308 STATE HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The following are some of the more noticeable symptoms : 



(a) Young shoot-axes. — Commonly the disease first appears in the 

 unfolding shoot-axes : i. e., in early spring when the buds first open. In 

 healthy trees only a small proportion of the winter buds develop into 

 branc'nes. The rest die or remain dormant. In this disease a very 

 large part of the winter buds grow into shoot-axes, and also a very 

 considerable number of dormant buds on the older and larger branches^ 



In diseased trees, the shoot-axes push only 1 to 3 inches ; lose 

 almost completely the ability to develop and ripen wood, and to form 

 dormant buds. The buds on such shoots grow as soon as they are 

 formed, or rather, as soon as they receive the initial differentiation^ 

 developing into diminutive soft branches, which frequently branch 

 again, but never attain any good degree of size, vigor or maturity. 



fbj The foliage. — The leaves on these dwarfed branching shoot- 

 axes are multiplied correspondingly, and the result is compact tufts or 

 rosettes containing 200 to 400 diminutive leaves, and many additional 

 green stipules, which are frequently misshapen and abnormal. The 

 older and larger leaves near the base of the shoot frequently reach a 

 length of several inches, and are characterized by a very pronounced 

 inrolling of the margins of the leaf, and by a certain stiffness due to a 

 peculiar straightening of the midrib. These leaves turn yellow in early- 

 summer and fall very readily. 



Trees attacked by rosette generally drop their fruit early, and while 

 it is still green or yellowish green. In June, 1891, I saw scattering 

 fruits on many diseased trees, and none of them were premature or 

 bore any of the characteristic symptoms of peach yellows. The fruit, 

 even on badly affected limbs, when there was any at all, was small, 

 green, or yellowish green, and often more or less shriveled. 



This disease, or one very much like it, also occurs in Kansas. It 

 appeared at Manhattan in 1889, and is now quite prevalent in that 

 locality, but has not been reported from other parts of that State. 



The disease is very destructive in both states. Mr. T. C. Wells, of 

 Manhattan, Kansas, lost his entire orchard in two years. Mr. E. C. 

 Fryer, of Shiloh, Georgia, has lost several orchards, each in a space of 

 about three years. In other parts of Georgia the disease has pro- 

 gressed less rapidly, but no less surely. About Griffin, Georgia, the 

 seedling-peach orchards and the wild plums have suffered most, but 

 the disease has been in the budded orchards for some time, and is gain- 

 ing ground every year. Next to peach yellows, I regard it as the most 

 dangerous enemy to peach culture in the United States. In some 

 respects it is worse than yellows, because it runs its course more 

 speedily and is more apt to take the entire tree from the start. Should 



