HISTORY OF TREATMENT. 57 



of fiintj^it-idos in pivviMitino- tho dovolopniont of loaf curl on ix'iich 

 trees." 



It would seem that tho work in Australia, as well as that of the pre- 

 cedinir ton years in California, had not come under tho notice of Pro- 

 fessor Taft at tho time of his observations in 181>2, and that thc^ same 

 was true at tho close of tho succeeding- year's cxporinionts. In his 

 article on curl, published in the American Agriculturist for February, 

 1894, he saj's,^ in speaking of the treatment of curl prior to his 

 work in 1893: '"Although there were some yague suggfostions as to 

 the possible v^aluo of some of the fungicides as remedies for this dis- 

 ease, nothing was really known until the past season." 



May 20, 1893, while working on plant diseases at Yuba City, Cal., 

 in company with Mr. R. C. Kells, then horticultural connuissioiuM- of 

 Sutter County, that gentleman told tho writer of a jx'ach orchard in 

 the yicinity where poach loaf curl had l)oen controlled by tho previous 

 winter's sprays. The orchard was that of Mr. W. II. Campbell, of 

 Yu))a City, and was at once examined by the writer in company with 

 Mr. Kells. The trees were of the Orange Cling variety, and had been 

 sprayed with lime, sulphur, and salt up to the base of the smaller 

 branches of the main lim])s, for the purpose of killing the San Jose 

 scale upon the older wood, the spraying of tho tops of the trees not 

 being necessary. The result of this treatment was to protect the 

 lower half of tho trees from tho attack of curl, while the tops wore 

 left unprotected. Curl developed seriously in the Sacramento Valley 

 that spring, and as a consequence those trees wore l)adly diseased and 

 stripped of foliage down to the line where the limbs had been sprayed 

 for San Jose scale. The resulting appearance was most striking, and 

 showed the advantages of spraying in a marked degree. The lower 

 half of the trees was well supplied with normal green foliage, while 

 the upper half was either bare or the leaves present were yellow and 

 badly curled. Photographs of these trees were taken on May 21, 1893. 

 May 22, 1893, the w^riter visited the Riviera orchard, at Live Oak, 

 Cal. This orchard is situated on the Feather River bottom and is 

 under the management of Mr. A. D. Cutts, of Live Oak, one of the 

 proprietors. In this orchard was found a most striking case of the pre- 

 vention of curl by the use of winter sprays. In the winter of 1892-93 

 one block of trees was thoroughly sprayed for San Jose scale with lime, 

 sulphur, and salt. After this work was completed the weather became 

 unfavorable for further spraying. The soil was so wet from rains that 

 a 40-acre block of Crawf ords Late trees could not be sprayed, and it was 

 so late in the winter })ef ore the work could be done that Mr. Cutts 

 feared it might injure the fruit buds if he sprayed the trees entire. 

 He therefore had the trees in this block examined, and rags were 

 tied upon the limbs of those which appeared to most need a thorough 



>The Curl of the Peach, American Agriculturist, Feb., 1894, pp. 71, 72. 



