The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-05-28
THE FARMER.
YELLows INPEACH TREES.

Nashville American.
The American says: "Will some |
of the Americans fruit-grOwing
readers be kind enough to give their
views briefly ON the following
points:
!. What is the cause Of yellOws
in peach trees?
, Why are peach trees in Ten
nessee, as Is claimed. almest entire
" exempt from the disease p
Having spent about half of the
last sixty years Of my life on farms
in New York where this malady
often destroys whole orchards OF
peach trees, and half in Tennessee
and Georgia where the disease is
unknown, or little known, will an
swer your questions.
The cause Of yellow in peach
trees is a living parasite which has
the power to pass through the seed
- of the tree frem parent 10
s5ffsprng and from one generation
TO aa9ther Of peach trees. The ex-
emPtiSe.sf Tennessee peach trees
from this formidable plague is not
due to any pcsuliarity Of soil or eli
mate, but TO the fact that infected
seeds. buds and trees have been very
little used or planted in the State.
Probably the germs Of yellsws can
not be scattered far and wide thro'
the air like those of rust on wheat
and thistle seed.
Frsm the above facts il follows If
nurserymen always propagate
peach trees with pure seed and buds,
this hereditary parasite would die,
never To revive when its foster par
eut dies Smut, that consumes all
the half formed starch, and gluten
iu the maturing seeds Of wheat, is a
hereditary parasite ten times mere
common and hurtful than yellSws
ia peach trees. The vital ferce and
value Of seed wheat are greatly i'm
paired by such parasites as rust,
smut. Hossian aud wheat flies. In
letter written by Mark r. Cock
rill, dated Nashville, Aug. ,, 1851,
to the undersigned, then Commits
sisuer OF Agriculture at Washing
ton, lac says:
Il am grower of cotton as well
As of wool, and my experiments in
few years past in cotton seed
prove clearly the immense yield as
signSble to the vital force of seeds.
In nv letter to him had spoken of
the importance OF both vegetable
and animal physiology to the farm
or. On this point he remarks: 81
have devoted more attention aad
time to animal physiology than to
vegetable, yet I am strongly i'm
pressed with the Importance Of the
latter study. Our growing Repub-
d. should no longer delay forming
national agricultural society on a
permanent basis.
The Nashville Banner Of August
Il, 1851. copies from the NatiORsi
IHfsiligeHcer an article from this
hand in favor of organizing Ma
tional society TO promote the study
aud improvement of agricultural
plaHts, animals, seeds and fruits.
The phenomena Of cholera and yell
low fever in man, murrain in cattle,
distemper in horses, rot in sheep,
plague in swine, az well a. blight
aud mildew in fruits and cereals and
yellOws in peach trees, are best eN-
planned by the germ theory of dis
ease. Ii the germ OF the yellSws in
peach trees, or cholera ia man,
were indigenous 10 American eli
mate aud soil, Those maladies would
hs extended over the whole country
and - common a. oak and pine
trees There was no Asiatie cLOl-
era in the United States before 1882,
nor was the yellows in peach tree.
known in the last century. This
disease and many others most hurt,
fults man, his domestiCsted animals
and To every living plant and seed
he prOpagates and ,ultivates may
be prevented ii not wholly extermi.
mated from the world by the proper
study Of the conditions under which
their lite Exists aud is possible.
DANIEL LEE, VI. ID.
FARM NOTES FOR MAY.