[ THE PEACH AND THE NECTARINE 



The peach perhaps more than the almond, is liable 

 to the attacks of the dry-rot fungi, Fomesfulvus Gill, and 

 F. robustus Kzrst. forma Amigdali Sacc. It is presumed 

 that the spores of these fungi find their way to the wood 

 through breaks in the bark, but chiefly through the 

 wounds caused by pruning, and as a preventive measure 

 the wounds should be cut clean to assist the bark to close 

 up soon, and painted over with tar, particularly in the 

 case of wounds which are 2 c.m. in diameter and over, 

 and are not expected to heal before two or three years. 



The root-rot fungus Armillaria mellea Vahl. is a 

 frequent cause of trouble, particularly on peach trees 

 growing on own roots or grafted on plum-stock Newly 

 transplanted trees grafted on the almond also offer a 

 weak resistance to this fungus. However, peaches grow- 

 ing on own roots or grafted on the plum are subject to 

 die off suddenly in winter or early spring. In these 

 cases the roots are invariably found in a rotten condition 

 and more or less covered by a white or brownish mycele, 

 and as this happens as frequently on moist lands as in 

 sunny and dry situations the infection may be due to a 

 species of Rhizoctonia, probably R. -molacea, or to Dema- 

 tophora necatrix Hart. In any case, the sudden fatal 

 termination is more apparent than real, as the disease 

 probably had been lurking unobserved throughout the 

 preceding summer, as witnessed by the severe attack of 

 gumming which had been going on in the summer, the 

 excessive exudation of dirty red gum being invariably an 

 evidence that there is serious trouble with the roots. 



Aphis Persicae Sultz. is unfortunately too frequently 

 a source of disappointment, and may attack the growing 

 twigs from early spring to late autumn. When an attack 

 of Aphis commences in spring, it spreads to all or most 

 of the growing ends of the twigs, causing the young fruit 

 to dry and drop off the tree, thus destroying the crop and 

 seriously jeopardizing the crop for the following year. 

 The leaves become blistered and contorted entirely out of 



