The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-02-01

ones, and 1t is more expensive 10 PICK
the fruit from tall trees. 1t must be
borne in mind that grapes bear only
on the previous years growth. Once
| was visiting an old gentleman, and
he informed me that his grape vines
did not bear to do any good. l sug-
gested to him that perhaps his grape
vines needed pruning. He informed
me that he pruned them thoroughly
every spring. | made some further
inquiry about the varieties and told
him such grape vines ought to bear
well. 1t was early in the spring, so
we went out to see what was the
matter Imagine my surprise when |
found that he had cut away almost
the entire previous years growth.
Then l explained to him that grape
vines did not bear good on old wood
He pruned next spring according to
my advice and had bountiful crop OF
grapes each year afterwards. This
shows that many mistakes are made
in fruit growing by not understanding
the underlying principles. The time
to prune grape vines is early in the
spring, for if pruned too late they
will bleed profusely. Apples, peaches,
pears and nearly all deciduous fruit
trees should be pruned during the
time the leaves are off, but not when
frozen.
In our last issue attention was
called to the fact that some 5000
boxes of apples shipped from Orcas
Island to San Francisco were con-
demned and sent back to Seattle on
account of being infested with the
bud moth (Tmetocera ocellana). 1t
seems, however, that while the papers
in California and Washington reported
these apples infested with the bud
moth, there was a mistake as to the
insect causing the infestation, for it
was the Japanese Fruit Borer (Lar
vena herellera). The Hon. J. r. An
derson, Deputy Minister of Agricul-
ture, Victoria, B. c., has kindly sent
me a copy of letter from w. ]. JEFF
frey, State Commissioner of Horticul-
ture of California, in which this false
report is corrected. In this letter from
Commissioner Jeffrey is the official
report from Mr.. e. M. Ehrhorn, who
is in charge of the quarantine work in
San Francisco. The following is Mr..
Ehrhorns report in full: 81 con-
demned 5000 boxes of apples from
Bellingham on November 18th. Mr..
Jewett, of Hunt & Hatch Company
notified this office that they expected
a large shipment of apples from Orcas
Island, on the Sound. They also in
quired about the bud moth and wanted
to know what it was, saying that this
pest was known to exist in the section
where the apples were raised. This
insect is a very serious pest in the
eastern states, especially in New York
and the New England States. We told
him that when the shipment arrived
we would make a very thorough in
spection of the fruit, and if found in
tested it would have to go back to
the point of shipment.
when the shipment arrived I sent
Mr.. Bremner to the vessel, and he
brought me sample of the apples,
and instead of finding the bud moth
as was expected, I found the fruit in
tested with the Japanese Fruit Bor-
er Uarvena herellera) Accompanied
by Mr. Bremner, l went to the dock
where they were unloading the fruit
and we made very careful examin-
alton of every variety of the apples,
as there were several different lots,
and after doing this work We were
satisfied that this shipment should not
land in California. We found a very
large percentage of the fruit infested
and after notifying the owners the
men were told not to unload any more
fruit. The lot was sent back on No
vember % by the same steamer that
had brought it, Mr.. Jeffrey adds:
"Mr. Ehrhorn is an entomologist Of
national reputation, so there is no
doubt about the identity of this infec-
ton"