Pomology

Ou Siitnrday thero was au unusually intereating meeting of pomologists S. W. Dorr of Manchester in the ehair, to hear the resulta of scientific investigution of Messrs. Higley, l)u Tarr and Covert of the"yfllows" inpeaches. The subject is fraughl with great interest to peacb growers of whom thore uro many in this county and vininity, although not 80 extensively cultivated as in the western portion of the state. Henee a good attendance a iiurnber of ladies being among those present. Mr. Higley, u rnember of the department of science, literatura and arts, who has given four raonthe special study to this subjcct.rearl a lengthy paper, a synopsis of whioh is herewith annexed. Mr. De Tarr orally gave the result of his resesrehes, follovrmg with several stereoptican viws of diseased fruit, branches and roots. Disoussion followed. Mr. G. P. Dny, of Aun Arbortowuship, until twoinonths sinco a resident of the peaeh ing; districts of Delaware and latterly of Rockland County, N. Y., spoke at length with great interest, concorning the cultivation of tha peach in those sections. He maintaineci it was almost uselesa to ondeavor to raise them belovv an elevation of 400 feetabove the leve] , f thesen, and enquired the altitude of Michigan. De Tarr - Upper Peiiin6ula is 700 toet liic;her than the lower. Bi''1;, - Ann Arbor is 850 feet above P-S level. ' N. B. cvort- Tha exact figuro are 873 ■-■- Meesrs. Covert, Buldwin and Dny spent an hour in shori speeches. 'gaten to stateconvention that tunt at Allegan on Tuesday were eloted : J. Auatin Scott, J D. Buldwin, S. W. Dorr, Mr. N. H. Tiercé, J. G. Oanzliorn. Voting tbBska to Higley, D.j Tarr and Covert, adjouinmeut to Dec. 9 was or lered. TAPEE READ BY WILI.IAM 1II0LEY. Iu the disenssion of a disuase we Iiitturally eonsider rlrat its aymptoms. One of the most common of the many symptoius of tbis mulady is the premature ripening of tbe fruit. Iu maiiy casoa it is very marked while in others it is hardly noticed at all. Having conesponded freely with many fruit-growers upon this subjeot I ehould say that as a rule, the pendías ripeo from two to thrce weeks earlier than the natural time, but sorae cases are on record where they have ripened four weeks previous to their acuustotncd time. Tliis symptom is not coufined to the tree affocted with the yellows. It ia also caused by the borer and curciilio, but from all the evidence that I have been able to glean I think that it can be stated that it is au infallible symptom when noticed in this state. I can not agroe with those who state that this symptom is only uoticed in certain varieties, but think tbat, although it niay not always happen, yot when it does it is just as Hable to be on one variety as auother. It is at all events a thing to be looked after, when the presence of this disease is feared. I have notioed particularly that affected peaches, when opened, presented a very abnormal appearance as lo the position, extent, and eize of the pigment spui.. In tüe normal fruit, bright red or pinkish spots are often present near me pit ana, pernaps, even toward fne outer portions of the cellular part, but in the diseased fruit, especially that that has prematurely npened, near the pit considerable red coloring matter uiay be notioed often in a conglomérate miss, tnd eoattered through the remainder of the fleshy portions many oblong or roundod innssus of the same color. Under the oiieroscopo these appear to be simply cells, filled with a coloring matter. The skin of the peach also shows a highly abnormal color, generally simply spot ted with red but in soine specimens t.his red color assumed au oblong shape the spots being arranged in bands. There ís no other disease that will produce this abnormal color and thus this becomes n important symptoin. -„...„c uno ui me most niarked symptonis of the yellows ia the abnornal prodaction of branches or branculots. These are produced on the raain or lurger branches from lat eral buds and in sotne cases even from the trunk of the tree. They are slendnr wire-liko shoote, often no largar thíin a needie, and not seldoin showing a tendency to throw out Uteral or secondtiry shoots. I believe that the following causes this con litiou : A spore of the fungus lights upn eome part of the branch and finding the conditions favorable for development, senda out its mycelium whioh ramifios throngh the sues of the limb and soon fillg up thi? vessols and crowd the cells so that thp sow of eap to the parts beyond tbis point is nearly stopppd. Thua the euda of the groiving branches being chuked the aap is eaused to flmv to the lateral buds aul theso havin:; a plentiful supply of nutrition grow nipidlyand throw out these wire-liku shoots. This symptom and t'ie one previoui are sure and infallible guides to the detection of the yeüowa. I examine 1 Oarefnlly gections )f spvornl spociinens of these liranchlet and in the greater prt of thein foond the myoelia of a fungus, and probably would have in the remainder of the specimens had time permitted extended observation8. Probably many wouH Hke to ask the question, ie there nofc sume tnicroscopical evidenoe by whioh we muy deteet tne pr.senoe of thii well estabüshed rtiseaee f There are manymarked syiuptoins but whether or not so.uio of tbem will not be produced by other citases 'Iiiin the yellows is a suhJBottoo patenl to need any dincussion. Ons of the most important points noticed in microscopio.il exninination ia tbe loose oharHOter of the oellg and other parts of the xection both transverso and longitudinal. This would only bo notioed by one who has compared both sections of the healthy and unhoalthy tree. It in not sufficiently marked to show well in a drawing, even when compared with a drawnig of the non-diseased seotion but is very quickly noticed under the" microscope. .Sheets of uiycelia. a.re also noticed bet ween the layers of wood. The most. prominent feature of the diseased section that I noticed was the decided separation of the annual growths of wood. I am informed that soiue claim that in nearly all the soctions that they have examiaed, they liave found rnptnred cells. Although I have wntohed curel'ully for tlns ujipearHiice, I have not bcn able to verity the statement. 'J'hu unniHjíiiijind sectiin o: the trunk of a tree well long in yoars shows peouliaritieí to markeii depree one nolices the yellowish color v.hieh pcrvadea the wliole Bfction, witli the riiifjs, mmkiiiK the aiinnal growths, of a diirker color, perhups a Hght brown, and darkrr sjKitsscittBiecl through the woody portion. It vory forcibly rerninds ono of a bilious e'ate of thf .'íiirnan system. The (ippearanoe iíf tlm letuTes is quite charaoteristio. No viiriety of the poaoh tree eau be ëaid to bu oxempt. It i generatly suppoird that tho soil lias no power to prevent, cuuse, ir cure the yellows, imt my obcftrvatioD led me to think diffi;reutly. It is my opinión that if the orehard is wel! oared í'or, kept iu the proper tute of cult.ivation, ftírtilizütion, And pruning, tho frnit-grower wrill be reatiy nidu'l in hia fight against t bis (list-tiao. On tho other hniid laok of cure muy reduce the tree to such a condition tliut it bucumus 8U8coptible to HNBiiK nnd is muro Hable, than in the first, to cuteh ths some rnalady. It M u wull known f tiet, that, if the ruspiratory, oiroulatory, and digestive orgiii-.a of eithr Animáis or plants are in tbeir traeaud henlthy condition tbere is not so much danger of disease. Fucts of history show that this disea-e prugresses nlowly and yet in one sense rniiilly and isas sure in its resulta na ia paltuonary consuniption. Üiir of the most interestin parts of the discnssidii of tbiH pubjeot is the consideration (jf the mnttiodi of dinseiuination. First, lut u üODnidor the statenirnt of Bonn1 that the yellows Í3 transmittfcd trom one tree to another by tbe (vi'ijcy lf HlHüülH, O8peoiiilly tho Lonoybei', tiy oarryinji tho pollen froui one tiowcr to itnother. Bsliuving as I do that tlm disease is due to ft fnngoid Krowth in the aerial portions of the treo this tbeory appears to me very iilisurd, Uioru so perluips because theru aro no f 'iets to support it. Cuusiiler tora moment It' tliis distase ia duo to a fungos then it iiluat bu disseininatnd by tlie pissage of sp ies or the living myoelia from the diseased tree to other tres: if this is the caso why should tho fruit of tho fungue he conountrated in the pollen? Whv is it that y OU ng orchards that havo never bloomed bcoomecontaininatnd with this diseagflf Why is it that oreliards in close relation with other orchards that aro affected with the yellows do not berami' diseaed. We can not assumo that the bees will not visit both orcharda ! - And, rmally, why is it that in ths same orohard with healthy trees only one or two trees catoh the yellows and thesecond year only one or two or at the least only a fw in the i m medíate neighboihood becomediseaed 'f Are wetoassumo that the bees in thesearch aftertheirfooil are limited and not allowed to ftpproach only certain trees? Pdrhapsthis ii strong laníínago tu ush in tho faoe of all that has been olaitned, but until the above questions are satisfactorily ansvvered I shall refuse to believe that insects have anything to do with the dissemination of this disease. i have left that which I cousider the most important raethod uutil tho last. It is the geruis being carried by the wind ; it seems to me that the appearance of the yellows in isolated loealities is strong evidence of this. Some uiay ask wby ia the disease not more general if this is the case? I think it can be asserted that the disease is ulready general, as it hits been repovted frora all tho leading fruit districts and new localities are noted every year. The yellows has been attributed to both animal and vegetable origin as well at to exhaustion of' the tree. The weight of the evidence is in favor of the vegetable oriin and judging trom my own observations I firmly believe that it is do to a parasitical fungas. To observe the aotiou, method of growth, position, aiid the characters of this intruder has been the object of iny work sinco the first of August lust. 8ometimfi B. Covert became associatod with me in the work. Mioroscope in hand the specimens sent us have been carnfully examined, and not satified with an examiuation simply of the unhealthy trees, we have compared each section with that of an allied part of the healtby tree. I do not hesitate a moment whon I say that I am confident that we have found the cause of this pest. In the fruit, which when examined had not decayed in the least hut was just as it carne from the tree, we found in every oase the mycelia of some species of fungí and in a few stauces the fruit. I huve exauiined several more specimens, before and since we worked together, frora other localities and found the same state of things in all, in the tissues of the leaf and of the inner bark the same mycelia was found hut no fruit. Also bet ween the animal growths of wood there was mycelia in abundante nf tlip un-ma oiiaroator Aa we wcre not in a position where we could trace the cycle of this iungus I can not definitly state its position in the classification of fungi altbough it closely resembles the fungus that attacks the rly late in the Autumn. To cure this disease many modes of procedure have been suggested but all have failed. The most of thein are more tlieoretfcal than practical. To thosedesirincr further information on the methods that have been advancpd, I would refer them to the Michigan State Pomological Reports. The ouly cure that we can recommeni is that tho fruit grower observe the sytnptoms and actions of this disease, froni the growing yellowed tree itself, or, if this is not possible, from that wliich has been writteu on tho subject, and when he notices tbat any tree in his orchard has become diseased, root it out, and carefully burn overy part. If each one takes tbis care and is also careful to keep the orohard up to the standard of cultivation, this inalady which is troubling our orohards to auch an extent atpresfnt, will surely fall, and, sooner or later becomea thint of the past.