402 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tomahawk was brandished vigorously, and woe to luckless wight who 

 fell tinder its blows. Mr. Minch even went so far as to say, "I deem the 

 man who contends that yellows is a contagious disease a dangerous char- 

 acter," while Mr. Fullee declared with equal emphasis: "The doctrine 

 that yellows is not contagious is a dangerous one to teach." 



Such was, substantially, the state of the question when the peach yellows 

 investigation was taken up by the department of agriculture. 



Dr. Goessman began his researches in 1876, and the special treatment 

 of diseased peach trees in 1878. His analyses with comments were pub- 

 lished in " The Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society " 

 in 1882. He first treated "slightly affected trees with a phosphatic 

 fertilizer in the usual proportion, adding at the same time from three to 

 four pounds of chloride of potassium (muriate of potash) for every 

 tree." Finally he settled upon a mixture of bone-superphosphate, muriate 

 of potash, and sulphate of magnesia, laying special stress on the "specific- 

 action " of muriate of potash. Concerning these treatments he remarks, 

 in 1889: "Our own observations have been most encouraging, and satisfac- 

 tory results are reported from all directions." 



Professor Penhallow's first paper was published in 1882, in connection 

 with Dr. Goessman's; and his experiments at Houghton Farm, subsequently 

 described in two bulletins from that station, were begun the same year 

 and concluded in 1883. 



In his later writings he advised 625 fibs per acre of the following 

 mixture : 



Kieserite 25 lbs 



Muriate of potash 150 



Dissolved bone black 450 



If marked evidence of the disease was present he recommended an addi- 

 tional 4 fibs of muriate for each affected tree, and said: "If not too far gone, 

 two or three years will probably complete the cure, but careful treatment 

 will be needed afterward to prevent return." 



Professor S. T. Maynaed, who carried on most of the field work at 

 Amherst, recommended in 1884, "400 fibs of acid bone phosphate, 150 to 

 200 fibs of muriate of potash, and 100 fibs of crude sulphate of magnesia," 

 as the mixture which they had found to give the best results. This he 

 said should be applied in the fall or very early in the spring, and worked 

 into the soil around the trees. 



Concerning the contagious nature of yellows Professor Penh allow 

 wrote in 1884: "In my first report for 1882 I ignore contagion in this 

 disease, and have still no reason for believing in it." In 1884 Professor 

 Maynaed also wrote: " While I have no positive proof that the disease is 

 not contagious, I do seriously doubt if anyone has positive proof that it is." 



Dr. Goessman now seems to hold a middle ground, believing that what- 

 ever be the cause of yellows, we can enable peach trees to resist it by giving 

 them a sufficient quantity of food. Probably the best way to present this 

 subject succinctly will be to divide it into two parts, first treating of 

 laboratory work and then of field work. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 



When my attention was first called to this theory of peach yellows, it 

 struck me that the evidence was rather meager, and not as harmonious as 



