No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 653 



siderable time must elapse before reaching market, however, this 

 i^ impracticable. In snch cases, the fiiiit should be picked enough 

 in advance to enable it to ripen in transit and approximately reach 

 its prime Avhen it arrives at the market. The softening of occasional 

 specimens will aid in determining the right time for picking, but 

 more detailed directions can hardly be given. 



IMPORTANT DIFFICULTIES 



Important obstacles to success with peaches are yellows, brown 

 rot, and boiers. Regular mounding and cutting-out is probably 

 the surest method of control for the latter and is most generally 

 practiced, though a safe and efficient covering Avould be most wel- 

 come and may be found in the sediment or sludge formed in mak- 

 ing lime-sulphur. It should be renewed whenever any important 

 breaks occur in the coating, however. 



The mound or cover should be in place during the egg-laying 

 period, which extends from about the middle of June to the middle 

 of September in this State. The "mound" is formed by dragging 

 up the earth all around the base of the tree to a height of S or 10 

 inches. Any protective covering should extend from about two or 

 three inches below the general surface of the ground to a height of 

 15 to 20 inches. It is also Avell to remember that most of those 

 that have been recommended are decidedly worthless. 



In hunting the borers, which may be done either before or after 

 the egg-lo-ving period, it is well to have cheap labor go ahead and 

 remove the soil, with hoes or other appropriate tools, and reliable 

 men to follow and remove the "worms" after the bark has dried and 

 their discolorations become more evident. 



YELLOWS 



Peach 3'elloAvs is an apparently contagious disease of unknown 

 cause, for true cases of which there is now no remedy. It is import- 

 ant that one be able to recognize its symptoms, however, in order 

 to remove the affected trees at the earliest opportunity and thus pre 

 vent its spread to those adjacent, with the resulting rapid destruction 

 of the orchard. The most prominent Avorks of the disease are 

 premature ripening of red-spotted fruit, and tufts of vertical, ivil- 

 loiclij shoots, which appear on the branches or main limbs. Earlier 

 and less evident symptoms are as follows: In a well-cultivated or- 

 chard, ])art "of an apparently healthy tree stops growing, the leaves 

 at the bases of its twigs droop, roll at the edges, and turn yellow 

 or reddish-green. Also leaf buds and blossoms may be prematured, 

 — the acceleration amounting in some cases to a few days only, 

 while in others it may even cause them to start in the fall. 



The disease is reported as likely to appear first in wet and 

 poorly-drained areas; and most of the symptoms are apparently 

 likely to be aggravated by winter-injury or other checks, especially 

 checks to the transfer of food or starch. The recognition and treat- 

 ment of the disease would be relatively easy if it were not for the 

 fact that the same influences which aggravate the symptoms of yel- 

 lows s^em able to produce a good imitation of the disease. 



These imitations are usirally curable by good orchard practice, 

 especially by heavy pruning and judicious nitr'ogen application. But 



