It is a matter of great importance that all cultivators of fruit unite
in making observations on this subject, and that it may be done with
some unity of purpose.
1. Let the examiner select trees upon which are seen small
_water-shoots_, that have evidently grown late in the fall. Usually, a
tuft of withered leaves will indicate them. Examine also all the new
wood which retains terminal leaves or is winter-killed at the tips.
2. The pith will be, in apples, an iron-rust color, and in pears
greenish black or pepper color; the inner skin will be discolored, and
the wood of a greenish, waxy appearance. On cutting down to the point
where these shoots unite with the branch or trunk, the diseased sap
will be found to have discolored the whole neighborhood. In many cases
which we have examined, half the trunk is affected. We examined a
bearing pear-tree, which to the eye has not one sign of unhealthiness,
but which, on cutting, is found to be affected throughout, and will,
undoubtedly, die in spring.
3. Let a comparison be instituted between trees in different
circumstances.
Is there any difference between slow-growing varieties and those which
grow rapidly?
Is there any difference between trees in cold, northern aspects, whose
sap, in autumn, would not be likely to be excited, and those with
southern aspects?
Is there a difference between trees upon a fat clay or rank loam of
any kind, and those upon a warm, dry, sandy loam. It is supposed that
any causes which produce a coarse, watery, flabby tissue in a tree,
predispose it to injury by frost, and thus to the blight; and that the
fineness and firmness of texture of trees growing in a sand-loam on a
gravelly subsoil give them great power of endurance.
4. Let trees which are found to be in an injured condition be marked
and examined again as follows:
(1.) At the breaking up of winter, to see if any change of condition
has taken place.
(2.) At the breaking of the bud into leaf.
(3.) At the full development of leaf and when the downward current of
sap is begun.
5. It is a matter of great importance to ascertain whether the
character of the season which follows such frost-injuries as have
befallen fruit-trees in this region, modifies the disease. Some think
that blight will follow without regard to the ensuing season; others
suppose that a _dry_, and warm season will very much prevent the
mischief; but that a _moist_ and warm spring and summer, will give it
a fatal development.
It is ardently to be hoped that accurate observations will be made,
and upon a large scale. We presume that it need not be added that the
_exact truth of facts_ is the first step toward any sound explanation;
and that our object should be to _find out facts_, and then,
afterward, to deduce principles.
* * * * *
BOILING POTATOES.—Not one housekeeper out of ten knows how to boil
potatoes properly. Here is an Irish method, one of the best we know.
Clean wash the potatoes and leave the skin on; then bring the water to
a boil and throw them in. As soon as boiled soft enough for a fork to
be easily thrust through them, dash some cold water into the pot, let
the potatoes remain two minutes, and then pour off the water. This
done, half remove the pot-lid, and let the potatoes remain over a slow
fire till the steam is evaporated; then peel and set them on the table
in an _open_ dish. Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, will always be
sweet, dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it keeps
the steam in, and makes them soft and watery.