134 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



gained and that these truths are being adjusted to practical uses 

 day by day and year by year. It is true that we cannot, all of 

 us, work along both the practical and the experimental sides of 

 these problems, but by coming together and comparing our 

 results from time to time we shall gain much that is of prac- 

 tical value to all who are interested in the advancement of the 

 fruit industry. 



It is not my purpose to overestimate the importance of com- 

 bating plant diseases. This is only one of the important 

 factors in the development of fruit and other farm products. 

 But if we are to have healthy plants, the same rule holds 

 as in the animal kingdom — we must start with healthy stock. 

 That is a principle which cannot be too strongly and firmly 

 impressed upon the mind. It is true we must pay proper 

 attention to the preparation of the soil, and to the cultivation 

 of the trees after they are placed in the ground; they must 

 be fed and pruned, the insect pests must be kept under control, 

 and at the same time the various diseases to which our fruits 

 and plants are subject must not be neglected." The only prob- 

 lems in connection with fruit growing that we shall now con- 

 sider for a little while are some of the more common diseases, 

 their nature and their prevention. The first disease to be con- 

 sidered is the peach-yellows. 



Although this disease has been known in this country for 

 more than one hundred years, neither the cause which produces 

 it nor the remedy for its eradication are known, but through 

 the painstaking work of Dr. Erwin F. Smith, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, much is known in regard 

 to the communicability of this disease, and we are able to keep 

 it in check and to encourage the growers to a very large 

 extent by the prompt removal, and destruction by burning, of 

 all trees as soon as they show signs of the yellows. The 

 unmistakable symptoms of this disease are a premature ripen- 

 ing of the fruit, followed by a production of fine willowy shoots 

 on some parts of the diseased tree. Those of you who have 

 been growing peaches undoubtedly have had the misfortune 

 to meet the yellows in your orchards, but by a united effort 

 among a number of growers living upon adjacent farms you 

 will be able to keep this disease in check by removing and 

 burning the diseased trees just as soon as the disease appears. 



