1QI6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 9 



willi the rumnining ten reported ":il- 

 iiiDst none," and 21.2't, the average 

 per cent of side infestation. Tliir- 

 teen had cover crops and twelve were 

 clean cultivated. Seven of the nine 

 in cover crops were delax ed in spra\- 

 ing for the lirst brood of worms on 

 account of the crop. 



In the lower part of the Yakima Val- 

 ley survey was made of twenty or- 

 chartls, comprising (iS8 acres. Three 

 of these wei e sprayed too late for a 

 good calyx spraying, the other seven- 

 teen spraying with gootl pressure while 

 the calyx cups were open. But four 

 repeated the calyx spra.\ in ten days 

 after lirst api.dication. In spraying for 

 Ihe first brood of worms nine made the 

 application at the proper time, accord- 

 ing to the inspector's spray dates, eight 

 were wrong and three did not spray. 

 For the second brood of worms, six 

 were right, nine were wrong and five 

 did not spray. Six grow-ers out of the 

 twenty used sprays in combination 

 with arsenate of lead. Six of the or- 

 chards were sprayed for moth in 

 August. The amount of spray solution 

 used at each application averaged .^.(i 

 gallons ])er tree, of arsenate of lead 

 solution of 1.9 pounds average strength 

 per 50 gallons. The number of spra\ - 

 ings averaged three and one-fourth 

 times during the season. At picking 

 time an estimate of the amount (jf 

 codling moth infestation averaged for 

 the twent\ orchards 1..34% cahx and 

 15.59f side-worm infestation. Cover 

 crops of alfalfa, clovei- and vetch were 

 grown in fourteen or<'hards and was 

 the cause of some delav in spraying 

 eight of these foi- the lii-st brood of 

 worms. 



Codling-Moth Summary 



To read over carefull,\ the survex 

 reports of the ISl orchards surveyed is 

 sullicient to convince one of the great 

 variety of conditions thai ap|)arentl\ 

 had some bearing on the general un- 

 satisfact(n-,\ results obtained this sea- 

 son from codling-moth sjjrays. It is 

 doubtful if theie is any one important 

 point that would explain the cause, 

 except |)Ossibly for a few orchards. 

 .\fter studving over these records I am 

 all Ihe more convinced that lack of 

 uniformil.\- in doing the work through- 

 out the districts is the first general sug- 

 gestion that I have to make as one of 

 the causative factors. Practically all 

 of these orchards were sprayed uni- 

 foiinly with high pressuie befoi-e the 

 calyx cups closed, and the average low 

 percentage of calyx wormy ai)|3les is 

 proof that Ihe calyx spray certainly was 

 efTective. The very large percentage 

 of infestation at the side of the a])ple 

 and Ihe lack of unifornuly in applxing 

 the later sprays certainlv leaves room 

 for improvement. The harvesting of 

 the cover crop, which is nsuallv alfalfa, 

 comes Just at the time when the spray 

 foi- the lirst brood of worins should 

 be applied, and many farmers havi> 

 allowed this to postpone spraying. 



In many orchards Ihe ci'op was rela- 

 livel.\ light and the spraying of such 

 orchards was not always done as thor- 

 oughly as it possibly should have been 



I'i(;cRF. 43 — A fivc-year-oId Yellow Newtown 1ree. It li.ns been piuneil rather 

 heavily each year. Last year it received a lisht thinning out and a conipara- 

 lively heavy heading hack. When cnTniKiicd \\i:h l''if;ure II, a tree of the 

 same variety and same a}-'e, it shows liuw hea^y piiiiiinu tends to stinnilate 

 vegetative growth as opposed to liuil inodnctio']]. Nole that there are com- 

 paratively few fruit spurs on the t\\ o-year-old wood. It has heen made to 

 devote ils energies mainly to shoot foi-nialion 



done. Duiing Ihe year 11)14, Ihe Wenat- 

 chee N'alle\ growers used 323,.3,33 

 pounds of lead, and only 242,277 pounds 

 this season, which was hardly in pro- 

 portion to the increase of bearing acre- 

 age and size of trees. The 1!)14 crop 

 was heavy, and man.\ wormy apples 

 were allowed to rot in the oi'chards 

 and around liie ijacking houses, thus 

 carrying over an unusually large num- 

 ber of moths. I'sually a winter of 

 alternate freezes and thaws is fairh' 

 disastrous to insect life unless well 

 protected. I.ast winter was pretty colil, 

 but was not a winler of allernalc 

 freezing and thawing. Observations 

 made on Ihe Shei'inaii ranch in Fruit- 

 vale, near North Yakima, on March 

 .'ilst, showed live codling-molh larvae 

 under Ihe tree bands. On April 2nd 

 the inspector found live larvae under 

 the bark of ap|)le trees in the Euclid 

 ilistrict. This would indicate that Ihe 

 extreme cohl of last winler did nol 

 destroy niiuiy, if an\, codling-molh 

 larvae or ])upae. During Ihe first week 

 of August of this \car codling-moth 

 egg.s were in evidence throughoid Ihe 



Yakima Volley, and were no doubt the 

 cause of a large percentage of stung 

 apples. The cause for this season's 

 heavy infeslaiion would seem to be Ihe 

 lesull of a series of conditions, begin- 

 ning with Ihe left-over wormy apples 

 of the 1!)14 crop and continuing up to 

 the lOl.i picking season. Although it 

 will not stand the lest in ever\- case, 

 Ihe glower who has carefully watched 

 spr;i\ data, sprayed thoroughly and 

 kept his apples proletled with Ihe 

 poisonous film Ihroughoul the growing 

 season has secui-ed best residts. 



Fear Blight (Bacillus Amyllovorus) 

 The dreaded pear-blighl disease has 

 been doing ils work in certain dislricis 

 of Ihe stale since 11)1(1. The excitement 

 and realization of ils seriousness prob- 

 ably reached its zeiiilh during Ihe glow- 

 ing season of 11)14. The feeliug among 

 Ihe mass of Ihe growers will natiually 

 decline now, but Ihe disease is Ihe same 

 serious malady and all ell'orls possible 

 should be made to encoiu'age uniform 

 control melhods throughout the or- 

 (hiid dislii( Is. The notes on blight 

 during the past glowing season arc 



