530 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are scared thereby so that they are deterred from growing peaches, and thus 

 rob themselves of one of the most delicious fruits, that I must contend that 

 those who maintain the contagiousness of the yellows are not only mistaken, 

 but dangerous by their teachings. After a. vast deal of trouble with the 

 yellows, practical experience has taught me that by the use of proper 

 fertilizers there is no trouble in growing peaches from the seeds of diseased 

 trees, and I guarantee to grow healthy trees from seeds . from the fruit of 

 trees affected with the yellows. 



To this President Lyons responds : I will not pretend to know what Mr. 

 Minch calls "yellows," but, as it is known among Michigan orchardists, 

 the man who, in the face of our experiences with it, would question its con- 

 tagious character, would be considered proof against the evidence of facts. 

 My observation has shown that seeds of peach trees badly diseased with 

 yellows rarely, if ever, contain germs, and of course will not grow. A few 

 years since I saved a bushel or more of seed from what appeared to be a 

 healthy tree. The seed was planted the following spring and made but 

 feeble growth, with abundant indications of yellows; and during the same 

 season the parent tree produced a crop of fruit unmistakably diseased. This 

 satisfied me that the disease had been latent in the tree the previous season 

 and had imparted the contagion to the seed of the previous year, but failed 

 of outward manifestation till the following year. 



THE NURSERY. 



Plum on Peach. — Josiah Hoopes thinks it is strange how persistent the 

 opponents of this system are, and yet with all the theories advanced in favor 

 of their views, they overlook one incontrovertible fact — that plums budded 

 on peach stocks, in many sections, grow as thriftily, bear as profusely, and 

 are as long-lived as when worked on the plum root. In some localities, 

 especially on light and sandy soils, the former are noticeably superior, even 

 succeeding perfectly where the latter proves a failure. In sight of where I 

 write is a small collection of plums budded on peach roots, now some ten 

 years planted, that have been fruiting several seasons with excellent success, 

 and a more thrifty set of trees it would be difficult to find. It is easy to 

 form plausible theories to meet our views on almost any question but actual 

 experience sometimes demolishes them. In reversing the system and bud- 

 ding the peach on plum, very little good is effected, unless we make an 

 exception in favor of a dwarfer growth. Experiments, covering many years, 

 have demonstrated to my satisfaction that no substantial improvement ever 

 results from the union. Even in pots, peach on its own roots appears to 

 grow and fruit quite as well as when budded on healthy plum roots. The 



