Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-02
EASTERN FRUIT.
PEACH TREES BADLY DAMAGED BY
LATE FROSTS.
Plums and Apricots Attacked by the Cur
culio-A Large Pear and Apple Crop.
Danger From Fruit Pests.

Board OF Horticulture, who has been In
the east and through the southern
states in the interest of horticulture,
has returned and reports that the heavy
frosts in March damaged the orange
trees of Florida to very great extent.
The trees there have also suffered by
droughts, having had very dry winter.
The rainy season does not begin until
May and continues through the summer.
Although the trees have suffered con-
siderably the fruit crop of Florida will
be fair.
In many places the frost did little or
no damage; these places were mostly
where the trees had been irrigated
Water is pumped from the lakes for this
purpose. Throughout the east he re-
ports that the peach crop was killed by
the heavy frosts during March. He
visited all the largest fruit districts of
Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey,
and found that the crop for this year
will be almost an entire failure. The
trees are now about recovering from the
frost.
This has been very heavy loss to the
eastern peach-growers and has driven
many of them out of the business: The
trees have to be cultivated for year
without any production or profit, and
the cultivation is very expensive, as
commercial fertilizers have to be applied
even for the growth of wood. A crop
cannot be grown without fertilizers, nor
can the trees produce growth for the
coming year without it.
There is practically no peach crop in
tha aacf onvWbara Tho aborrx, obo, Il g,
in some districts were full of fruit, but
the curculio had stung nearly every
fruit, and in fact it was with great diff
Guilty that any cherries were found that
did not contain from two to eight holes
in them of crescent shape, the work of
the curculio beetle.
The plum crop is also badly damaged
by the curculio and very little attempt
is made on this account in their cul-
ture.
The apricot is not grown for the rea
son that the fruit is also destroyed by
the curculio and the climate is not suit
able for its growth.
The pear and apple crops will be large,
but about forty per cent will be lost by
the ravages of the Goblin moth.
Concerning the sour orange stock,
much of which has recently been i'm
ported into California, he says that in
Florida it does very we'll in the low wet
lands, which are there called cham
mock" but when planted on high
ground or "pine land" they do not do
so we'll, being best adapted to wet SOIL
The reason given for it's being planted so
extensively is that it is not subject to
"foot rot," disease similar to the "gum
disease" of our state.
For this reason the sweet orange
stock cannot be planted in wet lands, it
being subject to gum disease. The sour
orange stock, he finds, does influence
the bud to some extent, but not suffi-
cient to be noticed except by experts.
One of the greatest objections to this
sour stock is that it suckers badly, and
in places to such an extent as to render
the stock in time full of protuberances.
The stock is, no doubt, very hardy
The orange groves of California are not
planted on low wet lands, but, on the
contrary, on dry soil, which is irrigated
through the summer, and several years
will be required to ascertain its value as
stock in this state, and until such facts
are established beyond a doubt our
orange-growers should go slow, and be
very careful lest they should make a
mistake that will be very expensive in
the end.
Further investigations will be made
by the state board of horticulture, and
the facts published from time to time.
In Florida it rains through the sum-
mer. 1t would certainly be to the adj
vantage of every grower, if he intends
planting such stock, to import the seed
instead of the tree, as the seed from the
time of termination would be in a diff
ferent climate and soil, and receive
different treatment and care to that
which the imported trees do. Then
there could be no risk, at least, in intro
ducing injurious insect pests, as is the
case where the trees are imported.
Concerning fruit pests, he says that
there is great danger of introducing
various kinds of injurious pests on i'm
ported trees, and the greatest care should
be exercised in that direction. The
scale insects most common in Florida
are the purple scale (mytilaspis citricold),
the long or Glover's scale (mytilaspis
Gloverii), and the chaf scale (parlatoria
pergandii), the latter, however, very
common species. The other two species
infest the limbs and leaves of the tree
indiscriminately, and they disfgure the
fruit and also the tree. The long and
the purple scales are generally found on
the same tree. The Florida red
scale (aspidiotus .fcus) is different from
those found in our state. The
scale is not as the name inn
plies, but of dark chocolate color. This
scale has been reported to have been
destroyed by parasites. Upon investi-
CATION, he found that the scale still ex-
listed in large numbers. but that it had