Smyrna times., 1905-09-13
FIR STAMPING OUT PEACH YeLLOws.
disease Again Makes the Appearance 10 the
Young Peach Orchards of Delaware.

"lseaSe Again mdkes Tue appearance 10 lne
Young Peach Orchards of Delaware.
For several years past the peach yell
lows in Delaware orchards has been
confined almost strictly to a few old
trees, and growers have hoped that the
disease would never again be as viru-
lent as 1t was some years ago. But
this year it has appeared, here and
there, in orchards three or four years
old. Not many trees are affected, per-
haps only one, or possibly four or five
in thousand. Yet the trouble is found
In so many of the orchards in the in
fected districts of the state that the
situation, while not necessarily alarm.
ing, is indeed serious. Great losses
are sure to occur if prompt measures
are not taken to suppress the disease.
The repititlon of the scourge that
swept over New Castle County thirty
or forty years ago and later spread
down the state, affecting all of Kent
county and part of Sussex county,
must be prevented. 1t is possible to
prevent it.
The disease can be controlled. The
stamping out process is an effective
preventative. Cutting out all diseased
trees as soon as discovered with result
in saving orchards. The experience in
Michigan for more than a quarter of a
century proved this assertion. The
experience in other states adds further
proof. 1t is now almost unanimously
agreed that the prompt destruction of
all diseased trees, with replanting to
replace those destroyed, results in
keeping the orchard unbroken. Ro-
land Morrill,, of Mi chigan, has rigidly
practiced the plan of cutting out and
replanting, and at the meeting of the
Peninsula Horticultural Society held
Middletown, 1901, said:
"We do not cure the yellows. We
simply inspect our orchards every
week and if we find a single premature
peach or other signs of yellows, we
dig the tree out and chop it up, pull
out the root, pile it all on an orchard
wagon, cover it tightly and haul il
away to be burned, root and branch
In my orchard, the following spring
we dig a hole where this diseased tree
stood three by three and a half fee
and haul out all the old earth. We fiji
up this hole with new earth to give tn,
new tree vigorous start. have
never had the yellows in tree among
we have unbroken orchards becaus
we replant as the trees go out. Th
Michigan fruit growers lose less thai
one tree in a hundred each year
whereas, before their laws went int
effect whole orchards were swept gu
every year.
A peach tree with the yellows is
worthless tree, and as long as it stand
is a menace to all about it. Tn
United States Government spent man
thousands of dollars trying to discove
the nature of this disease and a cur
for it, but did not succeed. Will
many Investigators have worked o
the problem, no one has solved il
They show only that whatever the Ms
ture of the trouble there Is no cure
! and the only method of effective col
: troll is the immediate destruction {
diseased trees. Delaware orchardis
should, therefore, make frequent e.
d. aminations during the remainder
this season and destroy immediatly a
trees which show the characterist
= symptoms of yellows. The Delawal
law expressly provides that it shall
the duty of the State Board of Agr
culture to warn the orchardists of Il
danger of peach yellows, as we'll as
IL other diseases and pests, and autho
70 ICES the board to provide for the i
< spection of orchards and the destru
X ton of diseased trees.