Peach Blight.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 15, 16 June 1885, Page 3

Peach Blight.

(C7trom'cte.) I have noticed from time to time m our local publications and m those of other places various reasons 'given as to the cause of ihis blight, which promises, unless combated successfully, to altogether destroy the peach and its subtrees m this part of the world. None of the reasons I have read'have, m my opinion; been the correct ones, judging fr<£ni tfie " ica.se- of my own garden. d must-first premise that for some years I had most excellent peaches of all kinds — m profusion. I will describe my experience m order that opinions may be elicited and inquiry made. SOIL. The soil is very sandy, of a dry nattun, naturally poor and shallow, reeling" on sandstone, more or less impregnated with n red, rusty matter somewhat m appearance lo ironsand : this I have trenched to a dft|>th of 2ft 6m, and plentifully manured each year. V: ;_. ASPECT. Open to the north, excepting a single belt; on all others well sh«>l- - teied ; no wind from any quarter penetrating to the trees. Th« assertion that want of .she|t<H* from c6M winds m the cause of the blight is, mmy case, fcvid- ntly wrong. No garden can be warmer or more, shel- • tered. . « ■ . CULTIVATION. For the first few year* nothing win done except thinning this loaders so as to allow sun and air to «»et at the ■trees* 5 -' Stopping the. Je*<ling shoots Vras also done. This. I found neces.sary, as otherwise the trees broke /down With the weight of fruit. In ttfe season' I- noticed several of the older irees affected m some way ; tin. JD.e.Wj wood^ummeil, the fruit, when about the siy.<« of walnuts, full off an«l the tv a es-|>re s eiitod every Hppoaranee •pf blight Kimilur to that I had seen .-Ply mouth district. Icu *11 -the affected trees btir-k to th«stump m the winter of 1879. ami replanted them. These bore m 1881. and were apparent y healthy. I then adopted the plan of catting somo haok each, year, hopi><r;.io .still procure fruit from these trees m successive Bea«;on*. This partially an*weiv<l ultitf 1 1883, when it wjis evident the biigh.t' had obtained the iu^stefy, nri<{; I ijaye -up ail h >pc of growing p;iaches, foirin 1883 wbere formerly I ha>l gathered barrow loads, <»niy a tew could lie had, and since then I have had none. . """ .' CAUSE I had given the mutter up as hopeless, when [ read of the proposed remedy for Atn<*ri«':in blight- in Hpule.Sj viz., pure potash mixed with sulphur ve£ftnl»le oil|and applied to tin-, noleofthe tree. This .renewed li.iy hopes, ami I ca» < «'t*uMy examined th>t^eesT Judge of my suprisu when I discovered thousands of minute black insects the size of a grain of sand jk warming m all the crevice* of tht> kirk. The «c being examined through it small microscope appeared to hi* cutting smdl pieces of bark aii'l Carrying it about mi their heail-;. Closer examination showed that Jheae insects h;vd at tAcked the apricots nml pilunih, aiid m B<;me instances apples %Iso ; . »in«i: wherever they were the treos filled 'tot: bear, and are now apparently m a dying state, although I dressed all m the garden with pota^i &c', aa directed for American blight, m July and August, 1 884. It is only right to add that noticing these insects on my^trees I at once searched trees m other gardens m the town, and foiiiid them on more or less ; but man orchard neai Waverley, formerly noted for its peaches, and now m a similar st-.ite to my own, I searched foi ■half-an-hour without finding one insecil I mentioned finding the^e insects: to several people, and no oae to whom I have spoken on the matter had noticed them. So far then as niy experience goes it appeal s to me very probable these insects are the cause, and if so nothing but the mo3t careful cultivation, keeping the trees small and painting them with some kind of wash, deadly to insects, and npainj^rioiu to the trees will enable iw"*to.: grow peaches. I .sincerely tr,UHt a cheap and efficient i ctnedy may be found. A tree sir yeai -i old of any of the better kind^wil||)rddhce a pounds worth of fruit *i the prices jam makers so that th«u.pjßa,eh. blight means a loss of many hundred* of pounds yearly to our district .r-^Cum-municated. , •-....