230 KFFECTS OF PKACH STOCK ON TREES WOKKED UPON IT. 



XXIII. — On the Effects of the Peach Stock on Trees worked 

 upon it. By Robert Thompson. 



It was mentioned that the trees of (he Shanghae Peach were 

 worked on the Peach stock. As the buds take readily on this, 

 the proceeding was advisable in the first instance in order to 

 secure the sort. Eut it must be removed to the Almond or 

 Plum stocks ; for in this climate no Peach will thrive long 

 budded on the Peach stock ; the ground, it is presumed, is too 

 cold for it. At all events, the leaves after several years acquire 

 partial tinges of yellow : and this goes on every year increasing, 

 whilst the leaves are annually produced narrower and narrower, 

 till at last the tree becomes useless. Peach trees received by 

 the Society from America were generally on the Peach stock, 

 and they invariably became affected in the same way. George 

 the Fourth Peach was one of the best of them. In a series of 

 warm seasons it extended 35 feet along the wall ; but being on 

 the Peacli stock its foliage became so nari'ow and yellow that it 

 was found necessary to remove the tree. The same variety has 

 now a healthy green foliage on the Plum stock. 



Tliis disease is doubtless the same as that so prevalent in 

 America, where it is termed the Yellows. It is described by 

 the late Mr. Downing-, who perished, so much regretted, in con- 

 sequence of the burning of the Henry Clay steamer ; but his 

 writings cannot fail still to produce a beneficial influence on Ame- 

 rican horticulture. In his Fruits and Fruit-trees of America, it 

 is stated " that this most serious malady (the Yellows) seems to 

 belong exclusively to this country, and to attack only the Peach 

 tree. Although it has been the greatest enemy of the Peach 

 planter for the last thirty (now thirty-seven) years — rendering 

 the life of the tree uncertain, and frequently spreading over and 

 destroying the orchards of whole districts; still, little is known 

 of its nature, and nothing with certainty of its cause. Many 

 slight observers have confounded it with the effects of the Peach- 

 borer, but all persons who have carefully examined it know tliat 

 the two are totally distinct. Trees may frequently be attacked 

 by both the yellows and the borer, but iiundreds die of the yel- 

 lows when the most minute inspection of the roots and branches 

 can discover no insect or visible cause." Now, Peach trees in 

 America are either grown directly from the stone, or they are 

 budded on Peach-stocks, very rarely on the Plum or Almond. In 

 consequence of the buds taking so readily on the Peach, and 

 growing to form orchard trees with such facility, it is preferred. 

 According to the above-mentioned author, a Peach-stone "planted 

 in the autumn will vegetate in the ensuing spring, grow three or 

 four feet high, and may be budded in August or September. 



