56 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



There is no line of general farming that will ])ay the per cent 

 acre per acre that can be obtained on suitable land by the skilled 

 fruit grower in apples, pears, peaches or grapes. 



DISEASES AND PESTS. 



The question of fungous diseases and insect pests in fruit grow- 

 ing no longer deters the intelligent groAver. Fungous diseases readily 

 yield to and are controlled by Bordeaux. All leaf-cutting and fruit- 

 eating insects are controlled and injury reduced to a small per cent 

 by spraying with arsenate of lead. For insects that suck the juices 

 or sap, such as San Jose scale, aphis, etc., the lime-sulphur spray is 

 effective. In Spray Bulletin ISTo. 4, issued by this Board, the lime- 

 sulphur spray is recommended for preventing apple anthracnose 

 and peach leaf curl. I have found so many failures to control these 

 fungous diseases with the lime-sulphur spray, that I suggest the 

 next bulletin issued by the Board omit this recommendation and 

 substitute the Bordeaux mixture as the remedy for these fungous 

 diseases. Under my observation the past year, where Bordeaux was 

 used these diseases did not appear. On the other hand, where the 

 lime-sulphur spray was used to prevent anthracnose and peach leaf 

 curl, the diseases appeared. 



PEAR BLIGHT. 



This disease alarmed the pear growers of the Eogue Eiver Valley 

 the past year. California pear gTOwers suffered so badly three years 

 ago from this disease, when it appeared, it brought the pear growers 

 about Medford together to wage united effort to control it. Pro- 

 fessors M. B. Waite and P. J. O'Gara of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C, were sent to teach us how to fight the 

 disease. Through their instructions George W. Taylor^ county fruit 

 inspector, is meeting with success in controlling the disease. The 

 only known remedy for pear blight is to cut out all diseased parts 

 of the tree and hurn the same. The germs of this disease multiply 

 rapidly, and were it not for the fact that so many of them perish 

 during the season of infection, it would be diffieult to cope with and 

 successfully control the disease. 



The tree 'is immune to infection excepting through the blossoms 

 and abrasions on the tree. The source of annual infection comes 

 from hold-over germs that are kept alive during the winter in the 

 larger limbs and trunk of the tree that have been infected by reason 

 of abrasions. Moisture is necessary to the life of the germ, and in 

 the smaller twigs, for the want of moisture, most of these germs 

 die. In the larger limbs the moisture keeps the germs alive. With 

 the warm days of spring these o-erm-affected large liinbs exude sap 

 that the bees and insects feed upon ; the germ is thus carried by 

 the bees to the pear hlossoms and the germs multiply rajiidly and 



