THE PEAR. 



649 



as the appearance of thick clammy sap in winter or spring pruning, are 

 the infallible signs of the frozen-sap blight. 



The most successful remedies for this disastrous blight, it is very evi- 

 dent, are chiefly preventive ones. It is, of course, impossible for us to 

 avoid the occasional occurrence of rainy, warm autumns, which have a 

 tendency to urge the trees into late second growth. The principal 

 means of escaping the danger really lies in always studiously avoiding a 

 wet soil for the fruit-tree. Very level or hollow surfaces, where heavy 

 early autumnal rains are apt to lie and saturate the ground, should also 

 be shunned. And any summer top-dressing or enriching calculated 

 to stimulate the tree into late growth is pernicious. A rich, diy 

 soil is, on the whole, the best, because there the tree will make a good 

 growth in time to ripen fully its wood, and will not be likely to make 

 second growth. A rich, wot soil will, on the contrary, serve continu- 

 ally to stimulate the tree to new growth. It is in accordance with this 

 that many persons have remarked, that those pear-trees growing in com- 

 mon meadow land were free from blight in seasons when those in the 

 rich garden soils were continually suffering from it. 



The first point, then, should be to secure a rich, but dry, well-drained 

 soil. Cold aspects and soils should be avoided, as likely to retard the 

 growth and ripening of the wood. 



The second is to reject, in blighted districts, such varieties as have 

 the habit of making wood late, and choosing rather those of early habit, 

 which ripen the wood fully before autumn. 



Severe summer-pruning, should it be followed by an early winter, 

 is likely to induce blight, and should therefore be avoided. Indeed, 

 we think the pear should always be pruned in winter or early spring. 



As a remedy for blight actually existing in a tree, we know of no 

 other but that of freely cutting out the diseased branches at the ear- 

 liest moment after it appears. The amputation should be continued as 

 far down as the least sign of discoloration and consequent poisoning 

 is perceptible, and it should not be neglected a single day after it mani- 

 fests itself. A still better remedy, when we are led to suspect, during 

 the winter, that it is likely to break out in the ensuing summer, is that 

 of carefully looking over the trees before the buds swell, and cutting out 

 all branches that show the discolored or soft sappy spots of bark that 

 are the first symptoms of the disease. 



Finally, as a preventive, when it is evident, from the nature of the 

 season and soil, that a late autumnal growth will take place, we recom- 

 mend laying bare the roots of the trees for two or three weeks. Boot- 

 pruning will always check any tendency to over-luxuriance in particu- 

 lar sorts, or in young bearing trees, and is therefore a valuable assist- 

 ance when the disease is feared. And the use of lime in strong soils, 

 as a fertilizer, instead of manure, is worthy of extensive trial, because 

 lime has a tendency to throw all fruit-trees into the production of short- 

 jointed fruit-spurs, instead of the luxuriant woody shoots induced by 

 animal manure. 



In gardens where, from the natural dampness of the soil or locality, 

 it is nearly impossible to escape blight, we recommend that mode of 

 dwarfing the growth of the trees — conical standards, or quenouilles, 

 described in the section on pruning. This mode can scarcely fail to 

 secure a good crop in any soil or climate where the pear-tree will 

 flourish. 



. 



