143 
THE PEACH ROSETTE. 
Plates viii-xiii. 
By Erwin F. Smith. 
In the first bulletin on peach yellows some account was given of a 
peculiar peach disease prevalent in Georgia and not visibly associated 
with fungi. This account was based on correspondence and specimens 
received through the mails. In some particulars the specimens agreed 
exactly with yellows. In others they differed somewhat, and I was in 
doubt what it should be called. A full opportunity to examine it in the 
fields and orchards of middle Georgia in the summer of 1890 still left 
me with some doubt. It seems best, therefore, to call it u the peach 
rosette” until it can be determined whether it is identical with yellows, 
as now seems probable. 
This disease agrees with peach yellows, as already defined, in the 
following important particulars: 
I. On some of the trees winter buds and obscure buds push into dis¬ 
eased, branched growths identical with yellows. All ot the growths 
would be identical if the shoot-axes were elongated. 
II. Winter buds show the same tendency to unfold in summer and 
autumn. I saw such immature, feeble growths as late as November 6. 
III. Part of a tree may be affected while the rest appears normal. 
IY. The disease can be communicated to healthy trees by inserting 
diseased buds. In my inoculations of June 21, sixty per cent of 125 
stocks showed symptoms of the disease in four and one-half months. 
The disease differs in the following particulars : 
I. The entire tree is more apt to be attacked all at once, and the dis¬ 
ease is more quickly fatal. Trees often die the first year, and I have not 
heard of any cases living beyond the second season. What corresponds 
to the first stage of yellows seems to be wanting. 
II. On the parts attacked, many obscure buds and all or most of the 
winter buds push into diseased growths suddenly in early spring. The 
primary shoot-axes grow only an inch or two, but send out many short 
branches. This gives to each growth a compact tufted form, and to the 
affected tree a very peculiar appearance unlike anything heretofore 
described, and much resembling the work of insects. These stunted, 
green, or yellowish rosettes often form the only foliage of large trees, 
projecting from the ends of long, naked twigs like leafy galls, or like 
house leeks tied to the ends of sticks (see PI. ix). 
III. The lower leaves on these tufts or rosettes roll and curl, turn 
yellow, dry up at the ends and edges, and fall early. They begin to 
drop before midsummer, and a slight jar shakes them off by the hun¬ 
dred. 
IY. On the trunk and base of the main limbs it is rare to find any¬ 
thing more than rosettes, and often these also are wanting, the diseased 
growths being confined to the extremities of the branches. 
