2o6 



THE CANADIAN HO RT J C U LT U Rl ST 



September, 1910 



YclloAvs and Little Peach 



"Weary Worm," Winona 



NOW is tlic time tlial the inspectors 

 in the Niagara District are exam- 

 ining orchards for "Yellows" and 

 "Little Peach." Where proper men 

 have been appointed, in whom the grow- 

 ers have confidence they may be expected 

 to do valuable work. 



Both of the.sc diseases are prevalent. 

 During a recent trip through the district, 

 while going over peach orchards in com- 

 pany with experienced growers, we de- 

 tected several casep of "Yellows" in 

 otherwise flourishing orchards. 



From now on it is important that the 

 ofTicial inspectors should make at least 

 two thorough inspections of every peach 

 orchard in each township, but even with 

 the utmost care on their part, trees are 

 almost sure to be overlooked. It, there- 

 fore, behooves every peach grower to be 

 his own inspector, and he should there- 

 fore study the subject thoroughly, so as 

 to be conversant with every symptom of 

 the disease. He should also give every 

 assistance in his power to the inspectors. 



It is of vital importance that every 

 peach grower should make a careful ex- 

 amination of their orchards from now till 

 the end of October in order to detect at 

 once the presence of either of these most 

 fatal and infectious diseases. To young 

 and inexperienced growers, of whom 

 nowadays there are many, I would say, 

 if there are any peach trees in your or- 

 chards that are sickly and showing symp- 

 toms like those about to be described, 

 call in the inspector at once. If he is not 

 available, get the most experienced grow- 

 er in your locality to look your trees over. 

 If either of these diseases be present, or 

 if there is a strong probability that the 

 trees are infected, destroy them at once, 

 and do not lose any time in doing so. 

 DESTROY THE TREES 



No remedy has been discovered for 

 these two most fatal diseases, except that 

 of pulling the trees out at once and burn- 

 ing them. If that cannot be done, cut off 

 all the small branches and then load 

 branches, trunk and all upon a dray or 

 low wagon, carefully covering them 

 over with a tarpaulin, and making abso- 

 lutely certain that these infected branches 

 do not come in contact with the branches 

 of healthy trees. 



Prof. Surface, of Pennsylvania State 

 College, and M. B. Waite of Washing- 

 ton, have been engaged for some time 

 conducting a series of experiments with 

 trees showing symptoms of "Yellows," 

 but so far no sufficiently conclusive re- 

 sults have been obtained to base public 

 directions upon them. 



"Little Peach," too, lies in the same 

 category, but is even more dangerous 

 than "Yellows," for the reason that re- 

 planting cannot take place on infected 

 ground for many years after, whereas a 



single season of rest sullices for N'ellows. 



CAUSE UNKNOWN 



The cause of Peach \'ellows has not 

 yet been discovered. It is generally sup- 

 posed to be a parasitic disease of native 

 origin. Mr. Hale of Connecticut and 

 Georgia, the great peach grower, consid- 

 ers it to be a sap disease caused by abrupt 

 climatic changes. "Little Pea-.:h," on 

 the other hand, is usually considered to 

 be a soil disease. 



Both of these diseases are strongly 

 contagious. Individual trees or groups 

 of trees affected by them, become centres 

 of infection. These diseases spread from 

 tree to tree by various natural methods, 

 some of which are not fully known to in- 

 vestigators. 



Prof. M. B. Waite, of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Washington, 



.Sometimes only a single limb or twij; 

 of a tree is affected, nevertheless the tree 

 is doomed and should be taken out in- 

 stantly upon detection. In trees badly at- 

 tacked the leaves turn yellow, but some- 

 times when it, attacks very vigorous 

 healthy trees, it at first stimulates both 

 foliage and fruit. 



Yellows is sometimes spread through 

 the nurseries by means of buds taken 

 from slightly infected trees, but is seldom 

 spread by means of the pits, as pits af- 

 fected by this disease will not grow. 



LITTLE PEACH 



"Little Peach," in some of its aspects, 

 closely resembles yellows, but is undoubt- 

 edly a distinct disease. It is very con- 

 tagious. An orchard in this locality that 

 had three or four trees affected was al- 

 lowed to go. Up to the passing of the 

 present Act, the inspectors had no power 

 to compel destruction of the trees. In 

 one year nearly 300 trees were affected, 



Flemish Beanty Pear Trees, Near Oka, Qne., Loaded with Their Crop of Fruit. 



who is a specialist on Yellows, has given 

 out the information that communities 

 where prompt concerted action was tak- 

 en to destroy all diseased trees, only suf- 

 fered a loss of from ten to thirty per cent, 

 of their trees, but where slow or delayed 

 action was taken, they suffered a loss of 

 seventy to ninety per cent., and, in ex- 

 treme cases, 100 per cent. 



DANGER SIGNS 



The most reliable symptom of "Yel- 

 lows" is the premature ripening and red 

 spotting of the fruit. It is upon this that 

 most inspectors rely for detection of the 

 disease. The disease, however, is often 

 present in the orchard for some time be- 

 fore it can be detected upon the fruit. 

 Other symptoms are a bushy or wiry twig 

 growth, the inner leaves near the ground 

 beginning to roll up and turn yellow — 

 hence the name of the disease — and water 

 sprouts starting from the main limbs. 



and the entire orchard had to be de- 

 stroyed. 



SYMPTOMS ' 



The foliage symptoms are similar to 

 Yellows, but the fruit does not ripen 

 prematurely, nor does it spot. It is gen- 

 erally undersized — in bad cases extreme- 

 ly so — hence the name "Little Peach," 

 and late in ripening. .Most of the fruit 

 upon the tree is similar in color and ap- 

 pearance to poor specimens of ordinary 

 fruit. It attacks Japanese plums as well 

 as peaches, and is supposed to have been 

 introduced into America with the Japan- 

 ese plums. The trees do not water sprout 

 nor is a bushy wiry twig present, but the 

 leaves generally roll up and droop as in 

 \'ellows. 



.-Ml peach growers should be on the 

 keen look out for the.se two fell diseases. 

 They should remember that incessant 

 vigilance is the price of safety. 



