258 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TREATMENT FOR YELLOWS. 



If the disease makes its appearance, there is but one thing to be done, 

 and everyone now advises that the tree be at once dug out and burned. It 

 will probably be best to dig around the tree and take out the trunk and the 

 larger roots to a distance of perhaps two feet from the stem, although 

 some growers top off the branches and later on cut out the stump. The 

 removal should take place immediately after a tree is found to be dis- 

 eased, and all growers should familiarize themselves with the appearance 

 of the disease in its tirst stage, that it may be taken in hand in time. 



APPEARANCE OF YELLOWS. 



While by some persons the term "yellows" is applied to almost any 

 unhealthy condition of the trees that gives them a yellowish appearance, 

 the true " yellows" as known to peach-growers is a specific disease with 

 certain well-defined symptoms by which it can be recognized. 



While it may be somewhat modified by local conditions, it almost inva- 

 riably passes through certain changes and runs a definite fixed course. 

 Yellows first manifests itself in a tree, in the premature ripening of 

 the fruit. In a healthy tree each variety has a somewhat definite time 

 of maturity, but, if the tree is attacked by this disease, the fruits may 

 color up two or three weeks before those on the neighboring trees of the 

 same variety are ripe. The time of ripening, however, is variable, as 

 sometimes the difference is only a few days but in other casfes it may be 

 four or five weeks. Not only do they ripen prematurely, but the fruits 

 upon diseased trees is quite different in appearance from that on healthy 

 ones. Besides being much higher colored than healthy peaches, the 

 surface is more or less blotched with dark red dots, giving the fruit 

 a speckled appearance (Fig. 8, 1). As a rule, the blotches are small 

 and show quite distinctly against a lighter background, but sometimes 

 they are so numerous as to run together and give the face, or perhaps 

 the entire surface of the peach, a purplish appearance. A still more 

 distinctive feature is that the discoloration is not confined to the epidermis, 

 but extends into the center of the fruit so that upon being cut open the 

 flesh has a mottled appearance, the coloring being in the form of streaks, 

 dots, and splashes; around the pit the coloring is unusually dark, and 

 sometimes in light-colored varieties the entire flesh is of a uniform red 

 color. As a rule, the flesh of premature peaches has but little flavor, 

 although in some cases it is slightly bitter. The fitness for food of pre- 

 mature peaches depends upon the extent to which they are affected, as, if 

 the attack is but slight, they are palatable, but in the advanced condition 

 they are not fit for food. The safest plan is to destroy all affected fruit. 

 The disease may not appear upon all parts of the trees the first season, but 

 if a single peach ripens prematurely and has a spotted flesh, it is an infal- 

 lible indication that the tree has yellows in its incipient stage, and there 

 should be no delay in destroying it and its fruit. 



We give here a description of the illustrations on the next page: in Fig. 8, 

 1 represents a peach attacked by yellows. 2. A healthy peach for compari- 

 son. 3. Specimen taken in the autumn, showing how the tree has put out 

 leaves and blossoms from the winter buds. The spring foliage has already 

 fallen. 6. Represents a similar specimen. 4. Shows the tufted spring 

 growth due to yellows. 5. A branch taken in the autumn; the spring 

 foliage has nearly all fallen, and autumn leaves have developed from 

 winter buds. 7. A healthy peach branch for comparison. 



( The illustration was kindly loaned by the publisher of the American Cultivator, Boston, Mass.) 



