7o 



Amtals of Horticulture. 



injurious to fruit or fruit trees." Early in the year litigation 

 occurred in Western New York over the operation of the 

 yellows law, but the outcome of the suit threw no new light 

 upon the disease and established no principles of procedure. 

 The yellows commissioners, authorized by the statute, destroyed 

 trees which they supposed to be diseased and which the owner 

 refused to remove. Upon the refusal of the owner to pay for 

 the labor of the commissioners, the county brought suit for 

 misdemeanor. The defendant contended that the trees in ques- 

 tion were not diseased, and in the absence of specimens or the 

 testimony of experts, the jury disagreed. Many witnesses 

 were called to testify to the general nature of yellows, and two 

 or three experts were summoned. But while the court allowed 

 the giving of much general testimony as a matter of general 

 information and education, the case rested upon the condition 

 of the trees in question. It seems necessary to make this 

 explanation, from the fact that the statement has been made 

 that this suit was a victory of those who contend that yellows 

 is a mere condition of the tree, rather than a specific disease, 

 and that it must establish a precedent for the overthrow of 

 yellows laws. 



The extraordinary increase recently in ways of combatting 

 insects and plant diseases will enable legislation to be made 

 intelligently and practically, and the next few years must see 

 great progress in wholesale control of these evils. There is 

 certainly no reason why laws for the control of diseases and 

 enemies of crops should not be as salutary as existing laws 

 for the checking of diseases of domestic animals. European 

 states have already taken measures in this direction. France 

 has recently made such a law, aimed at injurious insects, 

 injurious fungi, et autres vegetaux nuisibles a V agriculture, or 

 " other plants harmful to agriculture." 



