The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-05-01

bark.
Whenever your trees are infected
with either kind Of borers there is no
remedy but to dig these larvae
(worms) out with a sharp knife. A
fine wire may be used to push into the
burrows made by these worms. If
you reach the worm in this way you
will kill it, but you cannot always be
certain that this is done. Hence, l
prefer to rely on the use of the knife.
These borers do not do much, If any,
harm to old trees.
Sylvester Linn, Two Rivers, Wash,
asks: Does it pay to use the cuttings
from young grape vines which have
never borne fruit? We are setting out
quite a number of the California va
rieties. and do not know whether to
use the cuttings or not" l know OF
no objection whatever to using these
cuttings. Grape cuttings are always
made from the new growth, hence, the
part we use has never borne any fruit.
These cuttings should be made from
strong, vigorous growth and not from
feeble vines.
While on this matter it may be we'll
to give some directions for growing
any kind of cuttings. One Of the i'm
portant things to be done is to callus
the cuttings. Webster's definition of
callus is: "OHort) The new formation
over the end Of cutting before 1t
puts out its rootlets." There are two
ways in which this is done. One way
is to tie the cuttings up in bundles
and bury them early in the spring with
49, L. h~
inch or two of dirt over the butt ends.
This burying must be done where the
sun shines on the ground. After
month or six weeks exposure in this
way it will be found that little horny
protuberances will be starting from
these butt ends. Then set them out
in good warm, moist soil, and these
little horns will grow Immediately in
to roots. Very few of the cuttings
treated in this way will fail to grow.
whereas, If they are set out without
this callusing, very many will fail to
grow, Another method is to put those
cuttings into box of dirt with the
butt ends down and apply bottom heat.
The main thing in either method is to
keep the cuttings from drying out
while the most heat Is given to start
ing the rootlets. Even apple cuttings
can be made to grow to some extent
by this work Of callusing.
I see in the papers that there Is
much discussion about the use of wide
tired wagons. There Is no doubt but
such tires help very much in keeping
roads in good condition. Narrow tires
cut up the roads in wet weather and
work "chucks" in the roads in dry
weather. In our irrigated sections the
roads are damaged more in dry
weather than in wet weather. I never
saw roads full of "chuck" holes in dry
weather till I came to live in the arid
and semi-arid sections of the Pacific
Northwest Here the roads get awful
"chucky" in the summer time. This
can be greatly helped by the use OF
wide-tired wagons, and this is espe-
cially so II the roads are irrigated &C.
casionally, which Is often done. Then
the wide tires mash the loose earth
into the chucks, and the roads are
kept smooth. On our farms we have
no narrow tired wagons. We have
three wide-tired metal wheeled wag-
ons. These are used only on the farm.
but some people use them in hauling
fruit to the railroad. These metal
wheeled wagons are just the thing on
our farms, for there is no such thing
as loose tires.
A very singular report comes from
Birmingham, Ala, relative to the use
of fruit and whiskey. 1t has often
heen claimed that the use of apples
beautifully reduced the desire for
whiskey. Does it? I quote the fol
lowing from the Fruit Grower Of St.