20 THE PEACH 



Philadelphia, and in a postscript to his letter we 

 find the following: "We have had two successive 

 rainy seasons, and I do not recollect ever to have 

 seen more general destruction among peach trees 

 through the whole of the country. It seems that 

 excessive moisture is one, if not the primary cause, 

 of this irresistible disease." 



These coincidences of rainy seasons and the yel- 

 lows among peach trees over the country, I have 

 observed for years as marked in these alternations 

 of weather, favoring the now general opinion of the 

 cause of the disease as I have already remarked. 

 Thomas Taylor, the microscopist of the Agricul- 

 tural Department, Washington City, as published 

 in the Agricultural Report of the year 1872, page 

 169, makes the following statement, "since contact 

 with water dissolves this form of Nnemosporo, viz : 

 " Parasitic Fungi," without destroying the life of 

 the spores, it is evident that the action of rain or 

 washes of pure water will only tend to diffuse the 

 spores over the body of the tree and roots, while 

 the application of solutions of sulphuric acid and 

 alkalies will destroy them." 



There are strong confirmatory facts favoring the 

 theory of " Fungi " as being the cause of disease, 

 and that alkaline substances, such as [caustic lime 

 and potash are the proper substances as curatives 

 for the disease, and with necessary precaution in 

 the application of caustic lime, the destruction of 

 the diseased agent is effected in a cheap and expe- 



