612 
IShe RURAL NEW-VORKER 
Collar Rot of Peach Trees 
FDKM OF WINTER TNJFHY.—Many peach 
orehanls tliroiighont Eiislern i)eac]) districts 
siilYer from what is tei’med collar rot, or the death 
and decay of the hark upon the trunk at ai;^l)elow the 
surface of the ground. It has been believed Jiy some 
that the death of the bark was due to the attack of 
some fungus disease, but it is now definitely known 
that it is a result of a form of Winter injury. In 
sections where there are marked changes in the 
weather dui’ing the 'Winter months, and where severe 
cold is Quickly followed by several days of warm or 
rainy weather, complaints of this trouble are most 
numerous. The damage is apparently caused by the 
fn'ezing and thawing of the bark near the surface 
ttf the ground, 
SYIMPTOMS OF TROTiRIiE,—Even the most se¬ 
verely injured trees commonly live until the fruit 
has set and perhaps n^'iehed a size of an inch or 
ni<o-e in h'Ugth, when the foliagi^ suddenly falls from 
the tree, the fruits shrivel up and finally The whole 
tree dies. The grower is often led to believe that 
some new an<l very destructive enemy is attacking 
tlie trees. The common bark beetle does freriuently 
attack such weakened and dying trees, and the gum 
' exudes from the burrows upon the trunks and 
branches. All trees, including the iieach, sPu-e ui.» a 
Quantity of reserve food during the late Hummer 
and the Fall months, and each tree is able to bloom 
and make some growth upon this supidy of food- 
AYhen it is exhausted, the tree smhhmly dies. Tests 
at the New .Tersey Exi»eriment Station a. few years 
ago seemed to show that the supply of plant food in 
Iteach trees of average vigor was c(»mi)letely use<l up 
about the time the j)eaches were %-inch in length. 
From that stage of develoi»ment then, a i>each tree is 
dependent upon the activity of its foliage in convert¬ 
ing crude plant food into a form useaVde by the 
plant. 
TREE STARVATION.—The roots of the plant are 
fed and make their growth from elaborated food 
sent down from the leaves and twigs. If this supply 
is cut off, the roots finally starve and the tree dies. 
Therefore, when the bark upon the main trunk is de- 
sti-oyed by Winter injury, the downward circulation 
of the elaborated food is prevented, the roots starv<i 
and the tree dies. 
rilECKS IN GROWTH.—It is seldom that the 
Winter injury is severe enough to allow the common 
fu-ganisms of decay to destroy all of the bai-k at once. 
Milder forms of collar injury, however, ai-e com¬ 
monly seen. Such specimens are checked in gro\yth, 
the leaves sometimes rolling slightly from the e<lges 
toward the mid-rib. Wliere a few specimen fruits 
.set, they may develop to an abnormal size, and are 
commonly somewhat bitter from an excessive amount 
of tannin. Huch trees commonly grow weaker from 
year to year, in fact may be attacked by bark beetles 
ihe latter part of the first Hummer, and die before 
the folloAving Hpring. The tree injured in this wav 
can frcQuently be swayed about easily, and may 
sometimes be broken over without great difficulty. 
An exiunin.ation shows that the bark has become 
yellow in color and spongy in texture, .and in some 
oases the wood is brittle. 
HIAGNOHING THE TROTTRLE.—When a tree 
apitears checked in growth and shows no injury 
above ground, it is well to remove soil about the 
t)-unk to the depth of several inches and to make an 
examination of the bark. If no injury has occurred, 
the bark should be greenish or slightly yellowish 
white and Quite tough and tenacious, so that one 
would be likely to break a knife blade if stuck into 
tile bark and bent sidewise. Where the bark has 
been winter-injured, it will froQuently be found to 
be thick, spongy, and distinctly yellow in color. Gne 
may insert a knife blade through the bark to the sap 
wood, and by bending the knife sideways, a piece of 
the bark may be broken out like butter or cheese, or 
in other words, it has apparently lost its toughness, 
AVhen the trunk of a peach ti-ee is exposed to tbs 
weather above ground, the bark is hardened and 
Itrepared to withstand adverse weather conditions. 
Rut the bark which is ordinarily covered by the soil 
is much more tender, and it is not prephi-ed to resist 
an exposure to weather without soil protection, so 
that if the tree sways about, during warm or rainy 
jieriods in Winter, leaving a hole aboiit the trunk, 
the tender bark is exposed to the ful} action of the 
frost and sun. 
PREVENTION OF IN.TURY.—The only way in 
which injury of this sort can be prevented is to .se¬ 
lect a well-drained soil for the orehai’d, and then just 
before freezing weather,' each Fall, to place a mound 
of soil about the trunk for a foot or inTTl’e in height, 
to be removed when growing conditions occur again 
in the Spring. At least one manufacturer of a spray 
material has made claims of control of collar rot by 
a Winter simay. Since Winter injury is i-eally th 
cause of the trouble*, such cljiims arc without th<! 
basis of fact. 
MOFNltlNG THE Q'REE.—Sonn* fruit growers 
have the* impr(*ssion tlnit mounding e>f the soil to pre¬ 
vent Winter injury is a rather nenv moeh'rn idea, l)ut 
it is aiiparently Quite old. William Prince main 
mined one of the first nurse*ries at Flushing. Long 
Island, and laiblished a l)e>ok in 1H‘2S entitled, “A 
Short Treatise ui>on Horticulture,” and upon page 
10 the following topie* and discussion aiipear'^. 
“Preservation of Pe*ach Trees in Wintew.” “It has 
been discovereel by the farmers aitout TRica and 
north of that tejwn, that if .‘i hea)) of stone is jilaceel 
Peach Tree Nearly Dead from Winter Injury, Fig. 242 
around each tree, of four feet in diameter, and of 
about the height of the usual depth of snow, that the 
trees are not killed by the Winter, and several flour¬ 
ishing orchards exist in that section of country, 
where this i)ractice is i)ursu<*d. I have .also been in¬ 
formed that a mound or embankment of earth around 
the body of the tree has the .same beneficial effect; 
and have recently undei'stood from an intelligent 
gentleman, that such is the practice in Switzerland.” 
There is also an added advantage in mounding ui> 
the soil about young peach trees just before freezing 
weather in the late Fall. Mice not infreQuently 
girdle the trees by gnawing the bark of the trunk 
that is below the snow line. Fidess the snowfall is 
very heavy, a mound of soil about the trunk to a 
height of 12 to IS inches would extend above the 
snow, or the .snow will .soon .settle or melt from the 
summits of the mounds and this will protect the 
trees from injury by mice. 
PRUNING IN.rUREl) I'REEH.—Trees that are 
slightly winter-injured at the collar should be cut 
back severely during the dormant season. In this 
Winter-injured Tree Severely Cut Back. Fig. 243 
way they may survive, yet they seldom develop into 
large, vigorous trees, and too freQuently severe prun¬ 
ing only prolongs their life for a short time. Tlie 
peach grower can prevent a large percentage of the 
collar rot injury by a proper mounding of the tre^jS 
in the late Fall. m. a. slake. 
N. ,T. Experiment Station. 
Grain Growing in New England 
Ills year, as never before, the farmers in New 
England are a.sking if it is not possible for 
them to })roduce more of the grain they u.se at home. 
April 28, 1917. 
The following note from one of our readers in 
.Maine is characteristic of many letters which we 
r('cei ve. 
High price of grain.s makes our friends in the West 
rich—as a friend of mine told me he made “barrels of 
money,” but we Eastern folks have not land enough to 
rai.se much grain—so we have to depend on the We.st, 
we have small farms of l.oO acres and often much 
covered with wood and timber. If we only could raise 
grain, with our good prices for our produce, we coubl 
get rich as well as the IVestern farmers. av. a. m. 
We well remember as a boy when a New England 
fai’iner ]n-oduced a very large share of the grain 
he used, both in the house and for feeding his 
stock. Corn in ])articular was largely grown, and 
several excellent flint A’arieties were developed 
Avhich gave remarkably good yield. Then came the 
time after the Civil War when the We.st with its 
cheap land began .sending cheap corn and wheat to 
New England. The ])rice was low, and most New 
England farmers figured that it would pay them 
better to Imy the Western corn and feed to their 
poultry and other stock rather than to try to pro¬ 
duce it. The Yaidvces have always bean very strong 
dn trade and this idea of buying grain to turn into 
live stock appc'aled to them. For years this worked 
well 'because grain was cheap, costing less in fact 
than the home-gi’own material. The price, how¬ 
ever, f»f Westei’u grain has risen, until now it is 
l)ractically out of sight, and thousands of poultry- 
men have been obliged to go out of the business, or 
greatly curtail their operations. 
M’ill it be possible for the New England farmers 
to income back” in grain products? Personally, we 
think so. It may not be possible fully to supply 
the local need.s, but Ave beliCA-e that Avith pi’esent 
luices and the general grain outlook now corn, bar¬ 
ley, and oats and probably Avheat Avill pay as a 
Ncav England farm crop. Many fields haA^e been 
practically given up for years to pasture, and only 
half stocked at that. Many of the.se fields could 
now be idoAved, giA-en a fair dressing of limestone, 
and planted to flint varieties of corn, using nitro¬ 
gen and ]»hosi)horic acid in the hill. They can l)e 
seeded to rye or Avheat Avith clover at the last cul¬ 
tivation, give a paying crop of small grain the next 
.sea.son, .and then come back into Alsike or HAveet 
clovei*. 
In IMaine there is Quite a general report that 
Hpring Avh(*at is proving a success in many parts 
of the Htate, and Ave think this development is likely 
to go on. Grain is now .so high in price that it Avill 
pay as a f;irm crop. There are many situations on a 
New England hillside Avhere by taking out some of 
the stone walls long fields Avill be left suitable for 
Avorking Avith one of the light tractors noAV on the 
market. Thus several farmers having adjoining 
farms might throAv their hilly lands together, and 
by using a tractor greatly reduce the cost of jdow- 
ing and the help reQuired in t.aking care of a crop 
of barley, oats or Avheat. In fact Ave think, judging 
from the performance of a tractor in our oavu neigh¬ 
borhood, that something of this cooperative Avork 
is bound to come in NeAV England and make great 
changes in farming. It is said that every farmer 
.should .struggle to put his farm into Alfalfa. It 
may he Avell to Qualify this advice for certain parts 
• of the country, for Ave firmly belieA'e that Alsike 
clover and Hweet clover are for many parts of the 
Eastern Htates nioi’o profitable to the general far¬ 
mer than Alfalfa. We believe too, against the ar¬ 
gument of most of the Alfalfa men, that the time 
Avill come Avhen it Avill pay many of our New Eng¬ 
land farmers to transplant the new Siberian varie¬ 
ties as they Avould cabbage or tomato plants. 
College Students as Farm Workers 
I WOULD like to contribute my ideas as to the 
value of the college student as a helper on the 
farm. I have had much experience, though em¬ 
ploying them for special purposes, and it has been 
altogether favorable. There is use for him on many 
a farm Avhere there is good Avork to be done. In 
the majority of cases I believe he has in him earn¬ 
estness of purpose, energy and ambition that Avill 
enable him to make good if given a fair shOAV. The 
idea so often held that he is merely out for a good 
time, or to shoAv his superiority over the country 
people he meets, is not often true. 
The trouble is more often in the point of view 
of his employer. If a farmer accepts the services 
of one of these inexperienced young felloAvs, think¬ 
ing to get from him all-’round efficiency as a hired 
man, dis.appointment is bound to follow. He can¬ 
not be used succes.sfully on a farm Avhere he is to 
be the only helper, or even Avhere only one or tAvo 
men are employed. Especially if he comes from 
the city, owing to his entire or imperfect lack of 
knowledge of farm duties, so many of them reQuir- 
ing technical expertness, a student cannot expect 
