The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1929-09-19

tnouSahu OBSTRUCTIVE germs are |
threatening our poultry and cat
tie, the little germ that changes
sweet cider and grape juice into
alcoholic beverages is after our
boys and girls, but the one that
perhaps interests US most at the
present time is the codling moth
He Cor she) sure has put the ap-
pie industry on the lift.
And up to the present time no
one has come out with real work
remedy. At very conservative
estimate, the loss to our beautiful
valley this year will be over a mil
lion dollars from wormy apples
alone. Now just stop a minute and
figure out what we could do with
a million dollars. But why go into
that here. 1 know you have thot
of that a million times. / want to
be the first one to suggest not a
remedy, but complete cure.
One that is so feasible, so easy
to put into operation and SO sure
to work that when it is once tried
all our smart men will be mad
that they didn't think of it first,
and apple growers from all over
the world will be coming here to
see how We do it.
But we must all get behind it
and push it to successful con-
clusion. But we have the organ
izations already organized, so WIZ
not proceed.
] The remedy is hogs-pure and
simple, hogs. Not penned up, PAM
pered hogs, but wild, untamed,
hungry, vicious hogs.
Of all the domestic animals, the
hog is the eating with
relish what no one else wants.
Now it happens that he Tor she)
is very fond of apples and espec-
tally wormy apples.
Let the community have a hun
dred or more half-fed hogs to
turn into the orchards and every
wormy apple that drops to the
ground will be eaten before the
moth has chance to develop.
A hungry hog can hear an ap-
pie drop a mile away. and go un-
erringly to the spot and a four
year-old sow can rear up and catch
a tree limb in her teeth and shake
every wormy apple off it. In this
way no worms will be left to de-
velop moths and what few moths
are left will either commit suicide
or die of fright.
All right where will we get the
hogs and what will we do with
them when there are no apples (?
Let the game warden take care of
them. They are NOT near as hard
to raise as Chinese pheasants and
the wheat We waste feeding the
game birds and wild ducks will
easily keep them growing. Those
who now waste their time playing
golf could easily be persuaded to
herd them from orchard to or
chard and / know that the Boy
Scouts would delight in looking
after the strays.
Now / am no lover of hog and |
/ know that a hundred big wild |
hogs running loose in the valley |
would be some trouble and des-
troy some gardens and possibly
eat a few young chickens, but |
then we can't have everything. And |
this would not be SO bad since the
tanned skin fad has come into |
vogue. / don't know of anything |
that would make a woman's face |
any redder than to chase some one |
else's hogs out of our flower gar
den two or three times a day.
But we have kept the best for
the last. In the fall when the APP
pies and worms are all eaten,
stage big hunt and let our am
bilious hunters kill off all of the
hogs. No license required and
everybody keep the hog that he
kills but with the understanding
that he replace it in the spring 4
with a live pig. This together with
the natural increase would always
keep the count up. L
Thus you see we have our ex-
ercise, our winters meat, our
sport, our excitement and our val
ley cleared of one of the most
destructive pests in has ever been
a farmers misfortune to have to 4
fight. Oh yes, almost forgot-a
million dollars besides.
Now don't treat this subject
lightly. Let's all get busy on it
II