 1870, have proved abortive. The fact that most of 

 the trees which are bearing small crops, produce 

 their fruit in or near the tops of the trees, proves 

 that frost, previous to the present season, has had 

 the disastrous influence, since there has been none 



