278 FLORIDA FRUITS PEACHES AND PLUMS. 



The question ' * What is the yellows ? " can not yet be 

 answered without a shadow of doubt, but the prevalent be- 

 lief is that it is a disease caused by a minute fungus growth, 

 and is analogous to the fatal " blight" in pear trees, which 

 is without question caused by a fungus so minute as to re- 

 quire a high-power microscope to detect its presence. 



Sulphur and lime are deadly foes of all fungoid growth, 

 and a wash of these two combined will help the tree at- 

 tacked by yellows. 



A most excellent remedy also is to wash the trees with a 

 solution of quassia. One pound of chips, costing about 

 twelve cents, is boiled and reboiled until eight gallons 

 of the solution are obtained ; this, poured around the 

 trunk and sprayed with a hand -pump over the foliage 

 will effect a wonderful change in the most forlorn-looking 

 trees. This quassia solution will also banish the green fly 

 and other troublesome insects. 



Nearly eighty years ago Dr. Darwin suggested that very 

 solution of copperas or sulphate of iron, which we have 

 already mentioned, as a remedy for the yellows, and for 

 the gummy secretions so common in fruit trees, and in the 

 year 1840 a scientific farmer in France was so highly suc- 

 cessful in using this remedy that the Academy awarded him 

 a medal as a public benefactor. 



But here, as with the borers, preventives are better than 

 remedies. The yellows is hereditary among peach trees 

 just as surely as insanity and consumption are among men ; 

 therefore, be careful that your peach trees come from 

 healthy stock and are budded with healthy buds. One 

 tree affected with the yellows will, if not cut down and 

 burned as soon as the trouble is detected, communicate the 

 disease to the whole orchard ; so it behooves the peach 

 grower to be watchful. 



A horticulturist who has had many years' experience 



