THE DISEASES OF THE PEACH TREE IN WESTERN NEW-YORK. 



33 



darker and healthier green, and the annu- 

 al growth is more regular and vigorous. 

 These effects I attribute to the preservation 

 of a uniform state of moisture and coolness 

 about the roots, in the place of the great 

 alterations from cold and wet, to dry and 

 parched soil, that often rapidly succeed 

 each other in this climate. 



In the second place I have never, with a 

 single exception in forty-three trees treated, 

 had a case of winter-blight in trees whose 

 trunks and roots were well protected with 

 straw J while I have had nine cases in a year 

 in a row of thirty-five trees not protected. 



I am also confident that the dwarf pear 

 tree is rendered longer lived v^'hen protect- 

 ed against the too sudden changes of the 

 atmosphere in this way. 



The bark of the trunk sv/ells gradually, 

 as the tree increases in size, and remains 

 tender and smooth till old age, instead of 

 becoming drj^, hard, and cracked, as is 

 otherwise too often the case. 



I will add, in conclusion, that I find it 

 necessary to renew or replenish the cover- 

 ing of straw, on the ground, every year in 

 the spring. That upon the trunk usually 

 lasts two years. When laying down a 

 fresh coat of straw, I also lay two or three 

 tobacco leaves, or a handful of tobacco 

 stalks, around the collar or base of the 

 trunk. This I find keeps away insects 

 that might otherwise be inclined to harbor 

 and make their nests there. I am, sir, 

 with respect, A Maryland Subscriber. 



June, 1S48. 



THE DISEASES OF THE PEACH TREE IN WESTERN NEW- YORE-. 



BY J. W. BISSELL, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Dear Sir — In discussing with a Boston 

 nurseryman, the subject of the diseases to 

 which Peach trees are liable, and especially 

 the Yelloivs, I took the position that trees 

 raised in this vicinity and removed thither, 

 would maintain their health for a long time, 

 and probably entirely escape the Yellows, 

 if properly treated ; and I thought that 

 trees raised there, on soil to which lime had 

 been applied, and from pits and buds from 

 this vicinity, would also prove healthy. To 

 test the matter, I sent him this spring a bar- 

 rel of pits, and at the proper season, shall 

 send him the buds with which to work 

 them. 



Trees one year from the bud, grown here, 

 are not so large as those of the same age 

 raised in New Jersey or Delaware ; but the 

 distance between the buds is short, and the 

 Avood is hard and perfectly matured. This 



I consider of great benefit, for the nursling- 

 is then sent out into the world with a good 

 constitution, and better able to resist any 

 unfavorable influences of soil or climate. 

 The Early York, (serrate leaved, known 

 here as the Early Purple,) in good soil, 

 grows from four to five feet high, and 

 from one to one and a-half inches in dia- 

 meter tlie first year; and the Oldmixon, one 

 of the freest growers, will be from one to 

 two feet higher, though no larger at the 

 ground. 



We all know, that the trees which bear 

 late peaches, are much more vigorous and 

 hardy than the early varieties, and of course 

 the pits from the former are much better to 

 plant for stocks. The large nurseries here 

 use these best pits, purchased in quantities 

 from the neighJboring farmers, who raise 

 large late peaches for drying. 



