REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 67> 



cause of this trouble. In some cases, however, I think I 

 have found the difficulty to be in the soil. Wherever I find 

 an underlying strata of alkali soil I am pretty sure to discover 

 a hardpan subsoil from eighteen inches to two feet below 

 the surface. Blight, I consider, would be a logical conse- 

 quence in trees grown upon such ground. But again, in 

 other places, where tlie soil and every other condition seemed 

 favorable for the growing of the tree, this same blight would 

 make its appearance sooner or later. The limbs of some of 

 these trees I have sent at times to the experiment station at 

 Corvallis, but it seems that the people at that place were 

 hardly in a position to discover the cause of the blight. They 

 usually recommended that we trim back to the affected por- 

 tion of the limbs. This has been done, only to result the 

 next year in the growth of the tree acting in the manner 

 iibove described. 



In my travels dui'ing the summer, I found a new kind of 

 aphis, of a darker color and much larger than the common 

 green aphis. This insect got after the cherry trees princi- 

 pally, which fact, I think, is accounted for by the coolness of 

 the summer. The aphis seemed to prefer to commit its 

 depredations during cool weather rather than in tlie very 

 warm season. 



I am firmly of the opinion that one of the greatest needs of 

 this state, at least so far as horticulture is concerned, is the 

 permanent assignment of some competent person, an expert, 

 whose sole duty it should be to treat upon the various fun- 

 gous diseases that are peculiar to Oregon fruit ; for example, 

 the apple canker, the pear blight, the tomato blight, etc. Sev- 

 eral of these specialists are stationed in different sections of 

 California, and it seems to me nothing would be lost by hav- 

 ing somebody in Oregon to cope with the difficulties that con- 

 stantly confront the orchardist as well as the fruit commis- 

 sioners, who are not generally in a position to deal with these 

 things as would an expert. Of course, we have the experi- 

 ment station at Corvallis, but the fact is that the professors 

 there have not sufficient time to properly attend to such cases 

 of diseased fruit trees as come to their notice ; hence the need 

 of a man to devote his undivided attention thereto. Two of 

 such experts would not be too many. One might be stationed 

 in the western part of Oregon, or Washington for that matter, 

 somewhere west of the Cascade Mountains. Another might 

 give his time to the fruit in Eastern Oregon and Washington. 



