Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-12-09

a water sprout or bud at all, and
such cases are the hardest to detect
unless some ooze has exuded. Such
infections come about through insect
punctures and growth cracks by
means of which the germ has been
introduced. Where there Is a large
ouantity of blight to be removed
from the orchard, necessitating a
great deal Of labor, it has proven ne
cessary in every case to go over
the orchard critically, or perhaps we
may say leisurely, on a dry, sunshiny
day when there is good light, ana
find the few cases that have been
missed on the first inspection. NO
matter how thorough the work this
careful method Of inspection has
proved extremely important. Not on
" should the work be inspected m
mediately following the general
cleanup. but someone else with
keen. well-trained eyes should look
over the trees several times during
the winter. A special effort should
be made to find out when there Is a
new exudation of ooze. This may
follow any warm mild spell in the
winter. when there is a wide range
between the day and night tempera-
ture. Such conditions are known to
affect the flow of sap in the sugar
maple and other trees. A final in
spection should be made just before
time to catch any hold
over blight the last moment, in case
it has been overlooked before.
After the blossoming period has
passed so that the blight has had
time to develop, If colony of blight
Is found in the orchard, careful ex-
animation of this colony will general
Iy result in the finding Of case of
holdover blight in the center and
from which all trouble may be trac-
ed. During the first years work,
hose who are just learning how to
eradicate blight will probably miss
good many cases; however, after
practice, they usually become keener
and rarely miss any. In fact, / have
seen men who from the very first
were able to do excellent work, but
like other jobs which require care
ful work and a sharp eve, relatively
few men are capable of making first
class inspectors. In many of the
large orchards where the question Of
efficient labor is serious and where
all sorts Of tramp and other low
class labor has been employed, abso-
lue failures in blight control have
resulted. AS l have stated
before, a tramp, or, for that mat
ter, even the better sort of laborer,
can not be thoroughly schooled in
careful work Of this kind within the
space OF a day or two. In every
event, the best and most careful men
should be placed in charge OF work
of this kind. It Is almost needless to
say that the breaking up of the larg-
r tracts into smaller ones Of say,
five or ten acres, will largely solve
the problem of blight control. When
this Is done each tract will have
close, personal supervision, and the
details Of eradicatlng the blight, as
well as keeping 1t under control, will
fall TO the owner. 1t Is a common
mistake to think that the matter OF
eradication and control rests with the
Inspector alone. An inspector must
have the cooperation of the entire
district. The inspector Is, in the first
place an instructor, and in the sec
ond place, the one to enforce the
horticultural laws, but he Is no com
mon hired man.
1t must be understood from the
very beginning that there is no spray
cure or remedy for blight. Being a
bacterial disease, and once the germ
has gained entrance to the bark
tissues and the cambium layer by
any means whatever, It can readily
be seen that any external application
in the way OF spray or wash coult
not be effective There is but one
thing to do after infection has start
ed, and that Is to remove, by cutting
the affected parts. In other words
the operation Is purely surgical. Ii
all OF the cutting a strong dislnfect
ant should be used to wipe off tn,
tools after cutting into the blight a
we'll as to wash off the wounds mad,
by the instruments; otherwise, It 4
possible to introduce the germ int
the cut surface and to carry II from
tree to tree on the pruning tools Ii
the majority OF cases. In dry weather
Infection would not result from tn,
use of pruning tools, even thougl
they were not dlslntected, but Il 1