232 >The Canadian Horticulturist. 



a dozen apple trees, which were delivered to him in good order by myself. 

 After keeping them " heeled in " all winter he planted them out early in the 

 spring as recommended. A day or two after a severe storm of sleet set 

 in from the south-west, followed by a keen frost. Every one of 

 those trees lived, but from the start they presented a very unhealthy 

 appearance. On examining them in the month of August following. 

 I found on the south-west side on many of them what I supposed to be frost 

 biles. The bark in spots had become quite dry and hard, and sunken away 

 from the living part of the tree. These spots are now nearly or quite over 

 grown but they will ever remain diseased spots in the trunks of the trees, 

 affecting them to a greater or -less extent throughout their whole system. 

 In my own personal experience I have planted, during the past six years, 

 fourteen plum and pear trees received in the fall, of that number two only 

 are living. During the same time I have planted thirty-three received in 

 the spring, out of which only four have died, and I was strongly suspicious 

 that these four were fall dug when they came to hand. As a class, I have a 

 special regard for nurserymen, and the business in which they are engaged 

 has always had a peculiar attraction for me ; yet I have still to meet the 

 nurseryman who can instruct nature in her methods, or improve upon them, 

 and the tree left undisturbed in the soil in the fall, prepared by nature in 

 her own way for the approaching winter, and dug up in the spring for 

 transplanting, is, all things considered, the most profitable tree to purchase, 

 and the only safe tree to have anything to do with. 



Mitchell, Out. T. H. RACE. 



PEAR LEAF BLIGHT. 



Sir, — Why do the leaves of the pear tree turn black at this season of the year, and 

 drop off? Is it part of the pear blight ? — H. Wilson Palmer, Frankford, Pa. 



A S it appears that this difficulty is very widespread, appearing not only 

 (sTm in the vicinity of Philadelphia, but also in Illinois, New Jersey and 

 Ontario, it deserves more than a passing notice. The damage caused 

 has often been very considerable, as trees badly affected become almost 

 wholly defoliated, and this interferes with the growth of the new wood, and 

 consequently with the maturity of the fruit. 



Its presence may be first noticed by the appearance of small, dull, 

 carmine red spots early in spring, and which turn to a dark brown color and 

 then drop off. Even the fruit is itself often attacked, showing first spots 

 which are carmine red, and afterwards become dark colored ; the skin then 

 takes on a rough surface and often cracks deeply. 



The fungus is known as Entomosporum maculatum, and is much the 

 same as that which attacks the quince. Probably it is also related to the 

 one which has played such havoc with our apple orchards this year, though 



