Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-03-26
AGRICULTURAL.
MATTER PREPARED SPECIALLY FOR
THE "REcoRD UNION"
War on the Insects The viticultural
Commissioners = Red Scale
Damage by Frost.

the powers and duties of the Board CT state
Viticultural Commissioners, and the law for
the protection and.promotion.of the horticult-
ural interests of the State. The viticultural
and horticultural industries are among the
most important Of our productive industries.
and on account Of natural advantages Of soil
and climate ara capable OF almost Unlimited
expansion Then the promise is that how
ever much we may increase and expand these
industries the markets for their products will
be increased and expanded proportionally.
Up to within few years past the vines of
this State were supposed to be absolutely
without disease, and the same state of health
existed among tina fruit trees of all kinds
But during this uninterrupted condition of
health among the vines and trees the markets
for their products were limited almost wholly
to our own meager consumption, because we
had not yet learned how to prepare these
products for commercial exchanges Within
the past few years, however, the old plan of
each farmer or yine-grower attempting TO
make his grapes into wines and brandies by
rude and unscientifc processes has given
away to the more rational idea Of selling the
grapes to established wineries and dis
tilleries, with capital and skill to manage
them properly, and as q result the
liquid products Of the vines have greatly i'm
proved. Of this improvement the world has
gradually become cOgnizant, and the demand
for our wines and brandies has increased
more rapidly than we have increased the
quantity made. Then, too, wa have only of
late learned that we could make good and
msrchantable and commercial raisins from
certain varieties of our grapes. No sooner,
however, had we learned this fact than de-
mand for these raisins has been created
greater than we can, with present facilities,
supply. So with the products of our fruit
trees and orchards. At first we had no
means of conveying these in a green state to
any market outside the State, and many
localities were so isolsted from the
home markets by want Of proper conveyance
that the large and perfect crops annually
went to waste. With improved facilities of
transportation, however, came improved pro-
cesses of preparing these fruits for market,
and now we are prepared to dry or can and
preserve all the fruit raised in the State over
and above what our home markets demand
for consumption in the natural FORM In
both the ViticUltHrsl and horticultural de-
partments Of industry, therefore, we are
ready TO make the most of our almost limit
less capacity of production. We are pre-.
pared to prohtsbly extend the production till
our income shall become greater from each of
these industries than it is at present from our
grain-growing industries. But just as we as
individuals and ss q State are prepared to
make money and become rich from
our vineyards and orchards, there ap.
pear enemies to the vine and to tie
orchard and fruit that threaten the further
progress at production in each direction
The phylloxera ia the vine and the codling
moth and scale bug in the fruit and tree, are
found to be stubborn menaces to these pros
Pectiyely greatest of California industries
But the men who have conquered the situa-
ton as to the preparation of these products
for the markets of the world, and who have
earned successful financial triumph for them
selves and the State, do not propose to be
cheated out of the fruits of that success by
the ravages Of the phylloxsra in the vine, or
the scale bugs in the trees, or cOdling moths
in the fruit. Their call upon the Legislature
for aid in stamping out the pests wherever
they may be found, has been answered in q
liberal and generous spirit, and the sum of
ten thousand dollars has been placed
at the disposal of the Viticultural
Commission with which to prosecute the
work, both against the pests of the vine and
the orchard. The Board are empowered to
call to their aid necessary quarantine laws
and regulations to prevent the introduction
of diseased vines and cuttings from other
States, and to prevent the spread of the same
by transportation of infected material be-
tween different sections of the State 1t is
also authorized to initiate and conduct exper-
iments and Investigations for the discovery
and application of destructives to all iniari-
Gus insects The execution of the law and
necessary rules and regulations of the Board
are placed IN the hands of chief executive
officer for the Viticultural department, to be
appointed by the Board. The choice of the
Board for this Office has fallen on q member
of the Board for the State at large,
and we think wisely. @. A. Wetmore,
the appointee, has made viticult-
ure special study for years past,
not only In this State, but in the yine-grow-
ing sections of Europe, where neither time,
means and skill have been spared to bring the
industry to the highest degree of perfection,
and where science has been invoked in every
promising form for the determination of the
same pests that we are now brought in con-
tact with. While the old world has made
but little progress In its battle against the
spread of the phylloxera, we have faith that
California, with its fertile, virgin soil, and
with its ingenious, inventive people, will
finally succeed in couuteracting the danger
effects of the phylloxera, if it does not tri-
umph IN its final determination. At the last
meeting of the Fiticultursl Commission it
was decided not to take further action in
reference to the horticultural interests and
the appointment of chief executive officer
for this department until the organization of
an Advisory Board of Horticulture, to be
composed of persons skilled in the various
branches of fruit culture. Each of the District
Commissioners were authorized to appoint one
member of this Advisory Board for his dis
trict and each Commissioner of the State at
large to appoint member for the State at
large, and the Executive Committee Of the
State Horticultural Society to appoint two
members. This Advisory Board are invited
to meet at the rooms of the Viticutural
Commission in San Francisco on the 9TH Of
April to nominate the Executive officer and
to suggest such rules and regulations for the
government OF this officer as they may deem
necessary. The action of the Viticultural
Commission in this respect is very commend
able and judicious. Not that the Board
itself is in any way incapable of managing
the horticultural department, for many of its
members are skillful and successful horticult-
wrists, but that the action referring the man.
agement to strictly horticultural board will
tend to broaden and widen the general interest
in the main object to be accomplished-the
promotion and protection of the horticultural
industries. 1t is hoped that the action of the
Advisory Board ms electing a chief horticult-
Hral officer will be as judicious as that of the
Viticultural Board in their selection. The
duties of these two officers and the rules to
govern the same WILL SO far as quarantine
regulations are concerned, be quite similar,
ana VIII require great caution and skill ON
the part of the officers in their execution. In
reference to Instructions as to how, when
and where people may find the different
pests, their duties will be similar These
Instructions will naturally consist Of concise
and simple descriptions of the insects, of
their habits and places of concealment; also
the best known methods of destruction con-
veyed in circulars and in communications to
the press and private correspondence. Lect-
ures delivered orally in different sections
viii undoubtedly be resorted to and may be
rendered very instructive and valuable
by exhibiting the insects themselves
in all their various stages of de-
velopment under magnifying glasses. What
the people interested want at present is prac-
teal knowledge of the enemies that are do
ing them such great injury. When they have
this knowledge and are informed as to the
remedies that are already known tn be cood