168 THE SMALL COUNTRY PLACE 



Fungous Pests. 



The "peach curl" is a fungous disease that attacks 

 the leaves of peaches and the fruit of native plums, 

 causing the tissues to swell to large, light yellow masses 

 and finally drop off. It does not kill the tree, and soon 

 new leaves come out, but two or three seasons' attacks 

 are sufficient to so weaken the trees that they become 

 an easy prey to peach yellows and leaf spot. 



The "peach yellows," a disease as to the nature of 

 which little is known, is by far the most destructive pest. 

 The leaves when attacked have a light green or reddish 

 color, and the shoots are small and wiry. The fruit is 

 small, ripens prematurely, is of most brilliant color, and 

 often has a decidedly bitter taste. The disease is 

 thought to be contagious, spreading from one part of an 

 orchard to other parts, and from one orchard to another, 

 but this apparent contagion may be explained on the 

 theory that the soil and climatic conditions being the 

 same, all the trees would be likely to present the same 

 conditions of growth that might result from extreme 

 heat or cold, or too much or too little moisture. Trees 

 attacked by this disease seldom recover wholly, though 

 by severe pruning back, and the liberal use of fertilizers 

 containing a large amount of potash, they may live 

 many years and produce much good fruit. The cost of 

 this work and the small cost of growing young trees up 

 to bearing size make it more profitable to cut out all 

 trees as soon as they are badly affected and replace 

 them with young trees. The lime and sulphur remedy 

 used for the destruction of the San Jose scale has a 

 decidedly beneficial effect upon the leaf curl and reduces 

 the danger of injury from the yellows, though it is not a 

 sure remedy for the latter. As with the pear, much of 

 success in growing peaches depends upon the condition 



