Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-10-02
Rughted Pear Trees.

dig utGu 1 CuI lACCo'
This season the blight among pear trees
has been more destructive in this vicinity
and in this county than ever. In and
around StauntoD, Jos. f. Tanneblll. Judge
J. W. G. Smith, JOS B. Woodward, j. A.
Waddell, J. W. Brandeburg and Mrs. T.
K. Menefee have lost many fine trees. The
blight made its appearance in some cases
as long ago as June. The leaves of the
branches attacked by it turn black. and in
one case some pears from one of the
branches, boiled as an experiment, turned
an inky black. showing the presence of
strong poison. Judge Smith sent
letter to the Director of the New York
Agricultural Experiment Station at Ge-
neva, N. Y, and has received the report
of the work at that station on pear blight
this season. The facts contained IN 1t
will be interesting to cur county readers,
for there is hardly farm. large or small,
trees in its orchard. We give condensa-
ton of some of the results obtained by ex-
pertinent, and embodied in the report:
THE CAUSE OF THE BLIGHT.
Pear blight is due to living germs,
which come to life and multiply in any
damp spot where there is decomposing
vegetable matter. From their birth place
they are raised into the air when dry, or
carried up by moisture, and lodge upon the
trees. When lodged on the very tender
-, y, , mil in hn A. Or
and at the ends of expanding shoots Iii
spring, and with moist atmosphere, they
pass into the tissues and cause the blight.
At the experimental station these germs
have been propagated in sterilized
infusions Of corn meal, hay, barn
yard manure. green fruits, starch
and so forth, and it Is found that
they will live and thrive outside the
tree in dead Organic substances. They
generally attack the trees abouG, and not
later than, the period Of Towering, say
about May.
SEVERE PRUNING THE ONLY REMEDY.
The Only remedy So far discovered is
severe pruning OF the limbs. In enc caSe
whore The blighted branches in the Or
chard of the station were removed July
l, it was not ten days before the oichard
seemed more blighted than at first. and In
many instances it had struck at the bodies
of the larger limbs and in one case The
tr.tnk below the limbs. The explanation
of this failure of pruning to be successful.
was found to be that the blight had
already gone the length Of the spur and
already entered the large limb when the
spur was cut away, Here it did not take
long to girdle the limb, prevent the pas
sage of sap, and thus practically kill It,.
In the single Instance where blight occur
red On the trunk of tree below the
branches. it was perfectly evident that it
shoot that had started out at that point
this spring. The failure to cut it away
before the blight reached to the trunk, cost
the entire tree.
NO VARIETIES EXEMPT FROM IT.
No varieties are entirely blight proof.
but the disease spreads SO slowly in some
tuty IGCGIfG IIttlS lDJuiyi CoPCOlGAy
when not N aking too rapid growth. The
reason why the blight, when seen in July
and later, does not pass directly from one
limb to another, or from enc tree to
another, is because in the first place the
germs cannot escape, being confined by
the bark, or else escape in a viscid exuda-
ton which holds them firmly together,
and in the second place there are very few
places on the tree at this time of the year
where the surface tissues are sufficiently
tender for them to find an entrance.
PREVENTIVE AND REMEDY.
Do not force the trees into 100 rapid
growth, by heavy tertlizing OR otherwise.
Place no confidence IN sulphur. lime. or
washes or applications of any sort
Promptly remove every trace of the dis
ease q foot or more beloaU the loacest spot
where it shows, and burn the branches,