The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1914-02-27

it, the experience, unfortunately, has
been that as a general rule the grow
ers are not uniformly to be depended
upon. This condition necessitates a
system of rigid inspection by county
inspectors who should be thoroughly
trained, and competent for the work
These inspectors must have the UNI
divided support of all growers.
Supplementary Methods of Control
While the method of cutting out the
disease, as discussed above, is the
only effective way of controlling
blight and must always be practiced
yet there are certain supplementary
practices which may assist in the con-
troll, or which may render the cutting
out easier of application.
On account of the fact that fire
blight attacks almost any member OF
the apple family, it is necessary that
all trees of this family grown for
economic purposes, such as the ounce
or for ornamental purposes, such as
the Towering crab, mountain ash, etc.
should be just as carefully inspected
and treated as the apple or pear All
weed" trees such as apple or pear
tive trees or shrubs, like the service
berry, hawthorn, etc, should be re-
moved, especially where growing in
the vicinity of orchards. In SO far
as it is practicable. in fact, no wild
trees of the apple family should be
allowed to grow in orchard districts
they should be cut down and burned
Trees of this sort should under nc
"a n IN al a
fence rows or public roads.
Waite's method of pruning the pear
in vase form makes the best type OF
tree in which to fight the pear blight
Fruit spurs should be kept off the
larger branches and under no condi-
tions should water sprouts be allowed
to form on the trunk or from the roots.
These when occurring on branches or
trunks, should be cut off flush with
the wood. Should water sprouts
spring up from the roots, they should
be cut off below the ground
Spraying with lime-sulfur solution
winter strength-after the final spring
inspection and just before the buds
open, has been suggested by Waite as
an aid in preventing the spread Of
fire blight. An application at that
hold-over canker and serve to disin-
feet the sticky ooze as we'll as render
1t less attractive to insects.
Practicability. Of. Controlling. Fire
Blight
Fire blight has proved so wide
spread and destructive, and has ruined
SO many pear and apple orchards in
various sections of the country, that
many persons have the erroneous idea
that it cannot profitably be controlled.
In recent years it has been proved
cOnclusively that where all the pear
and apple Growers in an infested dis
trict work together, and where an
efficient inspection service is in op-
GRAFTON, the control of fire blight is
practicable.
The difficulty comes in getting all
the growers to inspect their orchards
and faithfully cut out the disease
each year. There are always disin-
terested persons, and in Oregon at
least there are still some general
farmers scattered through the fruit
districts who own family orchards.
It Is difficult to make such men real
lie their responsibility in regard to
fire blight. The town and city lot
orchardfst is in the same class. Eff
fecient county fruit inspection can do
great deal toward rersuading, and if
necessary, forcing such persons either
to keep the disease under control in
their orchards or cut down the infest-
ed trees. Public sentiment must be
aroused before the county fruit ia
spector can do efficient work. The
greatest good comes in educating the
people concerned; first, to a reali-
cation of the danger of fire blight,
and second, to the methods by which
the disease may be kept under con-
troll.
Even where the most rigid inspec-