Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-06

stacks it will be enabled to hold the
winter rains, which will bring it to the
proper condition to apply to the land.
Speaking OF alkali lands the professor
suggested that under drainage was, per-
haps, the most effective method of neu.
tralizlng the same. Special notice was
also called to-the fact that alkali soils
were rich in plant food, and yielded
heavy crops ii properly treated. The
speaker made stirring appeal for an
act Of legislature which woald place fer
tilizing companies and their marketable
products under state control. A cordial
invitation was extended to the growers
to take advantage of the opportunities
afforded by the state university for the
acauirement of useful information re-
garding our soils, their needs and char
acteristics. After the conclusion of the
lecture number of questions were pro-
pounded and answered by the professor.
Mr.. G. M. Heintz next spoke of The
Dangers of Importing Infected Trees.
He said: You will probably remem Der
the scare we were subject to last year
when it was surmised that the peach
yellows had made their appearance here
on imported nursery stock coming from
New Jersey and other points. Forum
ately. it turned out that the trees were
healthy, with the exception Of few
borers. But this does not prove that
our orchards are not subject to the dis
eases and pests, especially If the inn
portation of nursery stock from infected
localities is to continue in the future.
The disease now prevails from Massa-
chusetts to Virginia and westward to
xI~o <~onk l. l~nc :, Il kha MsooicosNv>; ~
New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland.
Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and
North Texas are suffering from it's raw
ages, and 80 far nothing can stop its
destructive course; it is most singular
and obscure disease everywhere.
As an illustration which will apply to
certain extent to all the districts, there
may be mentioned Newcastle county,
Delaware. This county had always been
considered the largest peach-growing
region of the east, and in 1873 the acre.
age devoted to the culture of the peach
in that county was estimated at 1l,60O
acres, but since that time has been
steadily on the decline caused
by the yellows. In 1883 no or
chards of any consequence were found
between Middletown and McDonough,
which formerly was go thickly planted.
Large districts almost entirely devoted
to peach orchards are now bare and do
not contain single tree. 1t was esti-
mated that there were $50, 900 trees in
Newcastle county in 1875, and 632, 427
baskets of peaches were shipped that
same year. Newcastle and Middletown
are no longer the center of the peach
region, and the peaches now shipped
from them are hardly taken into account.
Large orchards that once were very pro-
ductive have been swept out of existence
by the scourge. Thousands of acres
have been taken out, and many more
will be uprooted and burned. The
scourge is also doing havoc in many sec-
tions where previous to 1888 it was not
known to exist. Therefore we warn all
those who plant peach trees to beware
not to purchase any stock imported
from those infected localities. No "vel-
lows" have appeared in this state 30 far,
but we cannot. be cautious enough to
prevent the importation Of any kind OF
stock from either the east or from
western states.
Four quarterly meetings, February,
May, August and November of each
year will be held by the Los Angeles
County Farmers institute; also az
many special meetings az occasion may
demand.