The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-03-15


valuable series of these reports. L
have several of them through the kind
ness of friends on the board and 1 es-
TEEN them as the very best horticul-
tural literature in my library.
What have we in Washington in the
way of horticultural reports? The old
state board of horticulture when Ton
neson, Cass and others were secre-
taries, made a pretty fair beginning. But
by sometime ago having changed
the law we have practically nothing
but the reports of the state horticul-
tural society and the state does not
pay a cent to bring out it's reports.
! When all things are considered the re-
ports of this society are creditable, but
we ought to have some way Of getting
help from the state. Oregon is away
ahead of Washington in this matter,
and this 1 say with regret, but it is
the naked truth The Northwest Fruit
Growers Association has no money with
which to bring out it's reports, except
what is taken in as membership Iees'
and this amount Is small.
I was over to our fruit ranch In the
how the boys are doing things. My
but I did enjoy the soft sunshine there
for one day. The boys are getting
ready to commence spraying for the
San Jose scale We did not spray for
this pest last year. Our work two
wears ago was so successful that we
did not think it necessary to spray last
spring, but I am not sure but we made
| everything
on our fruit ranch, except some young
neach trees, and we may have to do
that However we have no fears but
we can control this pest. Our past
success is the ground for our faith
this year.
great many Of our neighbors are
intending to use the "Rex' lime and
sulphur spray. If this compound is as
good as the claims made for 1t, 1t will
prove to be a good thing. Many people
are not prepared to make their own
lime-sulphur wash and it becomes very
convenient to be able to buy the ma
terial ready made. It will cost about
twice as much as the home made pro-
duct where the person has his COM
plete fixtures We expect to make
our own spray material, but I shall
be glad to report success of any ready
made material.
One Of the things I saw on the ranch
was a new thing on our place. We
sometimes get a good deal OF mail
| letters, papers and packages-but 1
saw ESQ pounds Of mail that came to
| our farm in one day. This mail filled
two cloth mail sacks and was ranked
through from Washington, D. G. 1t
| consisted of ten sacks of seeds, each
one weighing about 25 pounds. These
seeds were sent by Prof. c. v. Piper:
the national agrostologist. They are
| all leguminous seeds and we are to
SOW them in our orchard, give them
proper attention and report the results
| to him. I have been writing quite
| little with reference to replenishing the
nitrogen in our worn out soils. These
things coming to Professor Ptper's at
| tention, he offered to send us these
seeds for experimentation. The boys
| and I look forward to these expert
ments with no small degree Of inter
est, I am fully convinced that volcanic
ash soils will soon become deficient ir,
nitrogen content and that we must re-
plenish this by buying nitrate of soda
or by growing legumes that have the
power Of taking nitrogen from the at
mosphere which contains an abundant
supply, transferring it to the roots of
these plants Soils deficient in nitrogen
can be supplied with this indispensable
element of fertility without paying
cent for the nitrogen. Certain kinds
of bacteria work on the roots of these
leguminous plants and thus store up
the atmospheric nitrogen. Different
kinds of legumes require different kinds
of bacteria in most cases, hence, with
| 4laasA .aodu .1roro Sant c11lt1lraS 60 we