6 The: Colorado Experiment Station. 
eliminate mechanical injury to the plants during the susceptible 
period. 
Inasmuch as the disease seems to be clearly a soil trouble, the 
only practical method of controlling it is by the introduction of 
resistant varieties. To this end we have planted some twenty-seven 
different varieties of alfalfa on sick land with the hope of obtaining 
one .or more blight resistant strains. This side of the work was be¬ 
gun by Prof. Paddock two years ago, and after two years’ trial 
under field conditions, we have obtained some very promising re¬ 
sults with two of the varieties tested. Whether these will continue 
in their resistance during the next few years remains to be seen. 
PEAR BLIGHT. (Fire Blight) 
A description of Pear Blight may seem uncalled for to the fruit 
grower who is sufficiently familiar with the malady to recognize it 
at first sight and to whom the mere suggestion of the name recalls 
immense financial losses, but to the farmer, who has three or four 
trees around his house for his own use and who has not had his 
attention called to the disease in such a material way, some consid¬ 
eration of the subject may be given with profit. Not only should 
the farmer become acquainted with the symptoms of the disease 
and learn and practice methods of prevention and eradication for 
the sake of his own trees, but also for the sake of his neighbor’s or¬ 
chard as well. One infected tree in the community may mean the 
ultimate loss of vast orchards for miles around. 
Of all the diseases which affect our fruit trees, there is none, 
perhaps, which is so universally dreaded by the orchardist as the 
pear blight. While the ravages of the disease are worst upon the 
pear, from which fact the disease derives its name, its attacks are 
not confined in any sense of the word to this tree alone. Many 
varieties of the apple, quince, apricot and plum, together with the 
mountain ash, service berry and several species of hawthorne, have 
suffered severely from the same cause. Especial attention should 
be called to the part which such ornamental trees as the mountain 
ash and hawthorne play in harboring the germs of bligiit. If these 
trees become infected and are allowed to go unnoticed, it is obvious 
that it is useless to attempt to stamp out the disease in adjacent 
fruit trees or a nearby orchard, since a constant supply of germs 
will be furnished by the ornamental plants mentioned, with which 
to reinfect the fruit trees. If such conditions are found to exist, 
but one thing remains to de done—remove the offending individual 
bodily and burn it. 
The name fire blight is especially good because it is at once 
suggestive of the symptoms of the malady. To one not familiar 
with the disease, it can be recognized at first sight by the brown and 
