SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. yy 



j:^reater ;in(l more vital importance than anything we have to 

 consider. 1 don't think yon reaUze to-day the condition ot 

 the peach orchards in general. From my own observation in 

 the section of the State that is affected by this special ont- 

 break of the yellows I wonld say there is ])robablv right here 

 very serions tronble ahead. Wy honest belief is that 50% of 

 the peach trees in Connecticnt are diseased with the yellows, 

 and that means an immense loss. When this Society was or- 

 ganized seventeen years ago it was organized as the Peach 

 Grozvers' Society, and it has developed into this Pomological 

 Society, and one of onr purposes in getting together was to 

 protect our interests and to stimulate the growers to look aftc 

 and eradicate the yellows. We got a law passed ; a good 

 deal of zeal was manifested by every grower in eradicating 

 every trace of the disease, and we did it. Then the vSan Jose 

 scale came along and scared the life out of us, and we put all 

 our energy into fighting that and let the yellows go for six oi 

 eight years. We have all been negligent of our orchards as 

 regards the yellows, and they are more largely infested to-day 

 than many of us know, and I venture to assert that 50% of 

 the peach trees in the State are now more or less affected with 

 the yellows. 



AIr. Callahan : Does this trouble strike at the roots of 

 the tree first ? My experience has been that the roots go 

 first, that you can pull them out easily. 



Prof. Waite : That has not been my experience. I have 

 seen pidled up 10,000 trees, and as a rule in cases of real peach 

 vellows the roots are all right ; the same is true of "little 

 peach" as well. 



Prof. Gulley : My experience has been that the top dies 

 first in the yellows, and the same is true of the little peach 

 also. 



Dr. Clinton : What will we do if, as Mr. Hale says, that 

 50% of the peach trees in Connecticut are affected with the 

 yellows. 



Prof. Waite : I would dig them up. I would like to 

 drive this matter home to the people of Connecticut that this 

 trouble is primarily and mainly due to carelessness or negli- 



