A Jackson, Tennessee, correspondent writes: "I would like to ask you if you can tell me what ails my pear trees. They die back. A small limb will die. and when I cut the dead limb off another dies, and they keep on that way. 1 am afraid they will all die. If you could tell me what is the matter with them and what to do for them, you would do me a lasting favor, and I should be very much obliged".

[It would appear from this note that the terrible fire blight, so destructive in other regions, has only just made its appearance in this part of the world. This does not indicate any change of climate, electrical conditions, or any of the supposed phenomena so often brought in to account for the disease, for no one will believe there has been any material difference in this respect since the pear was first planted there; but it does show that something has been introduced that was not there during the many years that the pear trees were healthy. This may be such a low-lived organism as the species of bacteria described by Professors Burrill and Arthur. These little plants are somewhat of the nature of the " mildews and moulds" of general literature. They come and go, like that which causes smallpox or yellow fever, no one knows why or how. So far as the pear is concerned, it is some comfort that, like smallpox or yellow fever, its appearance is not regular or persistent. It will sometimes sweep away a whole orchard, and then it may never appear again. It has been, moreover, noted that after it has once appeared with great virulence, it is rarely very bad again in the same locality, at least for a number of years.

We cannot say that we know of any protection against the disease, or cure for it after it appears; but you may go on and cut out the diseased branches, or plant new trees in the place of those wholly destroyed, with little fear of being a bad sufferer the second time. - Ed. G. M].