1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



657 



soils ; we have brought little back to them. 

 Reckoning day is sure to come. In fact, part 

 of the bills for damages are presented thi*! 

 summer. With them comes also a rare op- 

 portunity to buy as much as we will of the 

 fertility of Western prairies and put it upon 

 our hungry fields. Why not not buy liberally ? 

 — S. L. Goodale, in Maine Farmer. 



THE PEAR TREE BLIGHT. 



Does anybody know the cause of the blight, 

 and the remedy therefor, which is destroying 

 so many of the best pear trees ? It attacks 

 only a branch or a twig at a time, and when it 

 first strikes, the leaves look as if they had 

 been scalded. The sap speedily dries out of 

 the leaves, and the limb dies. The only reme- 

 dy we know of, thus far, is amputation of the 

 diseased part. This does not protect the rest 

 of the tree, while it is a severe remedy that 

 spoils the shape and looks of the tree, and 

 makes the owner''s heart ache. Who knows 

 of a better remedy ? Many an anxious owner 

 of fine pear trees, which begin to show signs 

 of the coining fate, would like to know. 



Our attention was called to this, a few days 

 ago, by Mr. Sherwood, whose trees are suf- 

 fering severeh'. One of his neighbors had a 

 tree attacked in the same way, and supposed 

 it had been struck by lightning, so strangely 

 did the branches wither. More recently Sena- 

 tor Hubbel showed us six or eight valuable 

 trees in his fine garden which are perishing 

 with the blight. From the way in which a 

 single twig or limb first begins to wither, we 

 are inclined to attribute the blight to some 

 local cause. ^Ve carefully examined several 

 limbs, and found some of them had been at- 

 tacked by a very small worm or insect, which 

 not only perfoi-ated the bark, but in some in- 

 stances had completely girdled the limb by 

 eating round it under the bark, next to the 

 wood. Is this what causes the blight ? If so, 

 will an application of carbolic acid, as soap- 

 suds, or in some other form of wash, prove a 

 remedy ? Will its use early in the spring and 

 at intervals afterward prove a preventive ? 

 Or does the insect or worm hatch from a nit 

 laid in the bark ? Who can throw any light 

 on the subject? If some remedy and preven- 

 tive is not soon discovered, we fear our pears 

 and next our apples will follow our pluma. — 

 Utica Herald. 



tion of freezing and thawing in late winter 

 and earlv spring, the time which so sorely tries 

 wheat. If the ground is made mellow deep 

 down, the tendency of the plant is to form a 

 tap root with few laterals. When the surface 

 is lifted with the frost, this root is broken oil, 

 and the plant is left on top to die, when the 

 ground settles again to its place. Mr. C. L. 

 Olmstead prepares all his corn ground for 

 wheat, with the harrow alone. Last year his 

 corn stubble was carefully ploughed for wheat, 

 with the exception of a strip twenty-five feet 

 wide across the field, which was harrowed. 

 It was all sowed at the same time and in the 

 same manner. The wheat on the dragged 

 strip was much heavier, and every way better 

 at harvest than that on the ploughed laud. — 

 Rochester Rural Home. 



SHALLOW SEED-BED FOR "WHEAT. 



Mr. C. L. Olmstead, of Le Roy, Genesee 

 County, N. Y., after long experience, favors 

 the plan of sowing wheat after corn without 

 ploughing. The theory is — and it is held by 

 many of our best wheat growers, F. P. Root 

 among] the number — that in a shallow seed- 

 bed the roots are more in number, and spread 

 cut^near the surface. Consequently they rise 

 and fall with the surface soil, under the opera- 



Crossixo Long avith Short Wool 

 Sheep. — You ask for experience in crossing 

 long with short wool sheep. I will give you 

 mine. Two years ago I selec'ed forty large 

 Merino ewes, and served them with a Leicester 

 buck. The lambs were large and did well. 

 No trouble about the ewes giving milk 

 enough. 



Last year I used the Leicester buck to all my 

 Merino ewes, and this smnmer find more or 

 less small lambs from small and young ewes. 

 I made this cross to get larger sheep, as my 

 sheep were getting too small. My last year's 

 lambs wh;ch I sheared this summer averaged 

 four pounds per head, which is rather light 

 shearing. 



I had had some experience a number of 

 years ago in crossing the long wool ewes to 

 Merino bucks, and I think the results were 

 more sati^factory than the crossing of fine ewes 

 to long woolcd bucks. This I think the proper 

 way to cross, if one is not satisfied with the 

 long wool in its pure state. 



I think that the fine buck with the coarse 

 ewe can be followed up for a number of crosses ; 

 at least four or five, before the sheep became 

 too small to be profitable mutton sheep, with 

 a continual increase in the shearing qualities. 

 — Cor. Western Rural. ■ 



Getting Wet. — HalVs Journal of Health 

 sensibly discourses : — Summer showers fre- 

 quently overtake persons and "wet them to 

 the skin ;" it is then safer to walk steadily and 

 rapidly on, until the clothes become dry again, 

 than to stop under the shelter and remain there 

 still until the storm is over. If home is reached 

 while the clothing is yet wet, take some hot 

 drink instantly, a pint or more ; go to the 

 kitchen fire, remove every garment, rub the 

 whole body with a coarse towel or fiannel, put 

 on woolen underclothing, get into bed, wrap 

 up warm, and take another hot drink ; then 

 go to sleep, if at night ; if in the day tune, 

 get up in an hour, dress and be active for the 



