El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-06-17

tables filled with glass jars. These
were SO covered as to prevent the in
vasion Of bacteria, and they contained
oranges which had been inoculated
with fungus and given the right<con-
ditions for its development. I saw a
large number of glass tubes, the
mouths of which were plugged with
cotton Each tube contained a species
of fungus, which, by the ways is one
of the lower forms of vegetable life.
Fungus is sort of plant which
feeds on other plants. 1t is a plant
cannibal or parasite, as It were. It is
so small that. you have to have a mi
croscope to examine it. but It develops
so rapidly that it soon eats up and
destroys any fruit to which 1t at
taches itself. / was shown glass
cage, something like telephone booth,
which was made by Mr.. Waite that
it might be bacteria proof. This is
in order that the men may work safely
within it and that the fungus they are
studying may not be affected by the
other little pests flying around. This
booth has draft which forces the air
in through sheets of cotton wool. so
wadded together that the bacteria
cannot go through them. It IS this
air that is breathed by the operator at
work in the booth.
In other places they were working
on forms of fungus which affect the
leaves and in Others upon those which
eat at the bark and heart Of the tree
It was, in fact. great medical labora-
tory devoted to tree diseases and their
prevention.
1 found some similar things in the
laboratories of Prof. Quaintance. who
is fighting all sorts Of insects and
l. dc nd
also in the rooms of Prof. Scott, who
is one of the most famous of our sci
entifie doctors.
Insects which Eat Millions.
It is Impossible to estimate the dam
age done 20 OR ORCHARDS ny mugs en-
rot. There are firm Is t. % il sect
pests which cost this country from
$50, O0O, 600 to- SIS .00O. $50 a year. The
control of the San Jose scale foots up
many millions. and then there ere also
the coddling moth, he plum ourculio,
plant lice ana the apple and peach
borers, which fatten on the roots Of
the trees.
Take the peach We have east Of
the Rockies something like 100000 600
such trees, and they are yielding a
crop worth 100000 a year. In some,
seasons the brown rot takes way fully
half of the profits OF the south. and
the plum curculio often eats down our
peach income to the amount OF So o00.-
600 or 100000. By the recent dis
lance we are able to control certain
peach pests, and this means an annual
saving of millions. The material used
is self-boiled lime and sulphur wash,
mixed with arsenate of lead. 1t is ap-
piled several times during the season.
Our Big Peach Crop.
Now that the people are going crazy
over the money in apples they seem to
have forgotten the profits which shave
been and are being made in peaches.
am told that the peach is one of the
biggest CANDLES in the great lottery
of fruit raising. 1t often fails, but a
single good crop covers many past
losses. and two or three make the
orchardistk rich. Take the Miller
brothers of West Virginia. They have
an orchard which has yielded divi-
dends of $500 per acre, and out of
which they have been making from 40
to so percent per annum We have
more than 100, 600 900 peach
trees There are 5000, 900 in Michigan
and almost an equal number in
Georgia, Texas and California Kansas
is a great peach state, and SO are
Maryland and Delaware. Along the
estern shores of Lake Michigan there
Is peach country which runs from
five to 10 miles back from the lake.
extending north and south for a dis
lance Of 150 fmiles. Georgia has
number of orchardists who are cult
waiting more than 100, 900 trees. and
there is druggist in that state who
owns 10000 trees. The peach trees
OF the south have been recently great
~ injured by rot and other diseases.
but the new spray solutions of the
department. have proved the salvation
Of the crop, and there promises TO he
big money in it.
How One Boy Made Good.
In connection with peach growing. if
IS interesting to tell how one boy made
4 fortune in peaches, and by his own
exertionsj and study lifted not only his