No. 12. 



Fruit and Vegetable Preserver. 



379 



its consequences, and maintains them in 

 vigor and productiveness for a long time.* 

 It will, in short, effectually prevent the yel- 

 lows where it does not already exist in the 

 tree. To whoever will follow these precau- 

 tions, pursue this mode of cultivation, and 

 adopt at the same time the remedy for the 

 borer, already suggested, we will confidently 

 insure healthy, vigorous, long-lived trees, 

 and the finest fruit. Will any reasonable 

 man say that so fine a fruit as the peach 

 does not fully merit them? 



Whether the system of shortening-in, and 

 careful culture, will prevent the breaking 

 out of the yellows when constitutionally 

 latent in the tree we will not yet undertake 

 to say. A few more experiments will prove 

 this. In slight cases of the disease we be- 

 lieve that it may. Of one thing, however, 

 we are certain ; it has hitherto failed entire- 

 ly to reclaim trees in which the malady had 

 once broken out. Neither do we know of 

 any well attested case of its cure, after this 

 stage, by any means whatever.f Such cases 

 have indeed been reported to us, and pub- 

 lished in the journals, but, where investi- 

 gated, they have proved to have been trees 

 sufl^ring by the effects of the borer only. 



A planter of peach trees must, even with 

 care, expect to see a few cases of yellows 

 occasionally appear. The malady is too 

 widely extended to be immediately van- 

 quished. Occasionally, trees having the 

 constitutional taint will show themselves 

 where least suspected, but when the peach 

 is once properly cultivated, these will every 

 day become more rare until the original 

 health and longevity of this fruit tree is 

 again established. 



The Curl is the name commonly given to 

 a malady which often attacks the leaves of 

 the peach tree. It usually appears in the 

 months of May or June. The leaves curl 

 up, become thickened and swollen, with hol- 

 lows on the under, and reddish swellings on 

 the upper side, and finally, after two or three 



* The following remarkfl, directly in point, are from 

 Loudon's last work. "The effect of shortening the 

 shoots of the peach is not merely to throw more sap 

 into the fruit, but to add vigor to the tree generally, 

 by increasing the power of the roots relatively to the 

 branches. The peach being a shortlived tree, it has 

 been justly remarked by Mr. Thompson, were it allowed 

 to expend all its accumulated sap every ye ir, it would 

 soon erhiiust itself and dte of old age." Suburban Hor- 

 ticulturist. 



t All the specific applications to the root of such sub- 

 stances as salt, ley, brine, saltpetre, urine, &c., recom- 

 mended for this disease, are founded on their good ef 

 fects when applied against the borer. They have not 

 been found of any value for the yellows. 



weeks, fall off. They are then succeeded 

 by a new, and healthy crop of foliage. This 

 malady is caused by the punctures of very 

 minute aphides, or plant lice — Aphis Persi- 

 es? — which attack the under side of the 

 leaves. Although it does not appear mate- 

 rially to injure either the tree or the crop, 

 yet it greatly disfigures it for a time. In 

 orchards, perhaps few persons will trouble 

 themselves to destroy the insect, but in gar- 

 dens, it is much better to do so. A mixture 

 of whale oil, soap or strong soft soap and 

 water, with some tobacco .stems boiled in it, 

 and the whole applied to the branches from 

 below, with a syringe or garden engine, will 

 soon rid the tree of the insects for one or 

 more years. It should be done when the 

 leaves are a third grown, and will seldom 

 need repeating the same season. — Downing'' s 

 Fruits and Fruit Trees. 



Frnit and Vegetable Preserver. 



Having examined Kephart's Patent Fruit 

 and Vegetable Preserver, established by 

 Messrs. Flack, Thompson &. Brother, near 

 Fairmount, and noticed its effect on a varie- 

 ty of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and provis- 

 ions, and having ascertained the tempera- 

 ture and hygrometric state of the air within 

 it — the undersigned has become satisfied of 

 the great utility of this plan of preserving 

 these and similar articles from decay. 



By removing the most efficient causes of 

 decomposition, the apparatus secures to every 

 season those delicacies which ordinarily can 

 be obtained in perfection only for a very brief 

 period. 



This apparatus commends itself to fami- 

 lies and to dealers in fruits and vegetables, 

 as a repository where articles may be safely 

 kept for a long time, in a state of freshness 

 and purity. Walter R. Johnson. 



Philadelphia, June21#t, 1847. 



The above notice of Kephart's Patent 

 Fruit and Vegetable Preserver, by Professor 

 Johnson of this city, will carry with it great 

 weight wherever it is read, from the high 

 estimation in which he is held by scientific 

 men, as a chemist of the first order — and 

 from having done so much towards bringing 

 the practical application of chemistry to bear 

 upon the agricultural interests of the coun- 

 try. In addition, we send you an extract 

 from the minutes of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety of this cit}'. 



At a stated meeting of the Pennsylvania 

 Horticultural Society, held the 15th ultimo: 

 "The Committee on Fruits reported that 

 they have examined and tasted of the apples 

 which have been preserved by the Vegetable 



