294 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The disease first shows itself, in bearing trees, in the premature ripen- 

 ing of the fruit; this, with the spotting and streaking of the skin and the 

 flesh of the fruit, is generally a sure sign of yellows. Owing to this 

 spotting, the fruit takes on a high color, and the. flesh is also a dark red, 

 although the discoloration may be confined to threads that run from the 

 stone in all directions to the surface. 



A tree that has reached this stage should be condemned, and the law 

 requires that fruit with the above described markings shall .be destroyed. 

 Although at first the taste is not unpleasant, in the advanced stages it 

 becomes quite bitter. 



The second stage of the^ disease, or the first in trees that are not bear- 

 ing, is shown by the sending out of small, wiry twigs either from the young 

 shoots or from the axils of the larger branches. The new shoots take on a 

 bushy appearance from the fact that the buds which should send out shoots 

 the following year prematurely develop weak, spindling branches. Not 

 only may these weak shoots from the winter buds appear, but wiry 

 growths may appear at any time and at any place, although they are 

 most likely to start near a crotch. 



The leaves will be small and more or less clustered so that they may 

 have a rosette-like appearance; they also generally take on an unhealthy, 

 yellowish look, particularly late in the season and during the following 

 year. Many of the branches will probably die during the second winter 

 and few of the trees will survive the third. 



The disease is unquestionably contagious and the only hope of saving an 

 orchard once attacked is in cutting out the diseased trees as soon as the 

 first symptoms are seen. It is not known how early in the development 

 of the disease it takes on its contagious nature, but caution would certainly 

 dictate that they be taken out as soon as the first indication of the disease 

 shows itself, particularly as there is no hope of saving the tree. Many 

 careful observers believe that the disease can be communicated by rubbing 

 a branch of a diseased tree against a healthy one. If this is the case, we 

 cannot urge too much caution in the removal of the trees, and many make 

 use of the plan of cutting up the trees and burning them on the spot. It 

 will always be safest to so dig out the trees that the trunk and the larger 

 roots will be removed. 



While nothing is known as to the length of time that should elapse 

 before the vacancy can be filled with safety, many peach-growers replant 

 the spring following the taking out of the trees. 



The so called "yellows" law is intended to protect fruitgrowers against 

 their careless neighbors who may from ignorance or shiftlessness neglect 

 to remove and burn their diseased trees. 



PEACH-LEAF CURL (Exoasciis deformans [Berk.], Fckl.). 



Although the appearance of this disease is familiar to all peach-growers, 

 the nature of the trouble is not generally understood. Sometimes the 

 leaves of the peach, and more often those of the cherry and plum, are 

 infested with plant lice (aphides), and become blistered and curled so that 

 they look much the same as when attacked by the true " curl." 



In cases when the attack is a severe one, the foliage may nearly all fall 

 to the ground, and as a result most, if not all, of the fruit drops. Although 

 other leaves will be put out, the check to the tree is a severe one and, in 

 the case of young trees, great harm is often done. Bearing trees may be so 



