The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-03-06

into some crop as to leach out in this
way. / would rather have something
there than nothing, but not to run it 70
extremes; little would not hurt at ali.
j. II. Shoemaker-Would it be any
benefit to the orchard to allow sorrel to
grow up and plow it under.
Prof. Knisley-What is it, red sorrel?
j. H. Shoemaker-Yes. s
! Prof. Knisley-It would not hurt II
any, might do it some good. The ma
jority of soil would be benefited by
blowing under crop Of weeds. 1t would
get more organic matter in the ground.
A. HI. Jewett- Would you advise SOW
ing the sorrel?
Prof. Knisley-Hardly.
Z. L, Smith-The most important
question is, how can we restore humus
to the soil in our orchards. This must
undoubtedly be done by some crop, what
we don't know, and it is necessary for
us to find out what crop we can mature
so that it can be plowed under not later
than May. / would like to have DR..
Withycombe tell US what crop we can
plant here to restore humus to our
orchards?
DR.. Observation-Disclosures that
experiments in this line for the past four
years had not been entirely satisfactory.
He said that in the wheat growing sec-
tions Of the state this question was caus-
ing much serious concern, and unless
solved in the near future the wheat sec
ton would become barren wilderness
In Hood River there is not so much
cause for alarm. He thought that by
blowing in crop of clover or vetch oc.
casionally the humus could be restored
In great measure.
A. H. Jewett--I aowed some clover in
September last. This is about eight
inches high. Is that good growthP
DIR. Withycombe--Tha is as good as
you want. Did anybody here ever try
vetch?
Mr.. Gessling-Several parties in Bel
mont growing clover without success,
that is, crimson clover.
DIR. Withycombe-Crim clover will
grow better if sowed in July. i would
recommend luguminous crop for OBJ
tanning nitrogen from the atmosphere.
If you cannot get luguminous crops, get
some other crop. Get rye, get winter it
rye-will grow here.
unknown mani sowed about six
acres OF vetch, sowed five acres with oats
and one acre by itself. The five acres
are now about one inch high, and look
ing well. The acre sowed alone did not
come up, and there is no stand. There
are two kinds of vetch, which is the best?
DIR. Withycombe-The common vetch.
A. l. Mason-Expressed himself as
having great difficulty in plowing around
his trees near enough to plow under any
crop. 1t was recommended that when
the trees get too large to plow near them,
to omit planting a surface crop, and
loosen the soil around the trees by sur
face cultivating.
q. r. Castner-In localities where we
cannot irrigate, where we are above
water, if we plow surface crop under
in May, we do not have very much
land for use after that time, could we
preserve the moisture in the soil2 Would
| it not do us harm in drying out the soil?
DIR. Withycombe-If you have very
large growth, and the soil is open and
loose, the chances are that there would
be extensive soil evaporation. Plow
earlier. If you can grow clover or vetch
you don't want anything better.
A. II. Jewett-My crop of clover is
six inches high, is that sufficient?
DIR. Withycombe-Yes, sir, you do
not want anything better than that.
A. H. Jewett--This is grown without
irrigation on dry soil. We also at
White Salmon are growing two crops of
clover without irrigation.
FL. T. Williams-Do fertilizers have
any effect upon the color Of fruit, and
what? The speaker cited instances
where the use Of potash had increased
the color of the fruit.
Prof. Knisely-I do not believe can
answer that. So far as know there is
no experimental work that Is at all alb
solute on that. Sometimes the appli-
cation of fertilizer seems to affect the
color, and on certain plants the foliage
is affected by the application Of iron. |
do not think the application of fertilizers
is at all certain to affect the color of the
fruit. One set of experiments might
get more highly colored fruit and
another would not when tried. The
use Of potash would tend to make
frmer fruit; the sunshine would do
more than anything else to color it.
G. j. Gessling-It has been our ex-
perience in Hood River that the use of
potash on strawberries makes brighter
color and a firmer fruit.
II. T. Williams--I have myself noticed
that the use Of potash increases the
| frmness of the fruit skin. The speaker
here mentioned an experiment he made
in the East with tomatoes, where by the
use Of potash the skin Of the tomato
was made firmer and brighter colored,
the skin did not crack nor rot, where
without the use Of potash great difficulty
was experienced in shipping the fruit.
A crop grown under an application of
potash shipped we'll, and did not show
any indicationso Of rot.
STRAWBERRY PESTS.
Professor A. B. Cordley, state entom-
ologist, then delivered the following adj
dress on strawberry pests:
| have chosen the subject of straw
berry pests, not because / wish to talk
very much on the subject, nor because
you have very much interest in it, as
understand you have very few pests
here. For seven or eight years my at
tention has been called to some six or
seven pests within the borders of the
state which work on strawberries. lean
go hastily into the subject. know that
in place like Hood River, where you
have gained such reputation for apples
and strawberries, you must have a fund
Of information regarding the fruit YOU
have to deal with.
The worst strawberry pest in the state
is the strawberry root borer. do not
know whether you have had any serious
trouble with it here, but some grow
ers in the state have. know OF
several strawberry plantations that have
been completely wiped out of existence
by the root borer. It is produced BY
the same kind OF moth as the peach
borer, black moth about an inch long.
You will find them fluttering about the
plants, and they lay their eggs in June
and July. From the egg deposited there
matches grub, and ii is this grub that
bores into the roots OF the plants. The
grub passes its whole life In the root,
il is certain death to the plant.
Another pest is sometimes confounded
with this, but is not at all like it, the
- ..~o..r.oI s.,taa~ Tls. :.