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dark. To make such a list is a matter of time and patience, and I am glad 

 to say that Mr. Benson, fruit expert to the Department of Agriculture in 

 New South Wales, has undertaken to give this matter attention. He has 

 prepared a leaflet, which is to be sent to peach-growers, and they are requested 

 to reply and give the names of varieties of peach which they find to be always 

 free from curl, and of those they find to be very subject to it. When all the 

 replies are received they will be collected and compared and the result made 

 known so as to benefit all alike. 



3. The destruction of diseased leaves is advisable. The reader who has had 

 the patience to follow the description of the disease, must have been struck 

 by the enormous number of spores produced by the fungus that causes curl. 

 The spores, it is almost needless to say, are the seeds of the fungus. The 

 chance of the fungus spreading is diminished by the destruction of its spores. 

 There is only one method of doing this, namely, destroying diseased leaves. 

 This can be done by pruning, by hand-picking, or by raking up the leaves 

 that are dead and fallen owing to the disease. The material gathered in 

 this way is, of course, to be burned. In a large orchard, badly diseased, 

 none of these ways would pay. But they are one and all applicable to the 

 small garden where the owner does not begrudge a little extra labour 

 in order to supply the family with perfectly fresh and luscious fruit ; 

 also in the nursery where young peach-trees are being reared, attention 

 of this sort will be well bestowed, and, in the case of large orchards, where 

 the disease has not yet appeared in force, this method is one highly to be 

 recommended. I have never yet been able to express myself forcibly enough 

 with regard to nipping these things in the bud. A little prevention is worth 

 more than all the cures in the world. There are very few pests indeed which 

 come with a rush there are such, but they are rare. In nearly every case 

 the pest has a small beginning, and it is only after considerable time that it 

 grows to be a nuisance. There is a time in the history of nearly all these 

 pests when the agriculturist could crush them with his thumb and forefinger. 

 How important it is, then, for him to make himself acquainted with these 

 pests beforehand, so as to be ready to seize upon them while they are yet 

 within his power ! I am sure there ara few things that will pay him better 

 than the knowledge which will enable him to guard his crops from invasion 

 by these insidious robbers of which the leaf-curl of the peach is an example. 

 Now-a-days useful pamphlets and books treating of these subjects are easily 

 obtainable, and an evening with them is often well spent. Specimens sent 

 to Departments of Agriculture in almost any part of the world receive 

 attention, and reliable information is returned by mail. The peach-grower 

 should make use of all these agencies in preventing curl. 



4. Peach-trees suffering from curl should receive especial attention for 

 the matter of that, so should all diseased orchard-trees. The orchardist 

 should make up his mind to one of two things either to dig the tree out and 

 destroy it root and branch, or to give it the best of care. Prune well, 

 removing especially the diseased parts ; cultivate well and apply manure 

 liberally. This treatment will often ensure a crop from trees that would 

 otherwise be useless ; but, of course, the margin of profit is less, and to 

 avoid loss it is well to count the cost carefully before entering on this 

 treatment. 



5. I would call attention to an observation of mine that when peach-trees 

 suffering from curl are severely cut back, they often shoot from adventitious 

 buds, that is, buds formed under the bark, and that such shoots from the side 

 of large limbs are often free from curl. I think this severe cutting back in 

 the winter may yet prove of use in curing badly affected trees. 



