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



35 



small quantity of these alkalis ? I can find 

 no diseased trees about here upon which to 

 try experiments with unleached ashes and 

 lime, and must leave that to others more(?) 

 fortunate. 



I gave you* some idea of the prices at 

 which peaches were sold in this market. 

 Within a year or two these rates must be- 

 come less, from the number of young trees 

 just coming into bearing; at the same time, 

 the profit to the grower will be greater. 

 Formerly he was obliged to market his own 

 fruit, and not being able to be in two places 

 at the same time, his attention was divided; 

 either some good bargains were lost, or 

 while he was negotiating, his fruit would 

 not be properly cared for athome. Of late, 

 a new class of middlemen has sprung up, 

 fruit merchants, who contract for whole 

 crops, and run their own risks of sales. 

 This has been found to be of great benefit 

 to producer and consumer — the market is 

 much enlarged, and the demand is regular 

 because the supplies are regular. 



Were the practice of naming all first 

 rate seedlings adopted, a long list would 

 soon be made. From the Royal Keiising- 

 ton many have been raised not distinguish- 

 able from the parent. These are ordinarily 

 called " rare-ripes," with often the local 

 name of the grower. A greater number 

 have been raised from the Yellow Alberge, 

 generally superior to the parent; the best of 

 these is called the £arZz/ £a?-«a7(^, from the 

 man in whose garden it grew. 



We have thus far had a favorable season, 

 and the prospect is, that all fruits will be 

 abundant. Yours, truly, 



J. W. BiSSELL. 

 Rochester, N. Y., June 12. 



Remarks. — The foregoing is full of va- 

 luable suggestions. That Mr. Bissell is 

 correct in his explanation of the healthy 



* Hon. vol. 1, p. 235. 



condition of the peach tree in Western 

 New-York, we entertain not the least doubt. 



The soil of Western New- York, as com- 

 pared with that of most of the sea-coast, 

 abounds with lime and potash. Long cul- 

 tivation has in a great degree exhausted 

 these most essential inorganic manures from 

 the older soils, and the peach tree is there- 

 fore much more short-lived and liable to 

 disease in the latter than in the former lo- 

 calities. 



Mr. Bissell, with most commendable en- 

 terprise, has taken pains to have analysis 

 made of the soil about Rochester. What 

 he states of the rapid abstration of lime and 

 potash from the soil by a crop of young 

 peach trees, fully proves that these trees will 

 soon exhaust these elements so necessary 

 to their perfect growth and health in any 

 soil. Is it then, any longer surprising that 

 in these very soils on the sea-coast, where 

 the peach was once the most luxuriant and 

 prolific, it is now a comparatively feeble 

 and short-lived variety of fruit trees? Pot- 

 ash and lime have been taken up by each 

 succeeding crop for twenty years, and have 

 been only very scantily returned to the soil 

 by the ordinary application of animal ma- 

 nures. 



Experiments made under our own eyes, 

 for the last five years, have convinced us 

 that wood ashes are, on the whole, the very 

 safest and best manure for the peach tree. 

 They not only promote the growth of the 

 tree, but they give its wood a firmness, its 

 leaves a dark, green healthy colour, its fruit 

 a high color and flavor, and the whole tree 

 constitutional vigor. The secret of this is 

 to be found in the lime and potash, which 

 are the principal components of wood ashes. 



We stated it as our opinion, in the first 

 edition of our Fruits, that the Yellows is 

 nothing more than a constitutional debility, 

 resulting from carelessly cultivating the 



