REPEAL OF THE YELLOWS LAW 115 



them ; but, presumably, they may not be able to spot such 

 trees until yellows shows very decidedly. Two years ago 

 I found upward of 100 cases of yellows in this young or- 

 chard of ours ; last season there were a very few only, but 

 some of these were as nice-looking and thrifty trees as 

 could be found in the orchard. As we took great pains in 

 getting our stock, and as cases of yellows were taken from 

 about every different lot of stock, we felt hardly justified in 

 charging them up to bad stock. 



Really, if the peach yellows is contagious, as claimed by 

 many, and as I believe, we who wish to grow peaches 

 must protect ourselves in some way or else we must expect 

 a thinning out of our orchards that will render them unprofi- 

 table. If any are wise enough to profit by such an experi- 

 ence, would it be too much to expect that later we may see 

 the peach business largely in the management of a com- 

 bine able to secure and control conditions essential to suc- 

 cess ? I am rather inclined to take this view of the situa- 

 tion, as it now stands, and to feel that the repeal of the 

 yellows law — instead of its revision, if it needed any — was 

 a direct blow at the man who had a few acres on his farm 

 on which, but for the yellows, he could successfully grow 

 the peach. The man who has a considerable investment 

 in peach orcharding, must, for his financial salvation, fight 

 the yellows by destroying each diseased tree on the appear- 

 ance of the very first sign of disease. General farmers, 

 noting the success of our best peach cultivators, were 

 tempted to plant a good many peaches, in a small way, 

 without very much knowledge as to their culture. The 

 repeal of the peach yellows law left these people to drift, 

 with the mistaken opinion that yellows, after all, was not 

 a contagious or dangerous disease. Little attention is 

 being paid to it ; it is spreading more rapidly, and the 

 loss to the state from the repeal of the law is apparently 

 falling on the small commercial planters and the owners 

 of few trees in family gardens. 



