The daily sentinel., 1914-03-19
ABOUT HOME FOLKS
and
ABOUT HOME DOINCS
(BY A. c. NEWToN.N

Those who have closely fol- 8
lowed the reports in the trade .
papers say that there is going To O
be very short crop OF peaches .
in sections where many cars are Q
= annually grown. and they in .
Slst that we shall be favored .
with lair prices the coming sea- y
= son II We have a crop to sell q
; and at this writing the prospect .
OF crop is the very best. as o
there was little or no damage .
during the winter. except in a .
few spots in the upper end of Q
the valley. which We mentioned o
y few weeks ago. q
>@<<>~ @>aAAa
1t must not be expected that we
shall have dollar prices. as that day
is long since past. but we NAV safely
count on at least so and 60 cents.
The crop in the south is hurt badly.
but not so much as was at first re-
ported, and in many localities it is
/, said there will be more than enough
to supply the local demand. II is
therefore important that all who
have peach trees shall carefully
prune and spray them this spring
and later properly thin them so as
to get the very best quality and size.
1t will be mistake to pull out any
more after this date or until we are
assured as to the crop.
The Daily News of the 18th prints
an interview with Judge George e. /
Rowe of Grand Rapids. Mich. who is I
in the valley for the purpose of ar /
ranging for the care of what is known l
as the Haines orchard, west of the |
city. This interview is remarkable /
in many respects. and IL does not ]
seem possible that the gentleman I
should have,so radically failed to un-
derstand the conditions of fruit /
,,rowing in this valley. as the words \
of the reporter credit him with ex- I
pressing. This is especially the case
in the statement that our loss of fruit /
in the spring in past seasons is due
not to the frosts, but to the failure
to spray early for the fungus dis
eases.
AS a matter of fact we have no
fungus diseases in this dry climate /
as those troubles are peculiar in \
wet sections, and not in dry irrigat-
ed portions of the country. We spray
in the spring with lime-sulphur for
the scales and for some varieties of
mites and spiders as well as for the
peach twig borer. This is always
done before the buds burst into 7
bloom, and it is always done as soon
as the winter is over. Every grower
in the valley knows full well that
we have had damage from frosts in
the spring, and that our losses are
in no case the result of anything
else. 1t is Just possible that the re-
porter got things mixed.
Then the gentleman says we have |
lost because we have not kept our 4
experts in horticultural matters long /
enough, and refers to Taft, who has /
been state horticulturalist in Michi-
gan for twenty years. Yes, and we
in Colorado have had Prof. Gillette at /
the head of our horticultural de-
partment at Fort Collins fully as long
and that gentleman does the work |
Taft is doing at the Michigan Agri-
cultural College. The county in
spector is an entirely different prop
osition, and we have not been able to
keep our men, mostly because the
state institution called them over
there to take up advanced work. This
was the case with Profs. Weldon,
Herrick, Whipple. Scanned and List.
The greatest trouble we have ex-
perienced here Is not that we do not |
vice from local inspectors as well as
our state experts, but too many of the 7
growers do not practice the things |
they do know. They do not spray at |
the proper time, and in many cases
do not spray at all. This condition |
would not be improved, even If we
had a dozen inspectors or experts un-
less they took hold and performed (
the work themselves. and this is not
what the county authorities are hir-
ing man to do. although it is nee
essary in many cases of the worst /
type.
Again Mr.. Rowe is quoted as say
ing that the ranchers should make
their own spray material. This has
been done in by-gone years, and 1t
has been demonstrated that while
some growers can do 1t easily and /
successfully there are a large ma
jority who fail to get the right mix
ture and as a consequence there is (
heavy loss in material as well as
fruit, because of a failure to get the T
insects; the actual cost of the pre-
pared sprays is so very little higher 1
that only those growers who have
very large orchards can afford to +