88 THE CULTIVATOR. Fes. 
appeared sickly, the leaves being covered with the 
leaf-blight. These I noticed particularly, as being 
something unusual. On the same plot of ground I 
had 80,000 pear seedlings, growing in a fine thrifty 
state, and had always raised good stocks in previous 
years. A few days after I noticed the peculiar af¬ 
fection of this pear tree, there occurred a storm of 
wind and rain from the southwest, and in a few days 
the disease showed itself on the seedling rows, dia¬ 
gonally across, and in the exact direction that the 
wind was blowing during the storm, from this tree ; 
and from this it spread each way, until the whole of 
my seedlings were affected, and lost their leaves. 
This occurred so late in the season, that the trees 
were not killed by the winter. The next spring 
they were set in nursery rows. The blight again 
showed itself earlier than the previous year, and the 
consequence was that two-thirds perished, from the 
cause of their being deprived of their leaves too ear¬ 
ly, before the wood had sufficiently ripened to with¬ 
stand the effects of the frost. It had become so pre¬ 
valent that the lower leaves on standard trees were 
affected; and the seedlings growing on the same 
premises were killed outright, on account of its 
commencing so early. It was also communicated 
to quince stocks which were deprived of their leaves, 
and it was found impossible to bud them in conse¬ 
quence. 
I am satisfied that it is caused by a species of fun¬ 
gus, the seeds of which are carried by the wind and 
lodged on the surface of the leaves, but need mois¬ 
ture to a certain degree, and warmth, to promote 
vegetation. On close examination of the spots, the 
main part seems to lie beneath the surface of the 
leaf, with reddish veins running in various directions, 
and when there are a number of spots on one, the 
veins seem to occupy the whole; but probably the 
spots cause a disarrangement of the functions by 
poisoning the juices, rendering them useless. 
In another nursery in this vicinity, there were 
pear trees which were attacked while making their 
first year’s growth from the bud. These trees 
stood near the middle of the nursery, along the bor¬ 
der of which were growing young pear stocks, in a 
bed more than fifty rods in length, on the east side. 
The disease on these stocks, commenced directly 
opposite to this section of budded trees, and extend¬ 
ed each way, until the whole were deprived of their 
foliage. All this goes to show that it is contagious ; 
consequently, this year, by way of experiment, I 
concluded to plant my pear seeds far away from the 
influence ofany other nursery or pear trees, by which 
the disease might be communicated. My experi¬ 
ment has been attended with the best results; for I 
have succeeded in raising as fine healthy stocks as 
any nurseryman would wish to see; not a spot of 
the blight has shown itself. My ground has had no 
extra preparation, except such as ground should re¬ 
ceive, in order to grow a good crop of corn. I now 
suggest that every nurseryman who has hitherto 
failed in raising stocks, in consequence of this dis¬ 
ease, try this experiment, and communicate the re¬ 
sults. I. Hildreth. Big Stream Point, Novem¬ 
ber 2, 1849. _-_ 
Winter Fears. 
Fruits are variable in quality from two causes. 
One is from liability to be easily affected by soil, 
culture, and other similar influences j and the other 
results from the effect of temperature . The former 
is exhibited remarkably in the pear, which is almost 
proverbially variable in quality • and the latter is 
more particularly observable in the peach, the later 
varieties of which often wholly fail as to excellence 
at the north, while the earlier sorts, whose periods 
of ripening are not thrown into the colder parts of 
autumn, are more uniformly good. 
Winter pears suffer in quality from both causes. 
Like other pears, unless they grow in a good deep 
soil, they cannot perfect their fruit. And, unless 
the season is sufficiently long for their maturity, 
they will be deficient in flavor. The difference, 
however, between good and bad cultivation, inde¬ 
pendent of the season or climate, is very great. 
The best treatment, even under an unpropitious sun, 
will generally give us much better winter pears, 
than the most favorable skies without it. No per¬ 
son should even think of raising winter pears of 
most varieties, at the north, without giving them 
the best cultivation. 
The following successful experiment w T ith late ri¬ 
pening pears, is copied from the Family Visitor, a 
new scientific and miscellaneous paper of great va¬ 
lue, edited by Prof. Kirtland and others, of Cleve¬ 
land, Ohio: 
u While alluding to the progress of our pear 
crops, from year to year, we have occasionally ob¬ 
served, that while the spring and the first month of 
summer, were attended -with a favorable supply of 
rain, the earlier varieties of pears, as the Citron 
des Carmes, [Madeleine ; ] Dearborn’s Seedling, 
Bartlett, &c. rapidly develope in size, and ultimately 
ripen in high degrees of perfection. A long pro¬ 
tracted and severe drouth has several seasons com¬ 
menced about the middle of June or early in July, 
and continued perhaps till the period for the growth 
of vegetation had passed. Whenever this occurred, 
the later ripening pears have failed to attain their 
wonted flavor, and have often been inferior in size 
—particularly on trees standing on dry and gravel¬ 
ly soil. 
(< During the last two seasons, we attempted to 
obviate the unfavorable impression of dry weather, 
and selected, for the purpose of experiment, trees 
of the Lewis, Winter Nelis, and Easter Beurre—■ 
all of which stood upon the dry ridge that runs par¬ 
allel to the lake, in Rockport, five miles from this 
city. 
“ Moderate supplies of the necessary elements of 
nutrition for the pear were repeatedly applied, the 
surface of the ground was mulched or shaded, either 
with bones, brush, or litter, and the earth was fre¬ 
quently dug w r ith a spade. 
11 This course, in our view, was furnishing them 
with a a rich, moist soil, and high culture. 
“ The specimens of the Lewis and Winter Nelis, 
from two trees thus managed, could hardly be sur¬ 
passed in delicacy and rich flavor by any of the most 
popular varieties of summer and autumn. The fruit 
from the third tree, an Easter Beurre, measures in 
its greatest circumference, eleven and a quarter 
inches, and in its shortest, ten and a-half inches. 
By proper attention, this fruit will, doubtless, ripen 
in the finest perfection at the close of the winter.” 
Verbenas. —A correspondent of the Horticultu¬ 
rist at Washington City, states that he has been 
most successful in wintering Verbenas, by simply co¬ 
vering them with a hot-bed frame. It was placed 
over them just as they stood; those which were ta¬ 
ken up and transplanted under the frame mostly 
failed. This protection would not be sufficient for 
the winters further north. 
Mankind are very odd creatures. One-half cen¬ 
sure what they practice, the other half practice 
what they censure. 
