136 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



dealing with peach yellows, rosette and "little 

 peach." These laws commonly authorize the de- 

 struction of affected trees. 



The only practical treatment thus far known is to 

 dig out and burn every affected tree the moment the 

 disease is definitely diagnosed. This means the en- 

 tire destruction of an orchard in some cases, but the 

 best and most experienced fruit growers consider it 

 far safer to dig out and burn an orchard than to keep 

 one in which a large proportion of the trees are 

 dying of this disease. 



A strong difference of opinion exists also as to the 

 practicability of replanting peach trees in land where 

 the yellows has killed an earlier stand of peach trees. 

 Some growers claim that the disease will certainly 

 reappear in the new trees, while other practical men 

 believe that the disease is not retained in the soil 

 at all and that trees planted on such land run no 

 more risk of infection than on virgin soil. Most of 

 the large peach growers who are in the business to 

 stay have made up their minds that an orchard may 

 be abandoned on account of yellows or other dis- 

 eases, the land cleared thoroughly, cultivated to 

 cereal crops for a few years and put back to peach 

 trees with every prospect of success. A definite 

 rotation of this kind is actually planned and carried 

 out by some of the best men in the business. 



Rosette is so nearly like the yellows that it is re- 

 garded as being the same disease, manifesting other 

 slightly different symptoms. It is characterized 

 chiefly by the formation of small tufts or rosettes of 

 weak shoots and leaves along the sides of the 

 branches ; somewhat resembling the tufts of shoots 

 formed in later stages of the yellows. It comes upon 

 tree and fruit in much the same manner as yellows, 



