230 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It \rould appear, there:fore, from these statements and from considerable 

 additional negative evidence, that at this date, 1806-'07, the disease was 

 restricted to a small area around Philadelphia, including jjrobably a portion 

 of Xew Jersey and upper Delaware. 



From this date the disease gradually extended into New Jersey, Delaware, 

 Maryland, New York, and other states. 



Mr. Coxe, 'of New Jersey, who knew nothing about yellows in 1807, knew 

 it apparently only too well in 1817, for he says of the peach : 



It is, when in perfection, tho finest fruit of our country for beauty and flavor ; it is 

 deeply to be regretted tliat its duration is so short, and that it is subject to a malady 

 ■which no remedy can cure nor cultivation arrest. Of the numberless modes of miti- 

 gating or preventing the diseases of the peach tree, with which our public prints are 

 daily teeming, none have yet been found effectual. The ravages of the worm, which 

 destroys the roots and trunk of this tree, may be sometimes prevented and with care 

 may be at all times rendered less destructive, but the malady which destroys much the 

 largest portion of the trees has hitherto baffled every effort to subdue it ; neither its 

 source nor the precise character of the disease appear to be perfectlj' understood. In 

 one of the consequences of this disease every cultivator of the tree will agree, that it 

 can not be cultivated with success on the site of a former plantation until some years 

 and an intermediate course of cultivation have intervened; ifl a nursery established on 

 ground previously occupied by peach trees the stones may possibly sprout, but in a 

 few [?] weeks they will assume a languishing appearance, the leaves will turn yellow, 

 they will dwindle, and thp greater part will perish the tirst season. 



If trees are brought from a sound nursery and planted on the site of an old orchard, 

 or in a garden previously occupied by them, or among old trees, the young plantation 

 will share the same fate with the nursery plants, it will seldom survive the first season, 

 and it will never be vigorous or thrifty. 



The fine peaches which are raised for the Philadeljihia market are cultivated in the 

 following manner. [Here follows an account of the metliod of cultivation, not differ- 

 ent from that now in use in Maryland and Delaware.] With this management [which 

 included search for borers in the spring, summer, and autuninj, a peach orchard netr 

 a market, or on navigable waters, will be a profitable application of land, but no pre- 

 cautions will insure its duration beyond two or three, or at the utmost four [bearing?] 

 years. If it succeeds even for this short time, with a judicious selection of kinds, the 

 product will amply renumerate the trouble and expense, beyond any other mode of 

 employing the land !"> this country. 



The proper soil for a peach orchard is a rich sandy loam'; I have no recollection of a 

 very productive one on very stiff or cold land. 



As early as 1810, according to Darling, and 1814, according to Downing, 

 the disease had already destroyed " a considerable part of all the orchards " 

 in New Jersey, and had made its appearance on the banks of the Hudson 

 and in Connecticut. 



Mr. Coxe in his treatise — all the pertinent portions of which I have 

 quoted — does not mention premature fruit. The earliest reference to this as 

 one of the symptoms of yellows is by William Prince, of Flushing, Long 

 Island, in 1828. Mr. Prince was a famous nurseryman. llis extensive 

 knowledge of theoretical and practical horticulture, together with his good 

 general knowledge of botany, not only made him familiar with the disease^ 

 but fitted him to write upon it with some degree of exactness, although he 

 does not always distinguish clearly between things proved and things proba- 

 ble. He describes the disease which we now call "yellows," and leaves no 

 doubt whatever that he has in mind the same disease mentioned by earlier 

 and less explicit writers, such as Coxe and Peters. For these reasons, and 

 because the book is seldom found, even in public libraries, I have here 

 transcribed all that relates to yellows: 



There are two causes that have operated against the success of this tree [the peach], 

 and which seem peculiar to it — the one is a worm which attacks the tree at the root. 



