476 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



secured unless the injured portions have been cut away and a growth ob- 

 tained from the comparatively healthy wood below. Unless the soil is fer- 

 tile it should be enriched with a liberal supply of wood ashes. Stable 

 manure would be desirable to start a new growth, and a small amount 

 inay be used to advantage, but an excess should be avoided as it will 

 produce a soft watery growth that will be injured by the winter. 



While some specific disease may be the cause of the trouble, in most 

 cases it has every appearance of the effect of cold upon the unripe wood. 

 In one case, young trees were growing in a corn field; after cultivation 

 ceased the growth of the corn drew upon the moisture and plant food in 

 the soil, causing the trees to ripen prematurely and, when the corn was 

 cut, a second growth could readily be started by the fall rains, and this 

 would be injured by the winter. Iu other cases, the wood may have been 

 unripe in the fall, or it may have started into growth early in the spring 

 and a few degrees of frost would in either case produce an injury to the 

 wood similar to that found in " little peach." The cells being injured the 

 sap would not pass through them readily, and the new growth would 

 naturally be short, the fruit would not reach its normal size, and water 

 sprouts would start from the branches. 



In case the disease is found to be contagious it would come under the 

 operation of the nursery law. 



"gum disease" of the peach. 



After rains in the early spring, patches of gum are noticed upon the 

 twigs and smaller branches of peach trees, and examination shows the 

 bark beneath to be ruptured. Sometimes the injury is near the buds, in 

 which case it will generally be found that growth has started prema- 

 turely, or that it was not perfectly ripened in the fall, and has been 

 injured by frost; the bark being ruptured the sap exudes. When away 

 from the buds, the injury may be due to the same cause, but small spots 

 are often found on the bark, that have been caused by fungi of various 

 kinds, from which the sap has come. As preventives, spray the trees 

 with fungicides, and use cover crops and mineral fertilizers, avoiding 

 southern exposures where there is not free circulation of the air. If the 

 branches are much injured they should be cut back below where the 

 worst of the spots are found. 



curl leaf. 



Although not coming under the operation of the spraying and orchard 

 inspection laws, yet the severe loss suffered last year, in all parts of the 

 state, from this disease, makes it worthy of mention here. The effect of 

 the disease upon the foliage of the tree is known by all peach growers. 

 The tissues become thickened and the leaves become wrinkled and often 

 more or less marked with yellow and red, and finally a whitish powder 

 is seen upon the infected portions. In severe cases, all of the leaves, 

 except those that have recently developed, drop from the branches of the 

 trees, thus subjecting them to a severe check, and as a result some or 

 all of the fruit drops from the tree — the amount varying with the severity 

 of the attack. The disease is most troublesome in seasons when the 

 weather has been wet and cold. These conditions cause a check to the 



