The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-05-15

In the apple bloom these conditions
synchronize. Any good work on
botany like Gray's School and Field
Botany will fully explain this matter
and it is not difficult to understand.
My recommendation to every enterpris-
ing fruit grower is to study some ele-
mentary work on botany and read up
on plant physiology. Such studies will
pay any one and need not take much
of his time.
George o. Harshman, Freewater
Oregon, under date of April 30, asks
the following question: THE green
aphis in this part of Walla Walla val
lev has done considerable damage to
the peach crop. 1t works in the bloom,
then the peach falls off. They also
work on the leaf They seem to suck
the very life out of the leaves. Now,
what l want to know is, What is the
remedy? Please answer and oblige
The Ranch is all right"
The insect referred to here is not
the green aphis but is known as the
peach aphis. According to Prof. @. ".
Piper it is technically known as Misus
Persica. Some years ago we had this
particular aphis on our farm. | sent
some of the insects to Professor Piper
who at that time was professor of en-
tomology at Pullman, Wash, and in
his answer he gave the name just men
toned. | am not surprised that most
people call this insect the green aphis.
In many respects the two are nearly
alike. There are numerous kinds of
aphdes, such as the green aphis, hop
aphis, peach aphis black aphis-some-
times called the cherry aphis-the
brown aphis and so on. | give their
common names and not their technical
names. They have many points in
common They are suckers and not
biting insects. To kill them we must
spray with some sticky substance like
kerosene emulsion or strong soap suds.
I find this peach aphis is bad in the
Yakima valley this year, and the fruit
growers are worried about them. We
have them on our young peach orchard
and they are doing considerable dam
age We may spray the worst affected
trees with kerosene emulsion before
long. Usually they disappear after the
hot weather comes on, but we are
afraid that they may do too much
damage before the hot sun cooks them
My own opinion is the lime-sulphur
wash if diluted sufficiently would kill
these insects Read what Judge For
ney says about this spray in this issue
and my comments on his valuable let
ter. Let this be tried, but it must be
remembered that the peach foliage is
very tender and the Rex spray, or any
similar preparation, will have to be
diluted as much as twenty times.
hoe RI npt jC c
to spray with the lime-sulphur wash
before the leaves come out This will
destroy the fertility of the eggs. The
best way to fight the most of the aph-
ides is to destroy their eggs during
the dormant season. An ounce of pre-
vention here will prove to be worth
pounds of cure. Of course this work
of prevention can not be done now.
Jose scale by using the lime-sulphur
wash, most of the aphis eggs will be
rendered sterile.
w. C. B. Randolph, Omak Wash,
writes: 81 saw in a recent issue of
your paper very excellently written
article setting forth the merits of al
falfa in orchards instead of clean cul-
ture, and l wish you would tell us
whether the arguments there used do
not apply equally we'll for young trees
as older ones? Or to put it directly,
is it not well to SOW alfalfa as soon as
the trees are set out? Would like ex'
pressions of opinion on this query"
Whether you should SOW alfalfa in
an orchard or not would depend on
your water supply. If you can have
plenty of water at the critical period
when fruit is maturing and ripening,
then alfalfa may be used as a fertilizer.
But | would not favor the sowing of