Soil Culture: Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Domestic Animals, Rural Economy, and Agricultural LiteratureWalden, J. H.
Science
Soil Culture: Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Domestic Animals, Rural Economy, and Agricultural Literature
Walden, J. H.
Agriculture -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
_Curled Leaves_ is another evil among peach-trees, occurring before the
leaves are fully grown, and causing them to fall off after two or three
weeks. Other leaves will put out, but the fruit is destroyed, and the
general health of the tree injured. Elliott says the curl of the leaf is
produced by the punctures of small insects. One kind of curled leaf is,
but not this. But we have no doubt that Barry's theory is the correct
one, viz., that it is the effect of sudden changes of the weather. We
have noticed the curled leaf in orchards where the trees were so close
together as to guard each other. On the side where the cold wind struck
them, we noticed they were badly affected; while on the warm side, and
in the centre where they were protected by the others, they exhibited
very few signs of the curl. In western New York, unusual cold east winds
always produce the curled leaves, on trees much exposed: hence, the only
remedy is the best protection you can give, by location, &c.
_Mildew_ is a minute fungus growing on the ends of tender shoots of
certain varieties, checking their growth, and producing other bad
effects. Syringe the trees with a weak solution of nitre, one ounce in a
gallon of water, which will destroy the fungus and invigorate the tree.
_The Borer_ has been the great enemy of the peach-tree, since about the
close of the last century. The female insect, that produces the worms,
deposites her eggs under rough bark, near the surface of the ground.
This is done mostly in July, but occasionally from June to October. The
eggs are laid in small punctures, and covered with a greenish glue; in a
few days they come out, a small white worm, and eat through the bark
where it is tender, just at, or a little below, the surface of the
ground; they eat under the bark, between that and the wood, and,
consuming a little of each, they frequently girdle the tree; as they
grow larger, they perforate the solid wood; when about a year old, they
make a cocoon just below the surface of the ground, change into a
chrysalis state, and shortly come out a winged insect, to deposite fresh
eggs. But the practical part of all this is the _remedy_: keep the
ground clean around the trees, and rub off frequently all the rough
bark; place around each tree half a peck of air-slaked lime, and the
borer will not attack it. This should be placed there on the first of
May, and be spread over the ground on the first of October; refuse
tobacco-stems, from the cigar-makers, or any other offensive substance,
as hen-manure, salt and ashes, &c., will answer the same purpose. We
should recommend the annual cultivation of a small piece of ground in
tobacco, for use around peach-trees. We have found it very successful
against the borer, and it is an excellent manure; applied two or three
times during the season, it proves a perfect remedy, and is in no way
injurious, as an excessive quantity of lime might be.
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