The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1913-08-08
BLIGHT MUST Be
STAMPED OUT
Inspector Powell Says Law Will
be Used if Owners Don't Clean
Their Orchards
To Kennewick Orchardists:

To Kennewick Orchardists:
There has been so much said and
written on the subject of blight late
ly that one sometimes wonders what
else there is to say. The fact is we
have talked, complained, grumbled,
discussed and written about the
blight until we have advertised the
fact far and wide that we have the
blight in our orchards. Now l do
not believe in keeping thing of
this kind a secret, but do feel that if
a lot of the time and energy that is
wasted talking about this blight sit
uation was used in cutting it out,
we would practically have the dis
ease under control today. I heard
a man say the other day-and it
took him quite while to say it
long enough to have pruned the
blight out of at least two trees-that
where the cuttings were burned the
smoke from these cuttings spread
the disease. How absurd! Fire is
one of the best purifiers we have
and germ that it will not kill,
nothing will destroy. Now this
man was theorist and not a blight
cutter, although he said he had
helped two men just clean up an
orchard he was in. We found from
one to three infections in practical
ly every tree in the orchard that he
had helped thoroughly clean. He
did not live in Benton county, we
are thankful to say. However, he
does have few relatives down here
who are showing considerable in
difference with reference to the pro-
per cutting of the blight out of their
own orchards and the orchards they
have leased.
It is estimated that Yakima coun-
ty has 800 men cutting blight daily.
At 81. so per day this means a loss
to the ranchers of $4,000 per day.
How long can we stand that? The
majority of Benton county's orch
ards are just coming into bearing,
also. they are at the critical age
when the blight plays such havoc
in them.
There are many good ranchers
who are fighting this blight with a
determination and vigilance that
means they will keep their orchards
free from it. But their labors will
all be in vain if you, their neighbor,
do not keep your orchard clean. II
you feel that you have missed your
calling when you started out to be
an orchardist and that you can
make more money ranching other
ways, don't leave those trees OF
yours to take care of themselves
and breed and hibernate all the
pests and diseases there are going.
Either keep them clean or cut them
out.
Now it has been whispered abroad
that our horticultural law is little
weak and that we cannot make a
man clean his orchard or cut his
blight. If you know of anyone who
would like to test the law, will you
kindly send them to me, as we have
instructions that if the case fails in
the lower courts, to carry it on up
to the Supreme Court. Personally
| would regret very much to have
to use the law on anyone; however,
if it is necessary we will apply it in
such way that it will not be nec-
essary to repeat the dose.
Mr.. Chase, in his article on blight,
hit the nail squarely on the head
when he said, Make every orch
ardist and his family inspectors. y
Every property holder in this coun-
ty is vitally interested in seeing that
this blight is eradicated. Although
you may not have an orchard the
community's interest is your inter
est. If your neighbor loses his or
chard he will suffer directly, and
the community will suffer indirect
lily. Then let us all put our shoul.