Peach Yellows. 405 



the appointment of thoroughly competent men impossible — and 

 the lack of any general office or officer who shall keep records of 

 the spread and control of the disease. This latter omission is 

 serious, from the fact that it is only by a study of careful statis- 

 tics extending over a series of years that the progress of the dis- 

 ease can be accurately known and the effectiveness of remedial 

 laws adequately measured. This important statistical feature has 

 been embodied in the Connecticut law, and the yellows commis- 

 sioner reports that in the year 1893 official examinations were 

 made of 283,782 trees, of which 28,647 were condemned. 

 The full text of the Connecticut yellows law is as follows : 



Section i. The State Board of Agriculture shall, within 

 thirty days from the passage of this act, appoint a commissioner 

 on peach yellows, to hold office during the pleasure of said board. 

 Said commissioner may, with the approval of said board and 

 under the provisions of this act, adopt and carry out such plans 

 as may be deemed necessary for the eradication of the disease, 

 common to peach trees, known as peach yellows. 



Sec. 2. At all joint meetings of said board and said commis- 

 sioner, for the purpose of conference, the commissioner shall re- 

 ceive pay from the board for his expenses only. Said commis- 

 sioner may, with the approval of said board, appoint one or more 

 deputies in each county ; and when employed in the performance 

 of duties imposed by this act, said commissioner and his deputies 

 shall receive from the state, upon presentation to the comptroller, 

 of bills duly sworn to, audited by the auditing committee of the 

 hoard of agriculture, and approved by the Governor, five dollars 

 per day and their expenses. 



Sec. 3. Any peach, almond, apricot, or nectarine tree diseased 

 by the yellows, and all fruit from any such diseased tree, is hereby 

 declared a public nuisance, and it shall be the duty of said com- 

 missioner or any deputy, under such regulations as the State 

 board of agriculture may adopt or approve of, to order such trees 

 or such fruit destroyed, and upon the failure of the owner to obey 

 such order, to destroy such trees or fruit, and no damage shall be 

 paid to such owner on account of such destruction. 



Sec. 4. Any person may, when ordered to destroy any tree 

 or fruit condemned by the said commissioner or deputy, appeal to 

 the State board of agriculture, and said board shall appoint a com- 

 mittee of three experts, which committee shall not include the 

 person who, acting as commissioner or deputy, ordered such tree 

 or fruit destroyed, and the decision of such committee shall be 

 final. 



