FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
59 
scale is off and it was left in the hands of 
this fungus alone. Today I am very 
much more encouraged. 
The San Jose scale is worse than any 
other scale, but there is no let up of the 
fungus until this scale is all off. I think 
this is one of the greatest things for the 
peach growers, in the State of Florida. 
Take a limb with this fungus on it and 
it will spread in moist weather in twenty- 
four hours and little orange colored pim¬ 
ples show over the trees. As soon as it 
kills all the scale these become black spots 
on the tree, hence the name black fungus. 
Mr. Griffing.—I would like to ask if 
the trees were not putting on new growth 
after this fungus had been on it. 
Mr. Henderson.—They are, after hav¬ 
ing been cut back. All the trees that 
were affected with this scale have put on 
beautiful new growth and some branches 
are from five to eight feet long. 
Mr. Wood.—Should we cut back 
healthy trees? 
Mr. Henderson.—By all means. Those 
from five to six years old. 
Mr. Wood.—I cut back some of my 
trees, but those I did not cut back had 
more dense foilage. 
Mr. Henderson.—The fruit will be 
better next year. The best time to cut it 
back is just after the fruit is gathered, 
say in July- 
Mr. Ellis.—What is the probable life 
of the peach orchard from the time it is 
planted. 
Mr. Henderson.—That depends on the 
class of land and the kind of tree planted. 
If planted with yellow subsoil, the 
orchard will be very poor and probably die 
after it has borne three or four crops. 
If the tops were cut off and a new crop 
allowed to come on, it would probably 
bear from twelve to fourteen crops of 
fruit. The average crop is only from 
seven to eight crops. 
Mr. Wood.—Would you advise clean 
culture. 
Mr. Griffing.—I would not, but would 
advise plowing each spring. Be sure to 
turn over every inch of the surface, then 
let it grow up in beggar-weed. The beg¬ 
gar-weed will save fertilizer bills. 
Mr. Ellis.—On a land naturally salt, 
would it do for peaches ? 
Mr. Griffing.—I would not think so. 
If old land is to be used for planting 
a peach orchard, plant and grow velvet 
beans and beggar weed on it for two or 
three years before planting the peach 
trees, letting nothing else but these grow 
on the land. This will not only build up 
and fertilize the land, but will reduce the 
nematodes in the soil to such an extent 
that the young trees will become estab¬ 
lished before the nematode sufficiently 
increases in numbers to injure the tree. 
The nematode, may cause some of the 
trees to be short lived, yet fairly satis¬ 
factory results may be expected. 
