PEACH CURL.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 27 August 1920, Page 4

PEACH CURL.

CAN IT BE STOPPED?

The culture of the peach is rapidlydiminishing, due largely to the ravages' of peach curl or blister (Exoascus deformans). Very few trees in Marlborough without careful attention indeed were free from the curl in the early spring. In fact. I make the statement that not half of the trees at present growing in Marlborough are worth troubling about in their present condition. In nearly every back garden where the trees planted reach the pretensions of au orchard there exist (and. only-exist) i. peach tree or, two, and the crop harvested is usually small and undersized, if the peaches are tenacious enough to bold on to the tree sufficiently long to (in .their miserable way) to mature or ripen. Very Profitable. The peach, as it should be grown, is very profitable, for the reason that it comes into bearing quickly and

“makes good” much earlier than the apple or pear. The early varieties, such as the Sneed or Briggs ’ lied May, i have known to realise —with much seat-hing for market—ld per lb, and return £1 per tree at four years from pluiiitug. The cunning varieties,, such an the Elberta or Kin Ora, are excellent for the purpose named, and the later varieties are easily as proliluble as the earlier sorts, such as Kalamazoo or Salway. The returns mentioned are not over-stated, but the trees were well sheltered from prevailing winds, and on a free, silty, sandy loam. The peach needs a well-drained situation, and certainly not poor ground. Control of Curl. The usual specific mentioned tor the ijureveiit ion of curl is Bordeaux mixture during winter and just before the trees burst into leaf. Bummer spraying for curl is almost uslcss excepting tor peach aphis, when kerosene emulsion is effective. 'lf the curl shows up I have controlled it with atomic sulphur as well as with basic slag spread round the base of the tree just before rain. It is surprising how the tree responds to such treatment. I aril onlydealing with control methods so far, and not with what I consider an attractive experiment and definite care. Cure for Curl. I give you this for what it is worth. I have not tried it, because I have always been successful in the coutrcl method, but it is time that experimenting reached out further in the direction of curing the peach and other t • trees from the more or less serious J blights which stunt and kill if let go. Mr Lancaster, of I’irongiu, flatted a Burbank plum to the trunk of u peach tree, which had always been badly affected with leaf curl and the fruit small. The experiment was made effective through an accident, as the owner had decided to cut down the peach part ns soon as the graft had taken, but something came in the way. ( and the peach and plum graft were left - untouched. A marvellous transformation took place. The leaf curl disappeared. the peaches doubled in size and did not ripen until two months later. Later on same peaches attained the 1 weiaht of IX ounces, and th£ whole crop of HDlb averaged 31b to seven peaches. The period covered by the experiment was one of several years, and both the peach and the plum portions of tlte tree bore well and gave evidence of unusual healthy vigour. The whole experiment opens up a wide held for similar methods to be exercised in Marlborough, not. simply to kef-p in existence useless varieties or peaches, but to get back to the time when grandfather's tale of “peaches as big as your first’’ —a variable size indeed —was true, and when the trees “bore bucketfuls”—another variable quantity. However, the fact remains that orcliardists all over New Zealand are not as “strong” on peaches as tkey used to be, and this is the MtiTborough ercliarist’s opportunity, if he will but seize it.—“ Marlborough Express.”