The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-03-15

know a few of these ideal locations for
peaches. Such lands are worth $1,000
per acre, and planted in peaches will
pay big per cent income on such
valuation. !
A man came to see me the other day
to seek information on fruit growing
and spraying. He wanted especially to
know how to spray for the apple aphis.
This insect is frequently called the
aphis mali or aphis of the apple. 1t
is also very commonly designated the
green aphis There are a number of
varieties or species of the aphis fam
lily, such as the green aphis, black
aphis, peach aphis, hop aphis, etc. All
these aphids have one thing in COM
mon, viz, they are suckers and not
chewers. They have no organs with
which to bite, but are provided with
kind of proboscis with which they suck
their nOurishment from the leaves,
limbs or roots of plants 1t is i'm
portant to know this, for then we
know how to direct our attacks on
them. AS they do not eat anything,
there is no use to spray with poison as
we do in fighting the chewing insects
such as caterpillars, canker worms and
the larvae of the codling moth. We
may cover the leaves with poison and
they will push their bills down through
the poison and suck up the sap with
out receiving any harm from it, When
spraying was first introduced in this
country it was found to be effective
in killing the chewers, but the aphids
went unscathed 1t was a puzzle at
first to know how to meet the pests
1t was found that these suckers have
no lungs but breathe through pores
along their sides. It was also found
that if these breathing pores were
stopped up the insects died instantly
Prof. Riley, the eminent entomologist,
found that kerosene emulsion sprayed
onto these insects would Immediately
kill them. Any sticky substance like
soap suds will accomplish the same
end. This, then, is the method of de-
strOying this class of pests. A strong
solution of whaleoil soap or a decoc-
ton made by boiling quassia chips is
the remedy mostly used in fighting
the hop aphis.
Many of these insects are soon de-
stroyed if the sun shines on them in
hot weather. For this reason very lit
tie spraying is done in the hot val
leys of the inter-mountain states in
combating these pests. They start out
vigorously in the spring and would do
much damage, but the hot weather of
July and August cooks them effective
ly. A few survive, however, and these
lay eggs in the fall. These eggs winter
over, but none of the insects survive
no cold win ha
aphis is an exception to this, for they
winter in the ground on the roots of
trees.
There is trouble in spraying to
kill the apple aphis that is hard to
overcome. The insects work on the
under side of the leaves and this causes
them to curl up and it is very difficult
to reach all of them with the spray
material. The insects multiply very
rapidly, and the few that are not
reached with the spray material soon
bring on another crop All that hatch
out from the wintered-over eggs are
females. No males appear till late in
the summer. These females are par
thOgenetic, which means virgin bear
ing, hence, they can multiply enor-
mously without ever coming in con-
tact with the males. These females are
also viviparous, that is, they produce
their young alive, hence they are
born and not Matched. So rapidly
will they multiply that from one fe
male a million or more progeny will
be produced in one season In the
fall when the males appear, then eggs
are produced and these hatch out the
next spring.
On account of the difficulty of reach
ing all the insects with the spray, eff
forts have been made to find some eff
fectual way of destroying the eggs. It'll