December, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTIC ULTUEIST 



287 



Prevalence of Peach Yellows and Little Peach 



Decreasing 



L. Caesar, Provincial Entomologist, Guelph, Ont. 



I AM very pleased to be able to report 

 that there is a continuous rapid de- 

 crease in the number of trees that 

 have to be destroyed each year for Yel- 

 lows and Little Peach. In 191 1 between 

 fifty and sixty thousand trees were de- 

 stroyed ; in 1912, between twenty and 

 twenty-five thousand, and in 1912, be- 

 tween five and six thousand, a decrease 

 in two years of from fifty to sixty thou- 

 sand to about six thousand. This will be 

 good news to peach growers and it gives 

 us all hope for a still further reduction. 

 We ask the growers not to grow too con- 

 fident, but recognizing that the work is 

 progressing well, to give us their hearty, 

 intelligent support year after year that we 

 may, if possible, exterminate these di- 

 seases. We should not forget that it is 

 very probable that the last two seasons 

 have not been at all favorable for the de- 

 velopment and spread of these diseases. 

 If so, we are glad that we have been able 

 to take advantage of nature's aid and so 

 reduce the danger of rapid spread in fu- 

 ture seasons more favorable for the 

 disease. 



Mr. Biggar, the provincial inspector, 

 and myself, are well pleased with the 

 work in every township but two, Grant- 

 ham and Niagara. The disease is only 

 moderately common in these townships, 

 but the territory is too great for any one 

 man to cover satisfactorily no matter how 

 experienced he may be; the inspector, 

 however, in each of these cases was an 

 inexperienced man. There should be two 

 of the very best men that can be secured 

 appointed in each of these townships, at 

 least for Yellows and Little Peach. We 



*A papcT read at the annual convention of the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association held recently 

 in Toronto. 



hope this advice will be acted upon next 

 year. Mr. Biggar and I, so far as it is 

 p)Ossible, will try to give these townships 

 the larger part of our time, so that the 

 work may progress. W'e have been for- 

 tunate in retaining most of our best in- 

 spectors, and we are glad to be able to 

 report that they have done loyal and ex- 

 cellent work for their townships, better 

 work than most growers realize. 



To Mr. Biggar, the provincial inspec- 

 tor, whose energy and enthusiasm in 

 the work is unfailing, and whose tact and 

 knowledge are of the greatest value, both 

 to inspectors and growers, very great 

 gratitude should be felt by every man 

 who is interested in the welfare of the 

 peach industry. Owing to the pressure 

 of the new work of nursery inspection, 

 and to numerous other duties, I entrusted 

 to Mr. Biggar this year almost the total 

 charge of the Yellows and Little Peach 

 inspection work, knowing that he would 

 do it well. 



Observation of the results of so-called 

 cures of the disease have led me to change 

 my opinion that all such cures are only 

 imaginary — they have all failed. The 

 only remedy yet seems to be eradication ; 

 dig out the diseased trees at once, and 

 burn them. 



Experiments last year, repeated this 

 year, show that if peach pits are taken 

 from trees that do not show the disease 

 until later on in the season, and if these 

 pits are cared for in the best way and 

 cracked in spring before putting out in 

 rows, often as high as seven or eight per 

 cent, will germinate. I have tested now 

 over three thousand diseased pits. Some 

 of these from lack of experience I allow- 

 ed to become too dry before planting and 

 consequently a very small percentage 



grew. This was true also of healthy pits 

 kept as checks but of the others that were 

 cared for properly from one lot of one 

 hundred in 1912 there grew seven, and 

 from another lot of seven hundred and 

 fifty in 1913, fifty-nine grew, or niearly 

 eight per cent. Mr. McCubbin, the Do- 

 minion Plant Pathologist of St. Cathar- 

 ines, obtained very similar results. 



So far the seedlings from these pits 

 have shown no sign of disease. Mr. 

 McCubbin and I have now about one hun- 

 dred and sixty of these seedlings in one 

 lot and will watch them to see whether 

 they will show disease, and if so how- 

 soon. 



More than two hundred buds from di- 

 seased trees were budded into healthy 

 seedlings and four year old trees a year 

 ago. Only one tree, one now five years 

 old, shows posibJe symptoms of disease. 

 The rest are still healthy. I have budded 

 two hundred more seedlings this fall, be- 

 lieving a considerable number of the trees 

 budded in 1912 will begin to show disease 

 symptoms by next September. I am not 

 at all surprised that they have not done so 

 earlier as the trees are all growing vigor- 

 ously. 



From inoculation of blossoms, from in- 

 oculation of trees with sap, from pruning 

 tests, bark rubbing tests and the other 

 experiments up to the present no disease 

 has followed, but this is no proof that 

 none will follow. 



Before repeating these experiments I 

 think it is much wiser to wait a couple of 

 years for results. The work has been 

 carefully done and covers pretty well the 

 field which I thought most desirable from 

 the standpoint of important information 

 on the control of the disease. 



No new discoveries, I believe, have 

 been made elsewhere on these diseases, 

 and apparently no one is much nearer the 

 discovery of the real cause of either Yel- 

 lows or Little Peach. 



The Exhibit of the Dominion Department of Agriculture at the Recent Ontario Horticultural fxhibitiqn 



Pemonstr^tioD* ji, (dppie fla«king wpr* gjyep 4a4ly at W ^-ffl. fl'fl4 i f.vn. 



