THE CANADUN HORTICULTURIST. 85 



THE "YELLOWS." 



BY T. H. WATT, M. D., NIAGARA. 



The disease called " yellows" in the peach, has taken quite a pro- 

 minent place in the discussions of the various fruit associations ; and 

 to me it is a matter of surprise that any one taking an interest in the 

 growth and culture of this most delicious summer fruit should be so 

 lukewarm about so virulent and destructive a malady. To hear the 

 various crude undigested ideas expressed, the ridiculous remedies ad- 

 vanced for its cure (which are purely imaginary so far) by orchardists, 

 whose income, to a greater or less extent, is dependent on the health, 

 fruitfulness and longevity of this tree — forgetting the fact that while 

 they are quietly waiting for something to turn up, for a miracle to be 

 worked for their benefit, the insidious disease is hidden in the soil, the 

 spores of the same are blown by the wind in the fallen leaves, the pruner'a 

 knife is inoculating hitherto healthy trees; and I can easily imagine 

 the diseased pollen being conveyed by bees and insects, all these acting 

 as active agents to spread this dread disease which is taking possession 

 of their orchards. How can this be stayed ? We have tried to enlist 

 the sympathy of the Legislative Assembly, so that those who would 

 not destroy diseased trees might be compelled to do so. We have 

 tried by ventilating this subject to call the serious attention of the 

 orchardist to the risk he ran, and the cruel wrong he was doing not 

 only his neighbor, but his own family, in this do-nothing case of infec- 

 tion. Now the only method is to arouse the public, through the 

 medium of the press, to what are the symptoms of the yellows in the 

 fruit as exposed for sale, (any quantity of which, I have heard, has 

 been placed on our markets.) Look with suspicion on any variety of 

 peach that comes to market before its real time of ripening ; for Chas. 

 Downing says in his work (which has all been fully endorsed by the 

 practical experience of peach growers in the Niagara peninsula,) "that 

 this disease causes the fruit to ripen from two to four weeks earlier 

 than the proper season." The first season the fruit may acquire its 

 size, the next, should the tree survive, the fruit will only be from a 

 fourth to half its natural size. It is always marked externally 

 (whatever may be its natural colour) with specks and large spots of 

 purplish red. Internally the flesh is more deeply coloured, especially 

 around the stone, than in its natural state. In many cases the red 



