302 PEACH -BORER AND THE YELLOWS. 



roots of the trees descend beyond the reach of the 

 ploughshare ; the land is kept open, mellow, and clean, 

 by the culture ; and the tree flourishes for a series of 

 years, and is more luxuriant than when the sod is 

 unbroken. 



The chief enemies of the peach-tree in these States 

 are, an insect called the peach-borer, and a constitutional 

 disease called the yellows. The borer, ^Egeria exitiosa, 

 is an insect that deposits its eggs in the bark, at the base 

 of the trunk, immediately beneath the surface of the soil. 

 These are hatched, and produce a white grub, which 

 bores into the bark and sap-wood, grows to the size of 

 three quarters of an inch in length, forms a cocoon, 

 passes the winter in the tree, and emerges in a winged 

 form in the month of June. The remedy is to put half- 

 a-peck of air-slaked lime round the bottom of the stem, 

 and to allow it to remain from May till October. 



The yellows is a disease peculiar to the peach-tree, 

 and, it is said, to North America. For thirty years it 

 has killed off the trees by thousands ; but nothing is 

 known of its cause. As the name implies, its character 

 is to cause the tree to produce slender wiry shoots, with 

 small, narrow, yellow leaves, to ripen its fruit two to 

 four weeks earlier than usual, to yield fruit diminishing 

 in size, and becoming purplish, spotted, and redder in 

 the flesh every year, and to die altogether in from one 

 to four years. It is believed to be contagious, and is 

 certainly propagated by budding or grafting from a dis 

 eased tree, and affects the stock, whether peach, almond, 

 plum, or apricot. 



Cause and cure for this disease are alike unknown. 

 Trees which exhibit it must be cut down, the land un- 

 orcharded, and tilled for some years, and then healthy 

 young trees, if they can be got, planted in their stead. 

 But certain facts in the history of this disease, which 

 seem to throw some light upon its cause, are interesting 



