CXXxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Scientific Committee, August 29, 1916. 
Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair, and eight 
members present. 
Pelargonium Hybrid.— Mr. Fraser showed a dried specimen of 
Pelargonium semi-trilobum Raduliferinum x crispum which he had 
received from Mr. Bennett-Poe, and which he found to be distinct from 
* Lady Mary ' and from crispum. 
Tomato flesh discoloured. — Mr. Harold W. Smith sent some tomato 
fruits disfigured with yellow coloration which goes right into the 
fruit, asking for the cause, the remedy, and whether they are harmful 
to eat. The cause is probably insufficiency of potash in the soil, and 
while the yellowish part is hard it is not actually harmful. Some 
varieties are more liable to this uneven ripening than others. 
Peach Curl Messrs. G. & A. Clark sent some twigs of Peach 
trees afflicted with leaf-curl and die back disease. Miss D. M. Cayley, 
of the John Innes Institution, who examined them, wrote : " I have 
looked at the specimens of diseased Peach branches sent and make the 
following notes : One specimen has had a bad attack of Peach leaf- 
curl, Exoascus deformans. The only sign of Exoascus on the second 
specimen is the discoloration of the pith and wood at the base of the 
shoot. The third specimen has a decided attack of gumming and also 
die-back. The cause of gumming, as far as I know, has not yet been 
attributed to any specific organism. It certainly causes the twigs to 
die, if badly attacked, but I hold that gumming and die-back are not 
one and the same thing, although the cause of die-back in Peaches is 
not known, and no definite proof has been found that it is due to 
Botrytis, as in Apricots. 
" Remedies for Peach Leaf-curl. — The mycelium of Peach leaf -curl 
hibernates in the bark, pith, and medullary rays of the twigs, and on 
the bud-scales. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture in the early spring 
before the leaves unfold is to be recommended. All affected twigs 
should be cut away right down to healthy wood, and burnt. By 
healthy wood I mean that the surface of the cut should show no trace 
of discoloration in the internal tissues. Once a tree has become so 
badly infected (as I am led to believe by the condition of No. 1) there 
is very little chance of it ever recovering sufficiently to be of any 
market value, and it should be burnt. Almond trees are affected by 
the same organism, and all diseased Almond trees should be care- 
fully attended to, if anywhere in proximity to a Peach nursery. 
Nurserymen do not sufficiently realize the importance of keeping 
down leaf -curl. They think that, as the second leaves appear healthy 
and the shoots grow vigorously, the trees have recovered, but 
this is not the case, as, as before stated, the mycelium lives in the 
inner tissues of the stem and the disease is thus carried on from year 
to year. Should the disease appear on the leaves of young Peach trees, 
spraying from time to time in the spring with Bordeaux mixture 
