The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-12-01


who says there are three things he
delights to kill: 1.-The rattle snake, the
coyote and the magpie." The same
here. We have many magpies about
our orchard but they do not do much
harm to our fruit They will catch
young chickens and rob hens nests
and destroy the eggs. I doubt II we
shall ever see the end of him and
the same is true of the English spar
row where he once has got we'll es-
tablished But we must not fret our
lives away about such pests. There
are Just two things about which we
should never fret-one is what we can
not help and the other is what we can
If we can help a thing, we should go
to work and do it, but if we can not,
then we should remember SNAKE
speare's saying: Things without rem
edy should be without regard"
The question has been asked me-:
Does the San Jose scale hurt apples?
No. the apple is practically as good
for USE and especially for cooking, as
it would be without the scale on It.
They may mar the appearance of the
apple somewhat, but in many cases
would not be noticed except by q
trained eye. I went into a grocery in
Seattle the other day and as usual
was examining some nice appearing
apples. I found the scale on some OF
them. 1 called the groceryman's at
tention to them. He informed me
that he had never seen the San Jose
scale to know it. We found the scale
on a number of the apples. Either
the person who packed these apples
did not know the scale or tried TO
evade the law. No fault is found with
the inspector here at Seattle. He
would have condemned the apples II
he had found the scale on them. Rut
he cannot infinitely examine every
box of apples that comes into this
city. A dozen men could not do this.
If the scale does not injure the ap-
pie why should they be condemned!
First, because it is the law to do SO
In the second place, if the scale IS
not checked. it will finally kill the
trees. The damage done by the scale,
aside from marring the appearance
of the apples, is to the trees. Ii we
had no laws against the selling OF
scaly apples, and did not spray With
the lime-sulpher wash, our orchards
would in time be ruined. But we can
keep this pernicious insect so conf
pletely under control that we do not
dread it at all. We are not worrying
any about the San Jose scale. We
IN CTnnnC0fIIIlV
combat it and this we do. There Is
much misconception about the raw
ages of this pest among the people OF
the east. The other day | read this
on the editorial page of the Rural
New-Yorker: Reports are that San
Jose scale is rapidly spreading in the
Northern Pacific states. This is ser
ious thing. since the fruit shipping
business from this section is enor-
NOUS" Why, bless you, my dear bro
Their, we have had the San Jose scale
here for fifteen years. 1t is everywhere
in our warm valleys. But we have SO
completely learned how to control it
with the use of the sulphur-lime spray
that we do not lose one per cent OF
our apples. In fact, my experience
convinces me that by giving our trees
one good spraying each year with this
wash, we do not lose one-tenth of one
per cent of our fruit. The cooling
moth gives us ten times more trouble
than the San Jose scale. l think my
inquirer can see why we should not
ship apples affected with scale, even
when we admit that the scale does not
seriously hurt the apples.
Il
The reports are current that there
was falling off in attendance at the
state fairs of both Oregon and Wash
ington this year This is to be re-
GREETED, if the statement is true, and