604 THE PEACH. 



time tlie remedy for the Borer already suggested, v^e will con- 

 fidently insure healthy, vigorous, long-lived trees, and the finest 

 fruit. Will any reasonable man say that so fine a fruit as the 

 peach does not fully merit them ? 



Whether the system of shortening-in and careful culture will 

 prevent the bref.king out of the Yellows when constitutionally 

 latent in the tree, we will not yet undertake to say. A few more 

 experiments will prove this. In slight cases of the disease ^ve 

 believe that it may. Of one thing, however, we are certain : it 

 has hitherto failed entirely to reclaim trees in which the malady 

 had once broken out. Neither do we know of any well at- 

 tested case of its cure, after this stage, by any means what- 

 ever.* Such cases have indeed been reported to us, and pub- 

 lished in the journals, but, when investigated, they have 

 proved to have been trees suffering by the effects of the horer 

 only. 



A planter of peach trees must, even Avith care, expect to see 

 a few cases of Yellows occasionally appear. The malady is 

 too widely extended to be immediately vanquished. Occasion- 

 ally, trees having" the constitutional taint wall sliow themselves 

 where least suspected ; but Avhen the peach is once properly 

 cultivated, these will every day become more rare until the ori- 

 ginal health and longevity of this fruit tree is again established. 



The Curl is the name commonly given to a malady which 

 often attacks the leaves of the peach tree. It usually appears 

 in the month of May or June. The leaves curl up, become 

 thickened and swollen, w^ith hollows on the under, and reddish 

 swellings on the upper side, and finally, after two or three 

 %vecks, fall off. They are then succeeded by a new and healthy 

 crop of foliage. This malady is caused by the punctures of 

 very minute aphides, or plant lice, [Aphis Persicce?) which at- 

 tack the under side of the leaves. Although it does not appear 

 materially to injure either the tree or the crop, yet it greatly 

 disfigures it for a time. In orchards, perhaps few persons will 

 trouble themselves to destroy the insect, but in gardens it is 

 much better to do so. A mixture of w4iale-oil soap, or strong 

 soft soap and water, with some tobacco stems boiled in it, aiid 

 the whole applied to the branches from below with a syringe 

 or garden engine, will soon rid the tree of the insects for one 

 or more years. It should be done when the leaves arc a third 

 grown, and will seldom need repeating the same season. 



Varieties. The variety of fine peaches cultivated abroad is 

 about fifty ; and half this number embraces all that are highly 



* All the specific applications to the root of such substances as salt, ley. 

 brine, saltpetre, urine, &c., recommended for this disease, are founded or 

 their good eftbcts wlicn applied against the horer. They have not been 

 found of any value fc ' the Yellows. 



