The morning call., 1893-12-04
PESTS ON FRUIT.
Spraying the Best Rem
edy for the Scale.
Effective Work Done by Orchardists
in the Region Round About
Niles.
Correspondence of THE MORNING CALI.

Though the scale is by no means gone,
| still 1t is not half as bad as il was three
years ago. Many rancbers profess to be.
| lieve that it was one o. those things thai
in the course Of nature comes as pest.
remains a certain time and goes, and no
matter how hard it is fought, that it takes
! its own time to depart So many OF our
very good fruitmen have ceased using ny
| sprays, and il must be confessed that their
| orchards look no worse than the orchards
that have been Systematically sprayed
every year. Several of our frui.men, too
have imported at quite an expense several
kinds of the predacious insects, which
have been reported TO be so successful in
the southern part of the State. The truth
of the matter is that the majority of the
washes are so very strong that while they
kill the scale they also seriously injure the
trees. Year after year the strong potash
or scale washes, or wbale-oil soap washes
are used on various orchards. Sometimes
every small twig and bud will be burr ned
on peach trees. and the grower does with
out a crop the coming season, the next
neighbor will ruin his prune or apricot
crop, and yet IN a season his trees W i'll be
just as badly infested with scale as before,
and he has been to the expense of spraying,
besides losing his crop. Every season new
washes are advertised and tried only to be
abandoned.
In inspecting the orchards carefully with
microscope 1t Is easy to see how many Of
the minute scale have been destroyed by
the very many bugs, beetles, ladybirds,
flies, ETC., which are found on every tree.
The full-grown scale, too, are the prey of
many varieties of beetles, the hardest
l rk-s l. -
not sixteenth OF an inch long, which
bores hole In the scale she'll ard eats it
clean out.
In spraying all of these predaeions in
sects are killed, and it is my personal be-
lief that weDl-cultlvated, early trimmed
orchards left to the care of these many in
sects will be in as good a condition season
in and season out as it is possible for any
10 be. Early pruning reduces the terri
tory for the scale to multiply, as the major
part of the scale is found on the ends of all
the young limbs.
Growers, nurserymen and our wise hor-
ticulturists are still trying to find cut what
root knot is, what causes 1t and what will
prevent or cure it. Trees that have root
knot will not grow, but remain stunted
and half grown; and as many trees in
every nursery In California are affected, it
is time something was known about ii.
The experimental stations are not free
come within their line Of work TO study il.
However, the officers explain that they
haven't time and that they have great diff
Guilty in obtaining samples of diseased
roots.
Root knot attacks trees that are not
grated. budded, transplanted, or those
that have grown from the pit and have
never been disturbed. 1t affects particu-
| larry the plum, peach and apricot, but is
| occasionally found on almonds and cher
ries. A row of mixed seeds were planted
| three years ago near here and this spring
were dug to be transplanted and budded.
! OF the $50 dug. forty or fifty were found
badly infected with root knot. Upon in-
vestigating ii was found that a draining
Itch ran parallel to the upper half of the
row OF seedlings, and without an excep-
tion every tree affected grew within reach
| OF the seepage Of the drain ditch. This
may be one OF several reasons for root
knot. but close investigation of the soils
where trees are grown from seed, or O {
soils into which trees are planted free
| from disease and then become diseased is
necessary, and as it is disease which is
very common throughout middle Califor-
MIA, our scientific horticuturists should
investigate Immediately and thoroughly.
Very little interest is being taken to get
| up any display for our Midwinter Fair in
this srction of tho country.
| Nearly every orcbardist made donation
of fruit for the Chicago fair, and it was
generally understood that all Of that dis
play would be returned for our own fair
However. such waDton waste and extrav-
agauce was displayed by some of our rep
resentatives there that people generally
have lost faith and will not respond. The
few workers who are doing their best to
make display now are working under
great difficulties, but it is to be hoped that
Alameda County. one Of the largest and
most productive counties of the State, will
have suitable building and a splendid
| display. MRS. j. Z. THANE.
Niles, December i, 1898.
During medieval time woman who had