The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-11-04

TIME dlmcultleS WIN WHICH lTuiL
L raising is attended in this cli-
mate has led farmers and horticultnr-
lists to speculate as to the causes
Within the memory of those who are
middle-aged, crops of apples, peaches,
pears, and almost every kind of fruit
except plums, could be grown without
the slightest trouble, and a crop fall
ure was the exception instead OF being
the rule.
The failure of the peach crop is at
tributed to climatic conditions
warm autumn weather stimulating the
growth of the buds, and then Few
days. from time to time during the
winter when the thermometer falls 10
to 20 degrees below zero. and the buds,
which are developed too far are killed
by the excessive cold. Sometimes the
weather is SO cold that the small
branches on the trees are winter kill
ed. Quite frequently late frosts kill
the bloom after the winter has spared
the buds.
The clearing out of the forests is
said to be responsible for the change
In climatic conditions, as the west and
north winds sweep over the country
carrying the icy blasts from the noun
tain regions and the polar circles, with
nothing to impede them. They get a
clean sweep.
But 1t Is not the rigors Of the win
ters or the erratic spring weather that
is responsible for the failure of the
other fruit crops. A few years ago
currants and gooseberries could be
raised anywhere. They never failed
of a crop. Bushes could be neglected
and yet they bore abundantly. Now
neither of these can be produced with
out the greatest care and the use OF
insecticides either in the form of a
powder that is busted on the bushes
or in liquid form applied with a spray
The enemy is a small worm that eats
the leaves and destroys the fruit
They are hatched by the millions and
are the larvae of a small butterfly OF
moth.
In the days of the fathers every
farm had its cherry row which pro-
duced fruit of the finest quality and in
such abundance that the neighbors
were invited in to help get rid oI
| InNh. htlC tiC Subhhoh i'N
and black sour varieties, the may
dukes, oxhearts, and other luciou:
sweet sorts that grew large and lus
cious, and which were not favored
with any nauseating worms to turn tht
stomach of the eaters
Apples are faulty and erratic II
their bearing. There has not been s
general apple crop in this state fol
many years. One section will have al
abundance, and others will have none
This variation was emphasized II
Stark county this year, as in SOM
parts of the county the apple crop wa
a failure, while in some favored sec
tions there was more fruit upon tn
trees than could be matured.
Diseases have multiplied in the veg
etable kingdom with all the rapidit!
they have in the human race. Their
is the yellows in peaches, the blacl
knot in the plum trees, blight in tn
Ipears, the San Jose scale that blast
almost any kind of shrubbery or veg
etable life. The work of the orchard
list and friut raiser is an arduous one
The price of crop is constant car
and watching.
All these calamties could not mul
tiply without the question being raise
as to the causes that have led to tn
great change in conditions. Practica
men, scientists, biologists, all hav
been figuring to find out the reason TO
the multiplication of the enemies o
the fruit raiser, and the universe
opinion is that the chief trouble ha
been in the disappearance of the in