STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. l8l 



while the fruit on nil the other b-ees, together with most other early 

 varieties, was spoiled. 



From the information derived from these experiments, it appears that 

 the main ditiiculty to be o\'ercome in growing the peach is to stop the 

 breeding of ciirculios, wlien the much tlreaded rot will not be more com- 

 mon than in former years. 



It is not our object here to show how this can best be done, but will 

 state that in properly grown, isolated orchards, the cost of complete pro- 

 tection need not exceed four cents per trt:c. Whatever will protect an 

 isolated orchard will also apply to a whole fruit district, embracing hun- 

 dreds of thousands of trees, when the whole arc treated as though they 

 were but one orchard. When this is done there will be no migrations 

 from one orchard to another, for in all, the little Turk would come to 

 grief at the same time. Desti'oy, then, this worst of all orchard pests and 

 our trees will once more, by the returns they will make, convince the 

 most skeptical that there is no such thing as natural deterioration of either 

 trees or fruits, but rather our misfortunes come from the common 

 neglect. 



By this we would not A\ish to be understood that there are no diseases 

 affecting the vitality of the peach, for, not only in this, but in some of 

 the adjoining states, an incurable disease, known as the Yellows, pre- 

 vails. 



In several places visited by us, the contagious nature of the disease, 

 or rather the disease itself, was not recognized. In these districts great 

 numbers of trees are now so contaminated that it is doubtful if healthy 

 orchards can be grown near, until all the trees now standing are first 

 swept oft', and time allowed for the disease to die out. This is a matter 

 in which all the counties in the State, where the peach is grown, are 

 deeply interested, for it is quite evident that a single tree aft'ected with 

 the yellows, may, through the agency of bees or the wind, disseminate 

 the disease to ti'ees over a wide extent of country, or to all such as the 

 bees happen to visit, with the pollen of the yellowed trees adhering 

 to them. 



At the present time there is great danger that some of our nurscrv- 

 men may obtain their seeds for propagation from districts where the yel- 

 lows exists. Indeed, in the past summer in several nurseries we have 

 found unhealthy seedlings, which were but a few inches high. Ilealtliy 

 peach seeds can, with certainty, no longer be procured from the canning 

 establishments or hotels, either at St. Louis or Chicago; as very large 

 quantities of peaches grown on infected trees are consumed in those 

 markets, and more than this are, through the agency of commission houses, 

 sent to all parts of the West. 



It is then to be hoped that hereafter all who propagate peach trees for 

 sale, will be cautious with respect to the source from which they obtain 

 their seeds. 



We think very little is known of the causes producing the yellows, 

 neither can we add any facts of interest not already stated, unless it be 

 with respect to the color of the leaves. Such as are from diseased parts 



