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Mill Grove, Mich., Sept. 30, 1887.

Dover, Del.,

Dear Sir:--Your letter of enquiry in relation to my
experiments with buds and pits from yellows trees came duly
to hand.  My experiments have been so limited and upon so
small a scale that there is but little benifit [benefit] to be derived
from them.

What I did do was to satisfy myself whether a tree could be
grown and live to bearing age from pits or buds from peach
trees having yellows.  I had taken the position publicly
that it could not be done.  From the fact that I consider
yellows similar in its nature and effects upon peach trees
that specific disease have upon animals, running its full
course in a given time, and terminating in the death of the
tree within a given period.  And that time from three to
four years, with decreasing vitality each year.

My first experiment was to plant pits taken from trees
having yellows.  About one peck were planted in the fall
without cracking.  None grews.  But previous to this I had
obtained a few sickly looking trees or sprouts from pits which
were taken from trees having yellows.  The growth was not to
        