Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-30
INSECT PESTS.
ADDRESS TO THE FRUIT-GROW-
ERS OF CALIFORNIA.
viii the County Authorities and
Orchardists Assist in Protect
ing Their Interests?

Will the County Authorities and
Orchardists Assist in Protect
ing Their Interests?
The question how to prevent the spread
ing of the various insect pests, which have
become established in different sections of
the State, is becoming every day more
and more serious question, involving large
interests, and unless definite and proper
| action be taken by parties concerned much
| ill-feeling between the various fruit-grow-
ing sections will be the result. The legis-
lation passed on this subject in 1881 pro-
vided for the establishment of County
Boards Of Horticulture, so as to enable the
fruit-growers to protect themselves, by
appointing Inspectors, whose duty it should
be to suppress already existing insect pests,
and prevent the importation of new ones.
These County Boards have only been estab-
lished in a limited number, and many
exist only in name. But few counties
such as Los Angeles, where the people
have awakened to a full sense of their situ-
ton, have complete organization. These
Boards have accomplished much good, and
have done their utmost to stamp out and
prevent the further spread of the cottony
cushion scale, and to prevent the establishing
of new pests, such as the Aspidiotis Dernici-
oslts, which in many of the upper and CEN
tral counties has made sad havoc with the
declduous fruit trees. This scale unfortu-
nately too well known in certain sections,
invariably manifests itself on the fruit,
where the red zone around the scale makes
it quite conspicuous. The scale will live
as long as the fruit is sound, and will even
propagate here, and is consequently liable
to spread from peelings thrown about care
lessly, as well as from fruit boxes. This
summer quite number of boxes of fruit,
shipped from the northern part of the
State, were found to be infested, and were
ordered to be disinfected by the Inspectors
of Los Angeles county. It appears now
that the Southern Pacific Company has
/ been sued by certain merchants for the in
jury ard loss sustained from this cause. In
consequence of this move the railroad COM
pany has refused to allow inspection at the
depot. and the Inspector now has TO take
his chances in tinoing the fruit anywhere
throughout the city, making il next TO I'M
possible 20 find it at all.
OF course the railroad company has in
vestigated this matter from point of law,
and, no doubt, believe themselves in the
right. So do the shippers. Morally, the
latter undoubtedly are wrong The trouble
arises chiefly from an underestimation of
the danger of spreading these pests and of
the value OF certain crops to certain regions
There are many people in the northern
| who do not believe that deciduous fruits
can be grown with success in the southern
counties and on the other hand MANY Los
Angeles people ridicule the idea that any
citrus fruits can be grown successfully in
any of the central counties. Hence the
disregard of any of the consequences of
shipping infected fruits from place to place.
Los Angeles people have not been alto
gether above reproach. The red orange
scale has been sent on fruit to Ventura
county, as well as to San Francisco, where
the writer early this spring saw it on
| lemons offered for sale in the streets. The
so-called black scale has every year been
sent on orange trees from Los Angeles
yet this scale is the most formidable enemy
i of the olive. Indeed, from this source
more than one grove, TO my own knowl-
edge, has become infested.
According to the law, the various in
fected districts should be quarantiped by
the State Board of Horticulture, but if the
law was carried out to its fullest extent
nearly every county in the State would be
quarantined, as hardly any are altogether
exempt from all the pests that are enumer-
ated amongst the injurious insects that are
to be legislated against. But 10 succeed in
having people submit to this temporary in
convenience it would be necessary to have
quarantine guardians, With the present
arrangement it is impossible for the
Board or the Inspector to get an efficient
man no man capable of performing these
duties will work for 81 per day, taking his
chances on collecting through the Courts.
Only by having the Inspectors appointed
quarantine guardians also, is it feasible to
obtain cooperation. But the County
Boards must be established by the Board
of Supervisors, on petition from the fruit
growers only. If the latter do not choose
to do anything, the Inspector has nobody
to Co operate with, and cannot, therefore,
maintain any quarantine. 1t will be seen,
therefore, that public opinion or the inter
est of fruit-growers must be throughly
awakened to the necessity of preventing
the constant interchange of infected pack
ages of fruit and of plants Infected fruit
should be worked off at home. Every
grower should have pride enough not to
allow infected fruit to be sent to Eastern
markets, there running the risk of being
condemned as nuisance. We have been
informed that oranges with the red scale
less should deciduous fruits infected with
scale insects be permitted to go out to adj
vertise the state of affairs in certain sec
tions.
The point here to be made is: Unless
thorough cooperation be established be-
tween the various fruit-growing sections,
unless they set apart sufficient means to
suppress existing pests and prevent the new
ones to pass from place to place, we shall
have all these pests, now bad in certain
sections only, so thoroughly scattered that
the question of maintaining clean orchard
anywhere will be impossible without con-
slant spraying.
In my travels for the last four months
have found the ASpidOtlS perniei0sus, aswell
as the cottony cushion scale, scattered far
aud wide, and in several counties abso-
lutely no organization for preventing their
spread. | trust that in these counties L
have succeeded in proving tc the fruit
growers of these sections the necessity of
establishing active County Boards; and
steps have been taken in Sonoma. Sacra-
mento, Santa Clara and San Mateo. From
actual observation in many different coun-
ties feel justified that there is no locality
or climate where, with thorough work, il
has not been proved that the very worst
pests could be kept completely under con-
troll, but their permanent eradication, of
course, cannot be reached save by the ut
most exertion by all parties concerned.
Without this no amount of mopey appro-,
priated for the Horticultural Commission
will accomplish the desired result On
November 18th the Horticultural Conyen-
lion is to meet in Sacramento. All persons
interested in fruit culture should be pres
eDt. A free exchange of opinions should
be had, and a thorough understanding
should be established between the repre-
sentatives of the various fruit-growing sec
tions. The workings of the horticultural
laws should be thoroughly elucidated, and
their defects pointed out that we may
have time before the session of the Iegis-
lature to have necessary revisions pointed
out.
l submit these thoughts to the fruit
growers of this State, sincerely hoping that
the importance of the subject will be shown
by the large number of delegates present at
the Convention. BY thoughtful provision
of the last Fruit-growers' Convention. held
under the auspices of the State Board, at
Los Angeles, men prominent in the differ
ent specialties of fruit culture were ap-
pointed to prepare essays bearing on their
respective interests, and these contributions