Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-01-27
Horticultural Notes.
BY Capt. l.. D, Dobbs, Secretary Ander-
son County Horticultural Society,

BY Capt L. D. Dobbs, Secretary Ander,
son County Horticultural Society,
have just been reading the January
number of the Western Fruit Grower
and wish every farmer in Anderson
county could have it. Hardly a page in
it that is not worth the years subscrip.
ton to me. and | will make this letter
largely of extracts from it.
Every spring l am asked about the
curl-leat on the peach, which has been
bad in some sections of this county, the
past two years, The Fruit Grower
says: prof l.. X. Taft, of the Mich.
gan agricultural college, has announced
an important discovery, in that the curl
leaf, which has been SO destructive
among peaches for few years, can be
successfully treated by spraying. Prof.
Taft estimates that fully nine of
the crop of Elberta peaches were destroy
ed by curl-leaf last year, all of which
might have been saved by spraying.
"Thc solution used is one pound of
copper sulphate dissolved in twenty We
gallons of water. The tree should be
covered with the spray, as a single bud
escaping the treatment might spread the
disease 1t has been found that spray
ing with this solution in the tall is as
effective as when it is used later 1t may
be used at any time after the leaves fall
till Just before the buds begin to swell in
the spring. Those who sprayed their
trees last spring before the buds started
effected an almost complete extinction of
the disease, while those who waited I'M
til the buds started had considerable
trouble with it. In view of the rapid
spread of the disease and the simple
method of destroying it, every peach
grower should apply the remedy dnring
the time between now and the first of
next March, and the earlier this Is done
the better, according to Prof Taft"
The paper gives the proceeding of both
the Kansas and Nebraska state horti-
cultural societies, which will be contin-
ued next month, and if the farmers of
this county could see the way the lead
ing fruit-growers of the state denounce
the claims made in faVor OF the budded
and wholc-root gratis on the apple it
would take the scales off some of their
eyes.
After giving the opiniops of several of
the prominent fruitzgrowers of Kansas
on this question: the paper says: "Other
discussions brought out the following
thoughts; The whole,root business is a
fraud and a humbug, There is no true
whole-root graft. This society should
make 1t one of their duties to warn peo-
pie against this fraud. The theory O
the tap-root not growing after once
being cut is wrong. Experiments show
that the peach will often form new tap
root after being cut OFF, Testimony of
such prominent growers as G. M. Nun
ger, Major Holsinger, Messrs. Wellhouse,
Cutter, Willis, Brooke and Others was
all IN favor of the uiece-root, whose func-
ton was only to act as nurse to the
scion, to give it life until it could throw
out its own roots above the junction of
root and scion.
Bulletin No. 65 of the Kansas Agricul-
tural college experiment station is on the
same line, and says that experiments
conducted carefully for over twenty
years shows that slort-root graft, that
simply gives life to the scion until it has
thrown out its own roots above the