The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-10-15
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White Salmon: I'm our region dur
ing the past season there were several
,,atches of potatoes that were not of
,ho dark green, healthy color that is
.,alIv considered desirable, suggest
mo a lack of nitrogen, and perhaps
INNS Hairy vetch sown at the rate
~ ten pounds of seed per acre has
,,oon recommended as remedy for
,ho conditions existing. We would be
,.orv glad to receive advice as to what
is best to do. >. w. M.
Next year you had better give an
onnIication of from fifty to seventy-five
,,ornds of nitrate of soda per acre.
This would give them top growth, and
,itrogen in an available form. In or
dor to correct this evil for another
,oar | would SOW hairy vetch at the
rate of from twenty to thirty pounds
nor acre, instead of ten, assuming
+bat this is among the trees, and let
If grow until spring, then blowing it
under as a green manure. If you can
mot secure hairy vetch, Canada peas
can he used in practically the same
manner. If you cannot make vetch or
meas grow, then try common rye"
cpIah: MY attention has been call
Cd 10 a condition in my orchard known
&C .rOsette,' and which seems to be
nrpttv general in certain parts of my
orchards, and to be spreading rapidly,
both in the Individual and in the orch
ards | have an orchard of JOna-
thans and Rome Beauties which were
set five years ago last spring In pIow-
cd land a part of which had been in
alfalfa for year or two, but had been
Moved up a year or two previous to
the tree planting. About the third or
fourth year | noticed that some of the
trees were bare of leaves, and tufted
an the ends of the branches. Now the
greater part of the orchard is affected.
want to know how serious this is?
Is there a cure? If so, what?
"P. w. c."
The condition you mention is
known by different names in different
states. Many people call it 'rosette.'
Others call it winter dessication,'
while others term it winter injury
brought about by one of two cOndi-
tons: % Hardpan too near the sur
face: CD which is probably the most
serious the tree becoming dry in the
fall. receiving winter injury during
the winter. There are several able
men working on this phase at the
present time, gathering information,
studying the trees, and endeavOring to
discover what can be done, but at this
time we have no definite cure.
I'VE have suggestions, however,
which may be helpful. My plan is to
keep the tree growing during the sum-
mer season, and then when it should
riDen in the fall, use cover crops to
withhold the water to such an extent
that the trees will naturally harden off
and prepare for winter. In case of
affected trees, we prune them very
severely, cutting out the injured wood
as soon as it shows, and spraying thor.
oughly during the winter with Bor-
deauX mixture We have noticed that
where the trees have gone into winter
Very dry that the injury has been bad,
this true also where they have gone
into winter conditions in an active
growing state Here we consider this
one of the hardest problems we have
to combat, but have a man who is
working on it at the present time"