REPEAL OF THE YELLOWS LAW 113 



RESULTS OF REPEAL OF THE YELLOWS LAW 



By J. NORRIS BARNES 



Mr. President and Brother Fruit Growers ; 



This body has already put itself on record as believing 

 in the principle involved in the carrying out of the Con- 

 necticut yellows law. If, in this discussion, I should 

 wander, or draw somewhat on my own experience, ob- 

 tained in learning and managing my own business, I hope 

 that I shall not exhaust your patience. 



I wish to state, right here, that in the matter of peach 

 yellows, of which in so many ways so little is known, 

 I hold my opinion subject to change ; for in the experi- 

 ence gained during the last twenty years I really feel that 

 with no certainty can the cause of peach yellows be pointed 

 out, and that the only remedy of any use is the severe 

 and not entirely satisfactory one of promptly removing 

 the tree. 



The repealed law, in my opinion, was not in existence 

 long enough to accomplish its purpose, even if it had been 

 thoroughly enforced ; and I believe it was next to impos; 

 sible to thoroughly enforce such a law in many places. I 

 should say from a quite close observation of the workings of 

 the law, that the state can offer protection successfully to 

 any community of fruit growers, from careless, indifferent 

 or worse members of it, when the most of those members 

 will actively support such a policy ; in any event, it could 

 wisely offer the instruction and knowledge of an expert in 

 such matters, which, no doubt, could be obtained at a rea- 

 sonable price. 



I believe the active co-operation of the peach growers, 

 great or small, as well as the acceptance of the principle 

 involved in the repealed law, necessary in order to obtain 

 great success in fighting the yellows. It is very important 

 to begin right in any matter, and especially so in order, to 

 successfully combat yellows. We must plant stock free 

 from pit or bud taint of yellows and spot the first cases of 

 yellows that, from unknown causes, may show up in our 

 young orchards. It seems to be very hard to wholly cor- 



