Peach Yellows. 407 



The cause of the disease is wholly unknown. Almost every 

 ascribed caused has been disproved upon careful investigation. 



It has no uniform preference for varieties, soils, climate, nor 

 methods of propagation or cultivation. 



No fertilization of the soil will cure the disease or check its 

 spread. 



The one unmistakable symptom of yellows is the red-spotted 

 character of the fruit. The flesh is commonly marked by red lines 

 or splashes beneath the spots. These peaches generally ripen 

 prematurely, and in the second year they are usually smaller and 

 •often more fuzzy than the normal fruit. The second symptom to 

 appear — or the first in trees not in fruit — is the "tip" growth. 

 This is a short growth starting from the upper or terminal buds, 

 usually late in the season, and is characterized bj- narrow stiff 

 yellowish small leaves which stand at nearly right angles to the 

 shoot. Sometimes these tips appear late in autumn, after the 

 leaves have fallen, or in spring before normal growth begins. 

 They are often first seen upon the ends of watersprouts. This 

 "tip" growth is sometimes little pronounced, and then only a 

 practiced eye will detect it. 



The third mark of the disease is the pushing out of slender 

 stiflf-leaved yellowish shoots from the body of the tree or the sides 

 of the large limbs. In pronounced cases, or when the tree is about 

 to die, these shoots ma}^ branch into close bunchy tufts. These 

 symptoms are frequently wholly absent in this state throughout 

 the entire course of the disease. 



In its final stage, the disease is marked by small and slender 

 growth of aU new wood, small, narrow, yellow or reddish foliage, 

 and occasioually by a great profusion of slender and branchy 

 growths in the center of the tree. 



As a rule, yellows trees die in five or six years from the first 

 visible attack. 



The yellowand stunted condition following neglect or the work 

 of borers — both of the common borer and the pin-hole borer — is 

 often mistaken for yellows. 



Extermination of all affected trees — root and branch — is the 

 only method of keeping the disease at bay. This work should be 



