HISTORY OF TREATMENT. 58 



l)y follow injf t-loso lu'liind the growinj;^ point of tlio .stem. His obsorva- 

 tion.s seemed to point to this young nn'celium, lesultinjjf from the tirst 

 spring infections, as the source of the hiter infections tlirough the 

 branches rather than the perennial mycelium of the previous year. 

 He says that not onl}- does the fungus live in the leaf of the peach, but 

 it at once pushes its way into th(> young growing stem, following the 

 growing point as fast as it lengthens and })assing into the leaves as fast 

 as they appear. On this account he concludes that no external appli- 

 cations can stop such a fiuigous growth, and spraying after the ])uds 

 burst and the fungus has become estal)lished will have little eftect. It 

 may be added that several j'^ears' observation in large blocks of trees 

 sprayed after the foliage had started has shown the writer that the dis- 

 ease can not thus be controlled, and that Mr. Benton's conclusions are 

 correct. Whether this failure is due to the causes pointed out by Mr. 

 Benton, however, or simply to the lack of the pi'evention of the infec- 

 tion by spores, or to both sources of infection, should be given further 

 study. Mr. Benton states that in the spring of 18iK), the time his 

 experiments were undertaken. " no remedy was known; since, some 

 practical growers have found successful means of combating it, and 

 these experiments now deserve no further credit than that they were 

 intentional and not a matter of chance." It is now known that curl 

 had been controlled by numerous growers in widely separated regions 

 in C'alifornia through the use of various sprays many years prior to 

 181MJ. Mr. Benton savs he was unaware of these facts when he beofan 

 his work, and his experiments are worthy of full credit, not alone for 

 the enterprise shown in undertaking them, but for the results of 

 unquestioned value to w hich they led. 



In 1891 the copper treatment for peach leaf curl was independently 

 discovered and clearly demonstrated in Australlia. The successful 

 results of this work were observed in November and December, 1891, 

 and were published in the South Australian Register of March 30, 1892. 

 At a meeting of the Nuriootpa branch of the South Australian Agri- 

 cultural Bureau, held in Angaston during November, 1890, the sub- 

 ject of fungous diseases affecting fruit trees was discussed and the 

 appointment of a committee to conduct preventive experiments was 

 considered. At a subsequent meeting Messrs. F. C. Smith, W. Sage, 

 and A. B. Robin were selected for this work. During the interval 

 liefore spraying, Mr. Smith corresponded with those in charge of the 

 pathological departments in Australia, England, California, and Wash- 

 ington. The report in the South Australian Register says that among 

 the replies received was a series of valuable reports from Professor 

 Galloway, showing that up to 1889 modified eau celeste, ammoniacal 

 copper carbonate, and Bordeaux mixture had proved most successful 

 in the United States. ''These were therefore selected by the commit- 

 tee for their experiments." Mr. Smith, of this committee, informed 



