The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-05-01
Horticultural Notes
By F. WALDEN.

it distinctly understood that anyone
dissenting from anything that appears
in his columns is at liberty to reply,
and if the reply is courteous and
couched in passable English, it will
appear. And further, it will not be
the aim of the writer to say the last
word. He is not infallible and may
be wrong just as any mortal may be.
What we want is the truth on all ques-
tons. The idea is prevalent that il
we reply to an editor he will fire
back" and try to put his opponent in
an ugly position before the readers OF
the paper Such a course is con-
temptible and no fair-minded man will
do anything of the kind. IT someone
criticises the writer and it can be seen
that he is misunderstood, then 1t is
but fair that he should set himself
right. But it is not necessary to state
the same thing over again and again.
When persons holding different views
on the question of pruning, or cult
waiting orchards, or storing fruit, or
any of the many questions that may
come up for discussion, have fully
stated their positions, then the matter
should rest there. Now and then
private letter is received from some
one dissenting from some position in
these columns. 1t would suit the writ
er much better to have such views
presented for publication. No advan-
tage will be taken of the position OF
editor to get the last "tag." The man
who feels that he must make every
body see as he does or keep up the
fight has something the matter with
his upper story.
VIM. Miller, of Sunnyside, Wash.
writes as follows: 81 have quite
lot of Royal Ann cherry trees that
are in full bloom and the prospects
are quite good for good crop. The
black aphis are quite bad most every
year What would you recommend for
a spray to kill them?" This aphis
is not very common in Washington, so
far as | know 1t seems to seek the
tender shoots of the cherry tree rather
than other fruit trees. 1t does not kill
the trees, but greatly retards their
growth and consequently Injuries their
fruitfulness The remedy that we
would recommend is to spray with
kerosene emulsion or with strong
solution of soap suds. In the last
issue of The Ranch dated April 10,
on page 70, will be found the formula
for making kerosene emulsion. InlS
is given by the experiment station at
Pullman and is very plain. Where but
little of the emulsion is needed it can
be made with sour milk instead OF
he soap, but it will not keep long.
To prepare it in this way take one
quart of real sour milk and two quarts
of kerosene and thoroughly agitate
them for a few minutes and they will
emulsify. Dilute this with IL to 20
parts of water to one of the emulsion
and use the same day. Remember that
the killing is done by having the emul-
sion come in contact with the insects.
They don't eat anything, that is, in
the sense of chewing their food, but
suck the juices from the leaves. The
spraying material closes up their
breathing pores and they die instantly.
But without coming IN contact with
their bodies this will not result. On
small cherry trees a good plan is to
bend over the tops and dip them into
the solution. Good soap suds will do
the same work. | would much pre-
fer whale oil soap for this purpose.
Spring came on us this year with
Jump when it did come. We had
some spraying with sulphur-lime for