EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 47 



fects, as they were earlier and later in the season rather than 

 during our hottest weather, as in 1907. Concerning the trees 

 killed outright by winter injury, there seems to have been no 

 difference of opinion. The trees were healthy the previous 

 year, the winter was severe, and the trees were dead the next 

 spring or summer. Obviously winter injury was the cause. 

 But concerning the trees whose wood" was more or less severe- 

 ly injured, while the foliage showed no very evident distress 

 the following summer or two, but which has since gone into 

 decline, there seems to be a decided difference of opinion as to 

 whether these subsequent troubles of yellows, "little peach," 

 so-called "yellows," etc., have any relationship at all to the 

 unfavorable weather conditions. Curiously enough, it w^as not 

 the dead trees so much as the off-color living ones that seemed 

 to worry their owners. In other words, the growers do not 

 seem to fear winter injury, which is certain to occur at irreg- 

 ular intervals to peach trees grown this far out of their normal 

 climate, as they do the supposedly contagious waves of yellows 

 that sweep over orchards not oftener than the winter injuries, 

 and which, in my opinion, are largely after-effects of such. 



Without entering into a discussion of the characteristics of 

 yellows, and admitting for the moment that the cases of yel- 

 lows and so-called "yellows" in this State are all true yellows, 

 let us consider briefly what we know about this nightmare of 

 the northern peach grower. 



(A). By definite experiments it has been proven so that 

 all agree : 1st, that yellows can be grafted or budded into 

 healthy trees from the buds of diseased trees even when the 

 evidence of yellows does not show on the particular branches 

 from which the buds were taken. 2nd, that yellows cannot 

 be cured in a tree by pruning off the diseased branches. 3rd, 

 that special fertilization of the land cannot effect the cure of 

 diseased trees. 4th, that the pits from yellows trees germin- 

 ate very poorly and that of the resulting seedlings apparently 

 not all show signs of yellows. I take this last conclusion from 

 recent work of Mr. Phillips in Virginia. 



(B). Through practice it has been proven more or less 

 satisfactorily: 1st, that nursery inspection does not necessarily 



