I observe there ha3 been great complaint the past season about pear blight. Now if I can point out a remedy for this ruthless destroyer, I know I shall receive the thanks of many. If I have not found the root of the matter, I am not far from it.

In my garden I have a number of trees that have been repeatedly attacked. Sometimes I have let the disease progress until the tree seemed almost hopelessly destroyed. I did this in order that my theory and practice might the more thoroughly be tested. I never have failed in any instance to check the blight and restore the tree. My theory is that the disease is in the root, and grows out of the disproportion between the root and the top. When I discover the disease, I top or prune freely; sometimes this operation had to be performed with the nerve and resolution of a regular army surgeon. When the disease is stubborn, and yields not kindly to amputation of limbs, I mulch and water with soapsuds, to revive and quicken the roots. This practice has never failed in any instance.

In my yard, where the trees are more shaded and the roots never molested, and the ground covered with sod to retain moisture, no blight has ever occurred. In the garden the ground is regularly worked, the roots more or less interfered with, and the sun has full power to dispel the moisture from the roots; hence I think there gets to be a dis-parity between the roots and top, and blight is the result. Let every one who reads this contrast it with his own experience and the facts and observations of others, and I think we will be able to manage the blight. I prefer, if not a moist, at least a retentive soil for pear trees, and think constant cultivation among them will sooner or later produce blight. I think my diagnosis is correct, and I know my practice is. - Country Gent.