MICHIGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 467 



ketable commodity ; so cheap that the poor as well as the rich 

 may regale themselves and their families with one of the most 

 wholesome and delicious of fruits at a very small expense and 

 "with every prospect that they will still be more abundant and 

 cheap." — Peach Culture, p. 16. 



The sole agent which may defeat this alluring prophecy of 

 greater abundance at still less expense is the Yellows ; no other 

 disease, not easily remedied, threatens this crop, and if we 

 could devise some effectual remedy for this blight, we might 

 say that the millenium of the peach-eater was " nigh, even at 

 the doors." 



HISTORY OF THE YELLOWS. 



The Yellows in peaches, as known in this couutry, appears 

 to be confined to the United States. Some contend that the 

 disease in known in Europe ; thus Mr. Barry, in Country Gen- 

 tleman for November, 18G0, p. 302, says: ''This affection is 

 by no means peculiar to New Jersey, nor even to the United 

 States. It is known in France; there trees exhibit the 

 same indications ; the leaves changing to a sickly yellow hue, 

 with no healthy circulation of the sap.'' * * -■= * " Indeed, 

 this is the same condition described by European authors, 

 under the name of ' Chlorosis,' a well-known disease." 



Chlorosis means strictly Yellows ; but the Chlorosis of 

 European writers is not confined to the peach tree, but afiecta 

 other trees also, and even grain crops. Morton, in his Cyclo- 

 pedia of Agriculture, speaks of the barley showing Chlorosis 

 in bad weather, etc., and adds, in a foot-note : " Fruit trees, in 

 badly drained ground, where the roots are always in a lower 

 temperature than is consistent with health, are often similarly 

 affected. Timely drainage, and improvement of the soil 

 where needful, is the only remedy." 



The only symptom in common between European Chlorosis 

 and American Yellows, is the yellow discoloration of the leaf. 

 Any plant may exhibit yellow leaves, when its vitality is 

 impaired or its growth checked. The sere and yellow leaf of 



