March 7 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
154 
WILL MANURE INCREASE PEACH YELLOWS ? 
How to Replant Missing Trees. 
THE QUESTIONS. 
Of an orchard of 2,000 peach trees, three years old, 600 are miss¬ 
ing. These trees have been replanted three times, the last time 
last autumn. The missing trees are scattered all over the 
orchard. Where the trees have started, they have made a good 
growth, but the replants have nearly all died in the same places. 
We have tried commercial fertilizers lacking nitrogen, and black 
soil which came from the bottom of a ditch, and now we wish 
something new for the third trial. Plenty of old and well-rotted 
manure is available, but we have never used manure on peach 
trees in any way, being under the impression that manure pro¬ 
duces yellows. Would it be advisable to use manure in this 
case ? Is it a good plan to use old manure as mulch for peach 
trees newly planted on rather poor, sandy land ? Has any one 
proved that manure produces, or, rather, makes peach trees more 
susceptible to the yellows ? j. s. l. 
Goldsboro, Md. 
THE ANSWERS. 
Would Certainly Use Manure. 
After an experience of 20 years, 1 have never been 
able to detect any increase of peach yellows from the 
use of manure. The disease seems to attack a tree of 
slow growth as quickly as one of rampant growth 
and to appear on the sterile sand bank and the rich 
bottoms equally as destructively and as soon. I would 
unhesitatingly recommend mulching newly-set peach 
trees on poor, sandy soil, with barnyard manure— 
well-rotted preferred. I have never used nitrate of 
soda on peach trees, but when the foliage started in 
the spring, would try it sprinkled on top of the 
manure around the trees, one small handful to several 
trees ; I would repeat the application a month later, 
if good results seem to follow the first, but not after¬ 
wards, as too late and unripened growth might 
result. 1 would look for some other cause for trees 
dying as described—perhaps the .aphis causes the 
trouble. If not able to detect any cause, I would 
inform the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, which would promptly render any assistance in 
its power, and sit up nights with the case if need be. 
Delaware. samukl h. derby. 
Put New Soil Around the Trees. 
We have found by experience that the best thing 
to do in replanting peach trees, is to dig large holes, 
throwing the earth entirely away, so that none of it 
comes in contact with the new trees, and fill up around 
the roots with entirely fresh earth taken either from 
the middle of the rows, or hauled in from a distance 
In the most successful trial we ever had with a case 
of this kind—and it was a perfect success—we hauled 
the soil from a head row that was old and rich. When 
we set the trees, we covered the roots entirely with 
the fresh soil, and filled up the rest of the hole with 
earth taken from the middle of the tree row. It is 
not right to let the manure come close to the roots of 
the trees, but to broadcast it on top, and work it well 
in ; neither is it a good plan to use manure as a mulch 
for peach trees. It never has been demonstrated that 
manure makes peach trees more susceptible to yellows. 
J. S. L. can use manure heavy or light, if it be well- 
rotted, broadcasted on top, and then well worked in. 
Delaware. slaymaker & son. 
A Fight with the Bark Louse. 
From the description given by .T. S. L., I would say 
that his young peach trees are being destroyed by the 
bark louse or aphides feeding on the roots. Such cases 
are not uncommon. I have been acquainted with 
many peach orchards during the past 30 years, that 
have suffered in this way when first set. In 1883, I 
had to replant over 700 peach trees that were killed 
by the black louse on the roots. Following the advice 
of old and experienced nurserymen, 1 dipped the roots 
of the replants in tobacco water, and dusted over them 
powdered tobacco ; also mixed with the soil when 
placed about the roots, powdered tobacco, but without 
avail; all or nearly all died. Before planting the 
third time, I dug holes four feet square, down to the 
subsoil, and filled them with top soil from portions of 
the orchard where the trees had, from the first, grown 
well, and in this soil planted the new trees, being 
careful to examine the roots for lice, as they are occa¬ 
sionally found already established on the roots of 
trees just taken from the nursery. This last experi¬ 
ment cost much labor, and proved successful, nearly 
all the replants growingwell and making fine trees. 
In regard to using fertilizers, particularly those 
containing nitrogen, I am able to give one instance 
of apparent success. One of my neighbors who had 
witnessed my fight with the black louse, and who pro¬ 
posed setting a peach orchard, at my suggestion 
mixed with the soil around each tree as set, two hand¬ 
fuls of ground tankage, my idea being that the 
stimulant (organic nitrogen and bone phosphate) con¬ 
tained in the tankage would push the young tree so 
that the sap-sucking louse could not materially injure 
it. As a result, the trees grew finely, and none was 
lost. I have never mixed rotted manure with the 
soil about newly-planted peach trees, but have used 
it as a mulch for peach trees newly planted where the 
soil was thin or sandy, and found it an advantage, 
not, however, as overcoming the depredations of the 
louse. Previous to the advent of the yellows in this 
section, peach trees of good old age—20 or 30 years— 
adjoining gardens or truck patches that received 
heavy dressings of manure, thriving greatly and 
bearing heavy crops of poorly-colored fruit, were not 
an uncommon sight. From my experience and obser¬ 
vation, I am almost certain that this class of trees 
proved to be more susceptible to yellows than those 
cared for in the usual manner. Finely-ground ani¬ 
mal bone and muriate of potash are my reliance in 
the fertilization of my orchards—apple, pear or peach. 
A crop of Crimson clover plowed under early, is of 
great use in lightening soils that are inclined to 
bake, and supplies almost too much nitrogen ; but 
potash and phosphoric acid are needed, both for clover 
and trees. geo. h. Murray, 
Delaware. 
How to Start Young Trees. 
If I were J. S. L., I would replant those trees and 
use some fresh soil from an old fence row if I could get 
it. Then I would use, at least, a shovelful of good 
ashes in the hole, a handful of fish scrap or ground 
fish, and after the trees were set, put a good shovel¬ 
ful of rotted manure around each tree on the surface. 
An orchard only a few miles from me, behaved in the 
same way. but the man now has a nice stand of trees 
by persistent replanting, Sometimes young trees die 
from root aphis. It is not a bad idea to use some 
tobacco dust around the roots, as this will kill any 
aphides that may be in the ground or on the roots. 
What makes these trees die, I can’t tell ; but on light 
land, I would always give a tree a good start by using 
a nitrogenous manure for the first few years. When 
it is big enough, begin with potash and phosphoric 
z. 
ROLLER AND TROWEL FOR LITTLE PLANTS. Fig. 54. 
acid for fruit. For a young tree, this ground fish 
seems to give it a start that nothing else will, and if 
the tree will live for one year, it is not so likely to die. 
There is no proof that manure induces yellows, and 
many a young peach orchard gets stunted in its 
growth from lack of manure. Use it around the trees, 
not in the holes. Peach trees have yellows on all 
kinds of land, and with or without all kinds of 
manures. Pull up the first tree you see with it, and 
burn it, and keep this up if you wish to be free from 
it. Many trees that turn yellow, merely have aphides 
about the roots. chas. wright. 
Delaware. 
Give the Trees Some Tobacco. 
I would suggest that J. S. L., examine carefully 
the roots of the trees with which he intends to fill up 
the vacancies in his orchard, before setting them 
out. The dying may, possibly, result from aphides— 
or as commonly known, peach lice. If any trace of 
these be discovered, the roots should be immersed for 
one hour before planting, in a strong decoction of 
tobacco. If, however, the trees are already planted, 
it would be well to procure 200 pounds of tobacco 
dust (cost, about one to one and a-half cent per 
pound), remove the soil from about the trees, down to 
the spread of the roots, and distribute immediately 
about each tree, a good handful; replace the soil, 
and mulch the tree with a good-sized forkful of stable 
manure. For two or three years after planting, a 
mulch of old (or new) stable manure, annually, will 
not likely tend to produce any yellows, on the aver¬ 
age of land devoted to peach orchards, on the eastern 
shore of Maryland. It has been satisfactorily demon¬ 
strated that nitrogenous manures, excessively used 
in disregard of what might be termed a balanced 
ration, for the sustenance of the trees, make them 
susceptible to the yellows. High culture—forcing 
extremely vigorous growth—and the yellows, as a 
rule, are not long separated from each other. This 
has been my observation The yellows resulting from 
the lack of proper culture, and intelligent feeding, is 
a wholly different disease ; but about as prevalent in 
most peach-growing districts as the former. 
Maryland. J. w. kerb. 
Would Avoid Nitrogenou s Manures. 
J. S. L. does not say in what kind of soil the orchard 
is set. If it is very sandy and poor, it may be that 
the trees fail to start from that cause ; although he 
says, “ Where the trees have started, they have made 
a good growth,” which would lead one to believe that 
poverty of the soil is not the cause of this trouble. 
The fact that the replanted trees have nearly all died, 
would lead to a suspicion of the unsuitability of, at 
least, a part of the soil in the orchard to peach cul¬ 
ture. He does not say whether or not peach yellows 
has been, or is now, in his orchard. It may be, that 
the young trees were affected by this fatal disease 
when they were planted, which, if true, would, per¬ 
haps, be the solution of the question. Why not re¬ 
plant this orchard hereafter with Japan plum trees, 
which are seldom affected with any disease ? I would 
continue to use potash and phosphoric acid instead of 
stable manure or any nitrogenous substance. How¬ 
ever, it might do to try a little of the latter. Well- 
rotted stable manure used as a mulch for newly-set 
trees, would be no better to retain moisture about 
them than other trash, which would be less nitrog¬ 
enous. Dr. Erwin F. Smith, after going over the 
whole subject of manures as related to peach yellows, 
says, “ I am inclined to think that, in infected dis¬ 
tricts, nitrogenous manures have a bad influence, but 
to what this is due, I am unable to say.” This is, 
perhaps, the best authority extant. 
Virginia. h. e. van deman. 
WHAT THEY SAY? 
Transplanting Tools. —Fig. 54 shows two home¬ 
made tools which I find very useful. They are de¬ 
signed to save time in transplanting small plants like 
celery, and they have proved almost indispensable. 
The flats which I use are 12 inches wide inside, by 
two feet long, with the rows running across. Then 
with the trowel shown at 1, I take up a whole 
row of plants, and space them farther apart in other 
flats, or set them into cold frames. With celery, this 
will save entirely all hand transplanting, except the 
final field work. Butin order to use this tool success¬ 
fully, the rows must be perfectly straight, and to 
accomplish this, I use the marker shown at 2. This 
spaces the rows three-fourths of an inch apart, which 
is right for celery. When the seed is well up, thin so 
as to leave 25 or 30 plants to the row. This makes 500 
or more plants to the flat. These may be sheared off 
once or twice^before they become “drawn,” and then 
set into cold frames, four inches between the rows to 
grow on. I prepare the row's to receive the plants, by 
opening them with the trowel, then rake the soil up 
to the plants, and press down firmly. 
The trowel is made of an extra heavy piece of gal¬ 
vanized iron,- 11% inches long, and 3% inches wide, 
and bent at the top of the shaded lines. The handle 
is extra heavy galvanized strap iron, one inch wide 
and 12 inches long. This is folded with the ends to¬ 
gether, lapped on both sides of the first piece, and 
riveted or soldered. All may be done with a hammer, 
cold chisel and punch, if one have the materials. The 
edge need not be sharp, but may be thinned with 
a file. 
The roller is a round stick one inch in diameter, 
and 11 inches long. Saw into each end two shallow 
cuts at right angles, forming a cross, which will coin¬ 
cide with that of the other end. Then wind a soft 
copper wire or even a hard cord around through the 
saw cuts, and fasten it; then across the other way 
and fasten it, and it will look as at 2 (end view). 
Drive a wire nail in the center of each end, and mount 
in the handle, of which the ends A, A are of thin 
iron with holes for the nails in the ends of the roller. 
Pass this over the soil which should be sifted and 
smoothed, and it will pack the soil leaving tiny marks 
just right for the smallest seeds. D. m. Andrews. 
Colorado. 
Interest at Farmers’ Institutes. —A note in a re¬ 
cent R. N.-Y. says that institutes are growing in in¬ 
terest in the West, while in the East they are barely 
holding their own, and asks the question, “ What is 
the matter ?” 
My observation leads me to conclude that the in¬ 
stitute force are trying to cover too much ground for 
the material they have. Like fertilizers, they some¬ 
times spread it too thin to be of any perceptible 
benefit. Not that the speakers do not know by actual 
experience what they are talking about, for I believe 
that most of them are practical men, and successful 
in their line of work. But there is a wide difference 
between knowing a thing, and being able to tell it so 
as to interest and convince others. To be a success¬ 
ful public speaker, either at the bar or in the pulpit, 
