12 THE PEACH 



some of them were young and vigorous but we have 

 had two successive rainy seasons, and I do not re- 

 collect ever to have seen more general destruction 

 among peach trees through the whole of the 

 country. It seems evident that excessive moisture 

 is one if not the primary cause of this irresistible 

 disease." 



I may here remark that my observations fully 

 confirm this statement that wet seasons do favor 

 the production of disease. The summer of 1878 

 was a wet season at "West Chester, Pa., and in the 

 immediate neighborhood, and I observed that the 

 yellows was more than usually destructive among 

 peach trees that had been cultivated in the usual 

 careless way, or rather not cultivated at all. 



Again, in Nov. 1807, Judge Peters, commenting 

 on a letter he had received from Dr. Tilton, of Wil- 

 mington, Delaware, says, " I still think that the 

 disease so generally fatal (more so this year than 

 any other in my memory,) called the yellows is at- 

 mospheric. I have always considered mildew and 

 blight as originating in atmospheric taint, yet Sir 

 Joseph Banks asserts that parasitical fungi, and 

 others affirm, that insects are the causes. I believe 

 with much deference to authority so respectable, 

 that fungi originate and insects breed in morbid 

 juices and extravasated sap after the plant has be. 

 come sickly" 



In his day Sir Joseph Banks was one of the most 

 astute and accomplished naturalists England pos 



