274 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for the past one hundred or one hundred and fifty years, hut they still grow 

 peaches there. He had heard that western New York was free from yellows, 

 but last winter he had letters from Hamilton, Ont., saying that peaches with 

 yellows had been imported there from New York and the disease was spread- 

 ing. Last winter he saw yellows near Rochester, and saw that the commercial 

 orchards there were being ruined by it. The claim that they don't have it 

 there is false. He did not think yellows develops in the nursery, except from 

 diseased stocks. He could not tell the origin of the disease. The men in 

 western New York do not know how to treat it; thought they did not take the 

 trees out, and he did not know that the practice of taking them out was prac- 

 ticed anywhere but in Michigan. In Delaware they consider that a peach tree 

 has passed its point of profitable bearing when it is five years old, and they 

 then root them out and plant anew. The first appearance of yellows is some- 

 times in the diseased yellow growths, and next in the prematurely ripened 

 fruit, but usually it is in the fruit first. Young trees set last spring may show 

 yellows this season, it having been dormant in the nursery and developed by 

 the shock of transplanting, or it may remain dormant until brought out by the 

 labor of fruitage. The diseased growths oftenesh come from where otherwise 

 there would be no buds, and the diseased buds appear in the wood of the year 

 in which they originated, not extending to the pith. Diseased pits will grow 

 sometimes, but where the tree has yellows to a great extent the pits usually 

 have no germs. Mr. Lyon had once obtained a lot of almonds from what he 

 presumed to be a perfectly healthy tree, but the young trees soon showed yel- 

 lows, and on examination the old tree proved to be likewise diseased. When 

 he finds yellows in a young tree below the bud he presumes the stock to 

 have been diseased; if above the bud, in the first year, he presumes the 

 bud to have come from an infected tree. At South Haven the grow- 

 ers have practiced uprooting diseased trees. This has resulted in control- 

 ling, in a measure, but not eradicating the disease. There was not much 

 yellows there until after the severe winter of '74-' 75, when about five per 

 cent of the trees was found diseased and taken out. Afterward, until this 

 year, there was very little of the disease manifest. This year the disease shows 

 an increase. Last fall there was a long time of warm weather, in which the 

 nursery stock started into new growth. There came a "cold snap" with snow 

 for about a week, after which discoloration of the wood was noticed. Mr. 

 Lyon thought the increase of yellows this year due to the unfavorable weather 

 of last fall and winter, but was not certain of it. It is certain, however, that 

 disease spreads more readily in animals and plants that are debilitated by 

 unfavorable conditions. He advised the rooting out of all trees having yellows. 

 Much of the destruction of trees at St. Joseph was due to the severe winters, 

 but most of it was caused by yellows. Mr. Dyckman, of South Haven, has 

 yellows in his orchard, but it does not ruin his business. He is reported to 

 have an annual income of from $8,000 to $12,000 per year from his peaches. 

 He says that when he takes out one tree he plants two. He takes them out 

 and burns them, planting a fresh tree in the vacant place. Mr. Lyon would 

 fear to do so, but Mr. D. has been in the business about eighteen years and is 

 successful. Varieties do not differ as to liability to yellows ; nor do soils cause 

 it, one more than another, except as they influence the general condition of 

 the trees. It is universally conceded that the most vigorous trees, on the best 

 soils are as liable to the disease as any. The question was asked : Is there any 

 value in a peach tree after it is affected by yellows? Mr. Lyon's answer was: 



