16 , THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Is there a remedy for the disease? It is said that when the disease 

 shows itself in an orchard it is difficult to eradicate it, unless the trees 

 showing the first sympt'oms are taken out, root and branch. In Michi- 

 gan they have a law compelling people to dig them out; and I under" 

 stand that there is such importance attached to this matter that vigilance 

 committees are appointed in some localities, who visit orchards, ordering 

 out every tree that shows any symptoms of this disease. But notwith- 

 standing all their vigilance many of their orchards have been destroyed 

 by it. If such extreme measures are necessary there, I should think 

 that self-interest at least would dictate to every peach grower of Ontario 

 to be on the alert, and remove all symptons of it as soon as it appears. 

 I know there are some people who laugli at the idea of the yellows being 

 here, and attribute tlie sickly condition of their trees to the cold Winter 

 of three or four years ago, and I do not doubt that the Winter referred to 

 injured the trees in some sections, and l)y enfeebling them, made them 

 much more susceptible to disease. But I saw this same disease on 

 vseveral trees in an orchard in Niagara Co., N. Y. the Fall before the 

 severe Winter spoken of, (and I think some of it in Canada,) and now 

 that orchard is totally destroyed, and several others in its immediate 

 vicinity are badly affected with it. 



Professor Beal, microscopist of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 has been making observations to learn if possible the cause of the disease. 

 He has detected several forms of fungoid growth attached to the roots 

 of the trees, and this matter has so adapted itself as to enter into the 

 circulation of the sap of the tree. Professor Eedgie, of the same college, 

 thinks the disease may be traced to this cause, and that an enfeebled 

 condition of the tree caused by excessive bearing while young, or other 

 enfeebling causes, may greatly increase the liability of the attack. In 

 the analysis of the ashes of healthy, and diseased peach trees, it has 

 been found that -diseased trees lack two important elements, potash 

 and phosphoric acid. Now it is an established fact that these are of 

 the first importance among inorganic elements of tree growth, and this 

 deficiency suggests a remedy. (" An ounce of prevention is worth a 

 pound of cure.") Keep your trees supplied with plenty of potasli in 

 the soil, give them good cultivation, thin out the fruit and not let them 

 exhaust themselves by over-bearing, particularly when young, and they 

 w^ill be less liable to an attack of this disease; and be vigilant in taking 

 out all diseased trees when first attacked, and you may save your peach 

 orchards.' 



