474 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



PEACH YELLOWS. 



Yellows of the peach is placed under the jurisdiction of the yellows 

 commissioners by the so-called, "Yellows Law," and in case trees are 

 infected with this disease they can require the owners to destroy them 

 within five days, or, if it is not done, they can have the trees destroyed and 

 collect from the township the actual cost of uprooting and burning them. 



Yellows may appear in trees of any age but is seldom seen until the 

 trees come into bearing. It then shows in the premature ripening of the 

 fruit, which takes on a very high color, anywhere from one to four weeks 

 before its usual time to mature, and the surface is more or less covered 

 with red spots. On cutting the fruit open, streaks will be found running 

 from these spots to the pit, around which the color is found much deeper 

 than in healthy fruit. In some seasons, however, certain fruits that 

 naturally red about the pit have this color much heightened, so that 

 these lines should not be taken as indicative of the disease. At about 

 the time the disease appears in the fruit, indications of its presence may 

 be seen upon the branches, where a number of small, narrow and pointed 

 leaves may develop. When the trees are not in bearing this is the first in- 

 dication that would be seen. Sometimes the disease does not appear until 

 late in the autumn, when it manifests itself by the opening of winter buds, 

 which normally would remain dormant until the next spring. These buds, 

 along in November, develop short-jointed shoots, with small, yelowisk- 

 green leaves, which often remain upon the trees until mid-winter. Similar 

 shoots often appear from the stumps of trees in which the disease has 

 shown itself, and which have been cut down. The following year the trees 

 will make but little growth, the leaves will be small, yellowish-green in 

 color, and slender, branching growths will generally appear from the 

 crotches of the branches, forming what may fruitgrowers speak of as 

 "fungous growth." The trees become weaker each year and, at the end of 

 two or three years from the time that they are first attacked, die from the 

 disease. When yellows appears on, perhaps, one or two branches, 

 many growers attempt to save the tree by cutting off the branches in 

 which the disease has appeared, but in no case, so far as is known, have 

 they been able to save the remainder of the tree. Even though a tree has a 

 full crop of fruit upon it, it should be cut down and burned, on the first ap- 

 pearance of yellows, for, if left to ripen its fruit, the disease is likely 

 to spread to other trees. By the prompt removal of diseased trees our 

 growers have been able to grow peaches with but little loss from this 

 disease, while those who failed to take prompt action have lost every 

 tree in their orchards. This shows the importance of watching the trees 

 carefully and applying the axe and fire when any symptoms of the disease 

 appear. Some of our best growers make it a practice to go over their 

 trees once a week, beginning three or four weeks before the variety will 

 ripen, and thus are able to detect the disease upon its first appearance. 



While the exact nature of the disease is not known, it is regarded as 

 highly contagious, and no effective remedies have been found for it. It 

 attacks all varieties and appears on all kinds of soil and in orchards 

 under the highest cultivation as well as those in which the trees are suffer- 

 ing from a lack of proper food and care. 



