No. 3. 



Peach Trees. 



i^ 



My trees are planted in the sod on lii^ht 

 porous soil, and on tlie side of a liill with a 

 email stream of water riiniiin<j near a p.irt 

 of them. Tliose which have the benefit of 

 the water are much more vi;i;oroi]s tiian the 

 others. Tiie two old trees have a stream of 

 water near their roots, which keeps the tjround 

 well moistened, but not wet. lam convinced 

 that tlie water is of very irreat benelif, and 

 that a plentiful supply of moisture totiie roots 

 by producint^ rapid vej^elation. enables the 

 tree to withstand and surmount tlie diseases 

 to which it is liable. 



f bejf leave to exhibit to the society a spe- 

 cimen of the fruit : the i.-y season has ripened 

 them rather prematurely, and those from the 

 old trees are not so large as last year or the 

 year previous, when they bore away the palm 

 as the largest exhibited tw the Ildrticullural 

 Society. Algernon S. Roberts. 



Fountiiiu Park, Pliila. Co., Sept'r, 17ih, 18: e. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Peach Trees aifuin. 



1 am sorry that any remarks of mine should 

 have disturbed the self-complacency of the 

 " Old Farmer." I would not, by any means, 

 " complain of the spirit with which he an- 

 imadverts upon my communication," for " I 

 calculate he is an old man — [ sliould say 

 a very old many Yet, as gray hairs do not 

 always cover a wise head, and as even the 

 wise may, sometimes, entertain wrong no- 

 tions of things, I would always wish (young 

 as I am) to have the privilege of examining 

 opinions for my.-;elf, let tiiem come froai what 

 source thoy may; — and I would strongly re- 

 commend my readers to do so. 



Tlie communications of the "Old Farmer," 

 embrace two very different subjects — tlie ef- 

 fects of a poisonous subsoil — ami, the peach 

 riy — yet, he has so confoundedly confounded 

 them together, that I can hardly separate them. 



No one will deny that an unhealthy subsoil 

 will produce disease in the crop; — that poi- 

 sonous food will poison a peach tree, or a ruta 

 baga, as well as a man. Th'^ " immortal" 

 e.xperiments of Tull, and the " Old Farmer's" 

 JTotten ruta baga, completely prove what no 

 Dody even doubted. But " what need is there 

 of embarrassing so plain a subject," by connect- 

 ing it with another, which rests on the wri- 

 ter's own naket> as.sertions for support! — viz. 

 That " putricity engenders life." — That, "un- 

 til the juici« of a tree become putrescent, 

 no fly will deposit its eggs in it; — instinct 

 teaching that no maturity will follow." That 

 " a poisonous subsoil is the readiest way to 

 bring about this state of things." And, there- 

 fore, " that the worm in the root of the peach, 

 and the excrescence on the branches of the 

 morello cherry, are not the cause, but the ef- 



fect of disease, which arises either from a 

 poisonous subsoil, or an exiiausted surface." 

 Here is the controverted question — the vvliole 

 matter at i-;suo. Does the peach (ly and cher- 

 ry insect attack their fudritc trees when in 

 he:!ltii, or, only when laboring under disease ? 



The wliite head nf my venerable opponent 

 will enable me to tI)llow him, in some of his 

 discursive views, in support of the affirmative 

 of the question. He asserts, " putricity en- 

 genders lite." If so, why did n(it Toll's 

 mint, and his own putrid ruta baga, " cnges- 

 dor" a host of living dcvourrrs? But, is not 

 piUricitij A condition of dead, instead of living 

 matter ! Is it not the iiecnliar characteristic 

 of the change from life to death ? It is con- 

 trary to reason, and fact, that any dead, or 

 inorganic matter, should ensrender life. — 

 Life can only be engendered, cau.-ed, or be- 

 gott'Mi, by life, or living matter. 



I Ic a'^ain asserts, " until tlie juices of a tree 

 are become putrescent, no fly will deposit its 

 (^j^g in it." If .so, why do the locusts deposit 

 their eggs in the most vigorous, healthy 

 trees, and sometimes speedily destroy them 1 

 Why does not the same instiyict teach them 

 " that no maturity will follow V If he .should 

 retract the assertion, and so qualify it, as to 

 embrace only the peach fly, it will require a 

 host of evidence, not yet t'urnished, to estab- 

 lish such habitudes as peculiar to that insect. 

 In those parts where my observations have 

 extended, peach trees of all ages — in all sit- 

 in tions — and witli all varieties of soil and 

 subsoil, have heen obnoxious to the worm. 



He "considers t!ie fly, which deposits it^ 

 C'Jfr ill the tree, as fal filling the great law of 

 nature, in the vegetable, as the turkey buz- 

 zard is, in the animal world" — and so do I. — 

 Bat what is this great law of nature ' It is 

 the instinct, propensities, habits, and feelings, 

 which (lod has implanted in each, and every 

 one of his creatures. These constitute the 

 "great law of nature" which he has ordained 

 to govern them, and which constrains each, 

 and every one, according to its nature, to seek 

 an appropriate dwelling for itself; — to provide 

 food for itself and young, adapted to their 

 wants; or, to place its tender charge where 

 such food can rea<lily be fiund. Obedient to 

 this " great law of nature," the ox eats grass ; 

 the tiger thirsts for the warm blood of its vic- 

 tim ; — the vulture seeks the putrid carcass — 

 the tegeria feeds on the peach tree alone. — 

 Will any one say the grass must become pu- 

 trid, before the ox will devour it? That un- 

 less the blood is putrescent, it will not slake 

 the thirst of the tiger T Neither can any one 

 say, that the peach tree must become putres- 

 cent, before the worm can successfully nidify 

 in it. 



Again, he says " as oxygen is the basis of 

 acidity, with which all putrid substances are 



