PEACH. 309 



fixcrescence and the injury. The only remedy yet 

 discovered is instant and lull excision of all the dis- 

 eased branches, as fast as the fungus appears, com- 

 mitting them immediately to the flames. These ex- 

 crescences usually appear in June, and trees should 

 be examined through that month and July, and the 

 first appearances of the blight carefully noted and 

 its extirpation effected. 



The fruit curculio makes its appearance about the 

 time the tree blossoms, and, as soon as the fruit is 

 of the size of a pea, this insect commences its op- 

 erations upon it. A kind of crescent-shaped mark 

 denotes the place where the egg is deposited. It 

 speedily becomes a worm, which feeds on the fruit, 

 causing it in most cases prematurely to fall, when 

 the worm escapes into the ground, where it under- 

 goes its transformations, and is ready again to attack 

 the fruit of the succeeding year. The remedy for 

 the curculio is plain. Let all the premature fruit be 

 gatliered as fast as it falls, and given to the pigs ; or, 

 if that is not convenient, or would be too much la- 

 bour, let the pigs have access to the trees, and the 

 business will be done effectually. Geese also, when 

 kept in fruit-gardens, prove beneficial by eating the 

 defective fruit, and other matters that prove injurir 

 ous, bugs, worms, &c. It has long been observed, 

 that trees standing in yards where the ground is 

 trodden hard, or by gravelled walks, are less infested 

 with the curcuho than others not so situated. Sud- 

 den and violent jars of the tree during the time the 

 curculio is most active, will prevent or retard his op- 

 erations in a great measure ; and if, when so shaken 

 off, they are caught on sheets and destroyed, Lhe 

 danger of the fruit being injured the succeeding year 

 is greatly lessened. 



PEACH. Afnj/gdalus Persica. 

 In the catalogue of the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety, two hundred and twenty-four varieties are in- 



