3805 
tinct from other blight. The Scolytus lays eggs in the buds of healthy~ 
branches about a year before the blighting effects are produced, while ac- 
cording to the theories of Downing and Ernst, the other blights do not. 
start earlier than the previous winter, and it is absurd to think that the in- 
sect could foresee which limbs were to be affected by freezing or hot sun. 
Mr. Downing, the editor, commends the article, and says ‘‘there is no veg- 
etable malady in which the cultivator of fruit trees in America is so much. 
interested at present as the pear tree blight.” 
1848. WeENDELL, H. (Albany, N. Y.), and A. J. Downing. 
Whitewash versus pear blight [with comments]. Hort.,. 
vol. 11, 1848, p. 339. [14 page. | 
Washed his trees in the previous fall with lime, as recommended by the 
editor, but has lost fifteen trees from blight, affecting the trunks, although 
had never before lost a tree from this disease. Thinks this shows itis not 
a preventive of blight, and that it tends to disprove the theory of scalding 
by sun. The editor, A. J. Downing, suggests that the pear blight might 
not have been due to freezing but have come by the sun’s rays acting in 
summer on spots where the lime had been washed off by the showers, and 
suggests adding some sizing to prevent this. He quotes from a recent is- 
sue of the ‘‘ Revue Horticole” of Paris, an account by M. Bravy, of chancre 
in apples and pears, much like blight, which he explains as Mr. Ernst (1. c¢., 
p. 328) does, and urges the use of whitewash. Mr, Downing meets ob-. 
jections to the efficacy of this wash by an experiment performed in Decem- 
ber, at the same time bringing to mind that it is not the freezing, but the 
sudden thawing that produces the mischief. The bulb of a thermometer 
was whitewashed and hung by an uncoated one. The former registered 
79° with the latter at 97°, when exposed to full rays of the sun, showing” 
that ‘‘even in a winter’s day,” a coating of whitewash keeps the temper- 
ature ‘‘from rising as high as it would do by 20° or more.” 
1849. JAcQuES, GEORGE. Practical treatise on fruit trees, 
1849, p. 201. [14 pages on blight. | 
Probably three sources of blight in pear: an insect causing insect blight; 
changes of winter weather causing winter blight; and ‘‘rays of the sun” 
causing sun blight. It has done ‘‘comparatively little mischief in New 
England states.” 
1849. James, J. H. (Urbana, O.) Blight in pear trees. 
Mag. of Hort., vol. xv, 1849, p. 18. [10 pages. ] 
Dissents from the opinion that there is any difference between the blight 
of the east and west. He describes the disease as a ‘‘putrid fermentation 
having the smell of a spoiled watermelon.”” The change is equivalent to 
complete destruction of the tissues surrounding the wood. .He sent a letter 
dated July 12, 1844, to the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, published in 
Western Farmer and Gardener, Aug. 1844, the essential parts of which. 
were given in Mr. Beecher’s essay (1. c.), in which he suggests that it is due 
to ‘‘fermentation of the sap,” not caused by the brown aphis, as Dr. Mosher 
thinks (in paper read before the Cincinnati Hort. Soc.). ‘The most thrifty 
and succulent kinds are apt to be attacked with the blight.” He at this. 
time also suggested that it might be caused by an undue amount of sap in 
the branches, brought to decay by sudden alternations of heat and cold. 
This does not differ from Mr. Beecher’s view, except that he thought that 
the harm was done in the autumn instead of in the spring. Heis now of: 
opinion, however, that the injury is incurred in winter instead of spring,. 
and recites instances to support this view. 
