The St. Johns herald., 1898-11-12
FARM AND ORCHARD Some Interesting News for the
 RuraIist
SPOKEN OF IN THIS COLUMN
Few Sensible Hints to Suit the Busy Agriculturist.-Items That May
 Benefit Our Readers.

less than Sl,OUU,UOU.
 At Fl Cajon, San Diego county
 only fifty carloads of raisins will be
 shipped this year. Last year nearl!
 100 carloads were packed.
 ons. Same date last year, 22,O0O.
 The farmers of the peat lands near
 Anaheim have big crop of celery
 which is now nearly ready to harvest
 Over one hundred crates a day are
 being shipped to Los Angeles.
 AS a crop walnuts at Goleta, Santa
 Barbara county, it is said, are not
 nearly up to early expectations. either ] in quantity or quality. The cause is l lack Of water. and GOleta is not an irrigator in this respect.
 The vast peach orchards of South | western Michigan are being destroyed 1 by a new tree disease said 10 be more damaging than the dreaded yellows. | It was first noticed two years ago and owing to it's peculiar effect, which
 is stunting of the fruit when about the size of hazelnuts, has locally been given the name of little paches." It's l ravages have been so fearful that sev- eral large orchards in Saugatuck township alone, about 4000 trees, are said to have been destroyed this sea- son.
 MT. Keen, Jr., of the Sweetwater is of the opinion that the "norji" or lemon peel scale leaves us in October Yes, but in some localities he seems to return next year with all his, her and their family relations. It is at present the worst problem in the field of insect pests. Those who have successfully treated it and destroyed it please give manner of destruction on postal. Recently we have found it did not yield only partially to fumiga- tion. which has been heralded as a
 sure cure" We regret to say we of ten find sure cures" quite disappoint- ing.
 It may be we'll for the island sugar growers to be reasonable in their de- mands, says the San Francisco Bulle- tin. They should not ask the people of the United States to give thm ad- vantages in competition that they do not really need. All the beet sugar produced in the United States is the work of free labor. Some of the beet sugar producers would doubtless im- port Asiatic labor if the law would all low it, but the law will not allow it. Why, then, should the law allow the Hawaiian sugar planter to employ contract labor and give him free en- trance to the market which is partial ly supplied with American grown su- gar which has paid current rate of wages?
 Germany is about to have an apple smaller in quantity and poorer in quality than has been gathered in re- cent years, according to United States Consul-Genral Frank Mason at Frank fort. Cider apples this year command three times the usual price, he says, and no cider will be made outside of Wurtemberg. Even cooking apples of an inferior grade are selling in Frank fort at to 9 cents per pound. This deficiency is said to extend more or less generally to France, Bohemia and Northern Italy, so the conditions favor large importation of American apples, though whether this will be practicable or not will depend upon, first. the supply in the United States, and second, the spirit in which the German officials enforce the inspec- tion laws. MT. Mason believes in view of the uncertainty of the trade that the future development will be in the direction of dried and preserved fruits.
 Prominent specialists claim that spinach is the most precious of vege- tables on account of it's medicinal and strengthening properties. The emollient and laxative virtue of spin ach, owing probably to the salts of potash it contains, have been long known. It is excellent for the liver, and, as a consequence freShens the complexion. Some vegetables contain relatively large dose of iron. Accord ing to Boussingault, says the Public Health Journal, the proportion is 0.000074 of iron in 100 parts of French beans, 000S3 in 100 parts of lentils, and spinach very much more. The chemist, Bunge, has proved that spin ach and yolk of egg are proportion ately richer in digestible and assimi- lable iron than all the most renowned ferruginous remedies. Its great value and growing importance is shown in the fact that spinach is already an active ingredient in several new and very salable tonics.
 There is bound tO be a revival of interest m the apple industry. It has been demonstrated the present droughty year that a well-kept and cultivated orchard will stand drought and produce abundantly under a very light rainfall, when the soil would produce nothing else whatever. This fact will stimulate the planting of or chards to a degree hitherto unprece- dented. All that will be required is a fair rainfall the coming winter. In connection with the planting of an orchard in any part of Lompoc valley, there is absolutely needed, for the protection of the trees against the wind, thorough windbrake. There is some difference of ouinion as to the kind of trees that are best for this purpose, but twenty years of observa- 1 tion and experience warrants us in | recommending the blue-gum, which, | if planted as they should be. for the | purpose named. not less than three | rows from south to north should be | put out west of the orchard, and in | the middle and lower valley, five rows would be better The planting of the | gums should precede the planting of | the orchard by one year at least. I Trees should not be set nearer than | fifty feet from the gumS. then thnro