173 



is pleased at the idea that what he has said has 

 depreciated "rootHng stock." In the advertising 

 coKimns of the Blontlily for March, he will find the 

 prices the same as in my circular of October,— that 

 price varying with the variety. 



Mr. H. has given four methods of propagation:— 

 the first, In the close box or cellar where, he says, 

 the eyes remain "without starting," by excluding 

 the light: — in December he asserts this to be the 

 only way. Second^ (p. 107,) By inverting, "under 

 glass," the cutting; third, In a hot-bed covered 

 with boards " to exclude the light and heat ;" and 

 fourth, In the position where his roses are placed in 

 a propagating house, where the light is - not ex- 

 cluded. 



Now, Mr. Editor, let me venture to say that 

 neither Mr. H., nor any other propagator, can be 

 successful in raising rootlings by either of these four 

 methods as described by Mr. H., for the simple 

 reason that the requisite conditions are wanting to 

 secure the control of the grape bud in a dormant 

 state, while the roots are actively pushing. 



Having had much practical experience about the 

 matter, and having witnessed the experience of 

 many others, I have good reason to believe that 

 which I affirm, — all that Mr. H. has said to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. Mr. H. has failed to pro- 

 duce any himself. He tells us, personally, in De- 

 cember, that he raises vines by the ten thousand ; 

 — now, he tells us that he has been "scared off" by 

 my "rootlings or something else," although offered 

 the "munificent sum" of $1000 to keep in the 

 track. 



He simply gives us the ordinary method of pro- 

 pagating from cuttings, — failing completely to point 

 to the record, as we have demanded, where a root- 

 ling was ever described prior to the date of our cir- 

 cular, last fall. One word of evidence from record, 

 or a single sample of rootlings, before our own had 

 been scattered abroad, might have verified some of 

 his many assertions, — which, as yet, have nothing 

 to back them, — and given him a position more en- 

 viable than the one in which he has placed himself 

 by the "random shot " which he confesses to have 

 discharged. 



[Our readers must have made up their minds 

 about the merits of this controversy, and the only 

 reason we can give for passing this additional piece 

 is, that it seems to be a kindness to the writer and 

 will do our readers no harm. We suppose this will 

 end the matter, and we may give our understanding 

 of it. It was something like this, in the language 



of Trowbridge, — 



"Darius Green 

 Made a flying machine— 

 And lie said to himself, as he tinkered and planned, 

 'But I ain't going to show my hand 

 To nummies that never can understand 

 The fust idea that's big and grand.' 



So he kept his secret from all the rest, 

 Safely buttoned within his vest." 



He announced himself, however, as the discoverer 

 of a new principle,— that of getting roots from a 

 cutting before the eyes pushed. We considered 

 Mr. Henderson perfectly justifiable in ridiculing any 

 such assumption. Had he simply announced him- 

 self as a master of the art ot applying this principle, 

 we should have had nothing to say, — for the prin- 

 ciple is a sound one, and Mr. Barnett raises first-class 

 vines by the process ; but, like "Darius Green," 

 Mr. Barnett tried to "fly his machine," and the 

 moral is now, as Darius found it, — 



" stick to your sphere ; 



Or if you insist, as you have the right, 



On spreading your wings for the loftier flight 



Take care how you 'light.'''' — Ed.] 



PEAR BLIGHT. 



BY MR. SAMUEL FEAST, COCKYSVILLE, BALTIMORE 

 COUNTY, MARYLAND. 



Friend Meehan : In your answer to a correspon- 

 dent on Fire Blight, in your April number, you state 

 "that as the Pear blight often attacks large limbs, 

 where the bark must be a quarter of an inch thick, 

 it must take a pretty large bug to probe his probos- 

 cis through it ; and if our correspondent be atten- 

 tive, he may soon see him, and we will be obliged 

 to him for one, when he gets one." I have been in- 

 timately acquainted with this bug in question, now 

 forty-nine years, and having sufi'ered severely from 

 his depredations. I will endeavor to describe his 

 mode of operation : — 



On passing an amateur garden (in 1818) belong- 

 ing to an old French gentleman, who had been a 

 planter in St. Domingo, and had to fly at the time 

 of the Revolution, I observed, hanging on his 

 dwarf pear trees a horse-shoe on a branch near the 

 body of the tree. He said it was to prevent the 

 electricity from striking the limbs ; at that time I 

 could not see in what way. 



In 1821 or '2, on a Thursday, the first week in 

 June, the day was cloudy and sultry, with flashes 

 of lightning frequent all through the day, they oc- 

 curred all through the atmosphere, as the fire-fly is 

 seen on warm nights. On passing over the pear 

 trees, on the Sunday morning following, I observ- 

 ed the young leaves flagging on the upper branches. 

 On examining the tree I found the bark black on 



