The Florida agriculturist., 1889-05-15

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results. | neither scrub, spray or prune
the trees until the scale has been des-
troyed then simply cut away the dead
and devitalized wood and my grove is
done with that pest for years to come.
l believe that scrnbbing of orange
trees with strong solution of soap as a
rule, does more harm than good and
should be abandoned.
If tree is set in uncongenial soil no
treatment that its owner can afford to
give it will save it from it's enemies, so
it had best be dug up as soon as that
fact becomes apparent, and moved to a
better location.
The rust of the orange is undoubtedly
caused by a minute insect called the
rust mite, that may oe found by the
million intesting both the leaves and
fruit of many trees.
They gather upon the fruit, rupture
the il cells and the oil oxidizes, giving
the fruit it's dark appearance. Ii done
when the fruit is small the oranges be-
come of beautiful bronze color when
ripe, if done later the fruit is dark and
unattractive in appearance, but its eating
qualities seem not to be impaired, In
fact many people claim that they are
even better, early in the season, for hav-
ing the rusty coat. For market their
value is much reduced, although their
t, ugh, leathery rind seems to rather i'm
prove their carrying quail les.
AS bright fruit is most in demand and
commands much the highest price, and
as the insects are also an injury to the
tree, it seems desirable that some cheap
and effective means be found to destroy
this pest and prevent it's unsightly work.
Several parties in the interior have
been partially successful in keeping their
fruit bright during the past two seasons
by spraying their trees occasionally from
May until the fruit was ripe.
S. P. Shepperd, in the FLORIDA AGRI-
GULF URIsT, reports success with dry sui
phur dusteu on the trees while vet with
dew.
Mr. Wetherell, of DeI.and, who has
the Stetson Grove in charge, succeeded
In keeping the fruit on this large, old pine
land grove so bright through the grow
ing season that not rusty orange could
be found September 1st. On the theory
that the effects of the rnst mite are fully
developed by this date, the spraying was
then discontinued, except upon one row
of trees. He writes October was dry,
dIlu O1SCOVCIcu 1O IuSO. NONOAIOSI WdS
very wet, and Judge of my surprise to see
here and there rusty orange beginning
to appear, especially on Seeding trees.
The number kept increasing all through
November and December, until quite
sprinkling of our crop were russets, not
bad, but bronzes to golden russets. The
crop generally around here is bright on
budded and russet on Seeding trees.
However, 1 have one row of Seeding
trees that | sprayed in September that
have not russell on them. There is no
question that spraying has prevented the
fruit rusting badly, for the south part of
this grove, owned by Mr.. Mcbride, had
badly rusted fruit, while rs-adjoining
and not even divided by fence-was
entirely different, either bright or
beautiful bronze"
Mr. Wetherell sprayed for both the
rust mite and the scale, and prefers for
that purpose The following emulsion:
Whale oil soap, 3 pounds; sulphur, ~
pounds; potash, pound mix in kerO-
sene barrel of water.
The mite seems psrtiaJ to pine land,
and in fact the soil, method of cultiva-
ton and kind of trees all seem TO have
more or less influence on their develop
ment. So it seems probable that some
less troublesome method than spraying
may be discovered for ceesfuly com
batting this little pest. If not it is quite
possible that the usty frpit may become
more popular in the market, and bring
prices that will make it improbable to
expend such abor upon it,