1907 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
21 
What to Do for Crown Gall . 
0. E. F., Athens, Tex .—Will some of your 
horticultural readers give me their experi¬ 
ence and advice concerning the peach root- 
knot? I planted a .voting peach orchard of 
1250 trees last March, and I discover that 
something like 200 of the trees are more or 
less affected with this disease. Only a few 
of them have shed their,foliage at this time 
and show any distinctive sign of the infec¬ 
tion, hut the larger per cent of them look 
healthy and thrifty. The only distinction I 
can notice with many of them is that they 
have not made as large a growth as the 
trees not Infected. The soil is a gray sandy 
loam with red clay subsoil. The orchard 
was planted to potatoes in February, and the 
crop marketed in May. It was replanted to 
potatoes the last of July and this crop dug 
in November. The trees have had thorough, 
clean cultivation. A small nursery, which 
was abandoned last year, adjoins my young 
orchard and it is known to be badly infected. 
Can these trees be treated so ns to overcome 
this disease, or will they have to be de¬ 
stroyed? If destroyed, can I replant with 
peach trees on same soil ? 
A ns. —By the Peach root knot, C. E. F. 
without doubt means the crown gall, as 
the former name is sometimes applied to 
this disease. Crown gall is a disease of 
the roots and base of the trunk (most fre¬ 
quently occurring at the crown), so the 
outbreaks are usually hidden under 
ground. The galls usually attain a size of 
an inch or more in diameter and are gen¬ 
erally subspherical in shape. T hey arc really 
morbid growths of plant tissue, which 
when young are usually rather soft, but 
with age or when dried out are quite hard. 
In time the tissues of the galls die and 
they crumble to pieces. They do most 
damage when at the crown by girdling the 
tree more or less. This disease is widely 
distributed over the United States, but 
apparently is much more common in the 
South and Southwest, especially in the 
orchards and vineyards. Elsewhere, while 
not uncommon, it is most noticeable in 
the nurseries. A number of our fruits 
and some other woody plants have these 
galls, but the hosts belong chiefly to the 
Rosaceae. The more common of the 
fruits that arc attacked are the apple, 
peach, apricot, plum, raspberry, black¬ 
berry and grape. There has been consid¬ 
erable written concerning the nature and 
cause of the crown gall. While it has 
generally been supposed that these galls 
on the various hosts have a common 
cause, this has never been definitely 
proved. Recently Mr. Hedgecock, of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, has stat¬ 
ed that on the apple, besides the hairy 
root, there are also two kinds of galls on 
the roots. Nothing very definite has been 
furnished by the various investigators as 
to the cause of these galls, except by 
Professor Tourney in his work on the 
crown gall of the almond. The Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station of Arizona at 
Tucson in 1900 published in Bulletin 53 
his work on this subject. For one much 
interested in the subject this is a very 
desirable bulletin to have. Tourney de¬ 
scribed a low form of a slime-mold as the 
specific agent of the disease of the al¬ 
monds. This work has not been verified 
for this host or actually demonstrated for 
the other hosts. In a recent conversation 
with the writer he expressed a desire that 
some one take up this phase of the sub¬ 
ject again and determine if his conclu¬ 
sions were correct, as some persons have 
expressed doubt as to whether he found 
the real cause of the trouble. Possibly 
the work of Mr. Hedgecock and other in¬ 
vestigators will in time throw additional 
light on the causal agent or agents for the 
various hosts. 
So far as observed by the writer the 
injury from crown gall in Connecticut is 
not so serious as in several of the other 
States. It certainly is most conspicuous 
here in the nurseries, and is not com¬ 
plained of by growers to any extent ex¬ 
cept in raspberry and blackberry planta¬ 
tions. In certain other States, especially 
in California, Arizona and Texas, the 
crown gall is complained of as serious in 
the orchards and vineyards by the grow¬ 
ers. As the galls occur chiefly under 
ground the trouble is often not noticed 
until it becomes serious, and by its very 
nature of attack is difficult of treafrnent. 
Plants showing any sign of the trouble, 
especially in regions where it Is serious, 
should be rejected for planting. Where 
showing on the trees already planted the 
galls at the crown of the trees should be 
cut out and destroyed by fire. Tourney 
recommends painting over these wounds 
with a paste made of Milestone, copperas 
and lime. As the disease is without doubt 
contagious, especially with certain hosts, 
I doubt if in Texas it would be desirable 
to plant another peach tree in a place 
from which a diseased one had been re¬ 
moved. I think, in that State, too, it might 
be desirable to remove and burn badly in¬ 
fected trees in order to try to restrict the 
spread of the disease in the orchard. 
G. P. CLINTON. 
COLD COUNTRY NOTES. 
I was interested in the frosty letter from 
D. L. II., Atlin, B. C. It has always seemed 
to tne that articles of this kind are deeply 
interesting to many readers, and should be 
encouraged; particularly from remote parts. 
“Detailed” descriptions of the way farm 
work is done in adjoining States is, I think, 
of interest to (lie average farmer. But we 
want to hear or know more of the particulars 
that are so often omitted In letters of this 
kind. For instance, I am anxious to know 
more about that part of British Columbia; 
what kind of soil is there, what kind of 
weather and winds prevail, how do the po¬ 
tatoes behave, what are the chief articles 
of diet, etc. J. F. tiiomas. 
Pennsylvania. 
It. N.-Y.—We will try to obtain further 
particulars. 
In your Issue of December 15, you print an 
article concerning “A Farm Near the North 
Pole" in British Columbia, latitude 59.45, ele¬ 
vation 2,300 feet, in which the writer says 
that Timothy is worth from $80 to $140 a 
ton, but it does not succeed in growing, 
cannot make even a part of a crop. The 
soil is good he says, stands the Winter well, 
but it sends up a seed stalk 1% to 3 feet 
high, but no blades of grass higher than 
three or four inches, and wants to know if 
ou could suggest a remedy. I would sug¬ 
gest that he use commercial fertilizer, com¬ 
posed of 50 per cent of nitrate of soda, 
25 per cent of raw bone and 25 per cent of 
muriate of potash, mixed evenly together and 
sow 500 pounds of this compound to the 
acre evenly as soon as the frost is out and 
the grass is started an inch in the Spring. 
I think he will find that compound put on 
each year when the grass is started in the 
Spring, will produce blades as well as seed 
stalks. As to the head of grass that he en¬ 
closed, and which you call Tall Meadow oat- 
grass, you are correct in relation to your 
conclusions, for I have some In a portion 
of my field, the same kind of grass which 
grows from four to five feet high. 
GEORGE M. CLARK. 
Tt. N.-Y.—Mr. Clark must remember that 
up where this man lives It would be impos¬ 
sible to obtain these chemicals. The loca¬ 
tion is over 800 miles north of the United 
States line, and the market For such hay is 
limited. We think flic climate has more to 
do with the failure. 
Destroying Stumps. — Pine stumps have a 
large tap root and are hard to get rid of. TJp 
here in the mountains we manage pine 
stumps as follows, which may help A. B. A., 
page 780. In Spring bore an auger hole in 
stump past the center; then shatter stump 
with one stick of dynamite. Then in August 
or driest season burn out the stump. 
Addy, Wash. ft. o. 
If you understand Modern Methods and 
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CUTAWAY HARROW COMPANY, 
Higganuiu, Conn, 
