Page 8 



BETTEP. FRUIT 



March 



FiGURn 53- An old Ilaliiiij pruin- Itcl' lh;U llns not been pruned for a number 

 cf years. The scaffold limbs and lower branches have become barren 

 through the dying oJT of their fruit spurs. The top of the tree is very thick 

 and bushy and consists mainly in long, slender, weak fruit spurs and fi'uit- 

 ing branches, like those shown in Figure 50 



parison with a block sprayed with 

 cresol soap and commcM-cial distillate- 

 oil emulsion. The former ruined be- 

 tween 90 and 9.5 per cent of the fruit 

 buds, whereas the latter did not cause 

 any damage and even stimulated the 

 trees. An excess of caustic in the 

 laundry soap and the amount used was 

 probably responsible for most of the 

 injury. 



Bordeaux mixture in combination 

 with resin soap or liquid whale-oil 

 resin soap has been used sometimes on 

 raspberries for Anthracnosc, but has 

 not come into general use on fruit trees. 

 However, in certain sections of (",ali- 

 fornia, notably the San Joaquin Val- 

 ley, it was found desirable this year to 

 try liquid whale-oil resin soap with 

 the bordeaux for the control of the 

 shothole fungus, or California Peach 

 Blight, which was very severe on some 

 varieties of shipping plums. Ordinary 

 bordeaux treatments on these orchards, 

 which were irrigated many times dur- 

 ing the summer, did not sufficiently 

 control this trouble, and the condition 

 was growin,g worse every year. How- 

 ever, with the addition of licpiid whale- 

 oil resin soap, bordeaux had a much 

 better wetting and sticking power and 

 covered all of the small twigs. It is 

 interestin,g to note here that, contrary 

 to general opinion (both ]K)pular and 

 scientifif). it was found possible to 

 spray these plum trees in July with all 



strengths of bordeaux ranging from 

 2ii-2'i.-.5n up to 8-8-,50. plus 1 gallon 

 of liquid whale-oil resin soap, per 2(10- 

 gallon tank, under climatic conditions 

 where the temperature lan as high as 

 110 degrees Fahrenheit, without a sign 

 of injury. This enabled one of the 

 large growers to get over his ranch 

 quite easily before the winter rains 

 began, and to get at the Shothole Fun- 

 gus early, before it had injin-ed the 

 fruit buds for the coming year. 



Miscible oils in combination with 

 bordeaux mixture was also used this 

 summer, both on deciduous and citrus 

 trees, without the oils or boredaux 

 breaking down and without causing 

 any injury to the foliage, fruit or trees. 

 It must be stated here, however, that 

 this work was only of an experimental 

 and demonstrative nature and has not 

 been done in any connnercial way. To 

 make this mixtin-e a success it would 

 be necessary to have a good miscible 

 oil and also to be absolutely accurate 

 in making the bordeaux mixture. The 

 manner of using this combination was 

 as follows: Make ui) the bordeaux mix- 

 ture in the regular way and till ui) the 

 sprav tank with water, then add the 

 miscible oil which has previously been 

 thinned to a thin cream. 11' there is 

 any trouble with either mixture break- 

 ing down, a half gallon of liquid whale- 

 oil soap should set everything right, 

 and it is possible that this nuich soap 



will have to be used in sections where 

 very hard water is present. Prepared 

 bordeaux paste did not work with 

 miscible oil successfully on account 

 of not having an excess of lime present, 

 and a copper soap was formed. It is 

 tpiite possible that this bordeaux mis- 

 cible-oil combination will be worked 

 out to be used in the Northwest soon 

 where it is desirable to control Shot- 

 hole Fungus and Scale insects with 

 one application. But the grower should 

 bear in mind that this should not be 

 attempted in a commercial way at 

 present, until more work has been done 

 by the investigators. 



Mr. Yothers in his work in Florida 

 showed the practicability of using mis- 

 cible oils in combination with soda- 

 sulphur solutions for the Scale insects 

 and Red Spider, and the writer expects 

 to try these out fully the coming year 

 under Western conditions, both on 

 citrus trees and deciduous trees. It 

 should be noted here in using the bor- 

 deaux and miscible oils, and also 

 whale-oil soap, that while the hoine- 

 made bordeaux worked perfectly, 

 trouble was experienced with pre- 

 pared bordeaux paste in that no ex- 

 cess lime was present and a copper 

 soap was formed, which came to the 

 top of the tank and made it difticult to 

 force through the nozzles. Too much 

 lime would form a lime soap. This 

 dilliculty could probably be overcome 

 with the addition of a slight amount of 

 caustic soda placed in the diluted mis- 

 cible oils before adding it to the tank. 



In the apple section of Pajaro Valley, 

 where Mildew is quite prevalent, the 

 combinations of arsenate of lead and 

 atomic sulphur are quite common, the 

 former for Codling Sloth and the lat- 

 ter for the Mildew. 



It is in this section also where lime- 

 sulphur solution is combined with 

 nitrate of soda, the former for its reg- 

 ular use and the latter for stimulation. 



On grape vines in California where 

 it is necessary to combat the Mildew 

 and at the same time the Grape-Leaf 

 Hopper, Black Leaf -10 is used with 

 atomic sulphur in the second applica- 

 tion. The first apjilication of atomic 

 sidphur is usually made when the 

 growth is about 9 to 18 inches long; 

 the second one in combination with 

 Black Leaf 40 after the berries have 

 set and are about the size of buckshot. 



The past year or so the Cottony- 

 Cushion Scale which at one tiine 

 threatened to destroy the citrus fruit 

 industry of California, and which pre- 

 sented a unique case in insect para- 

 sitism in that it was practically ex- 

 terminated by the Xovius (Vedalia) 

 Cardinalis, has been developing to 

 ([uite an extent as a pear pest. Strange 

 to say, this Scale only appears on the 

 Winter Xelis variety with maybe a few 

 scatterin.g individuals on the Buerrc 

 Hardy. The Vedalia does not seem to 

 contiol this scale at all on pears, al- 

 thoiigii many attempts have been made 

 to make it to work iiroperly. The con- 

 tinuous spraying with arsenicals prob- 

 ably forces enough of the poison into 

 the cottony mass to poison the lady 



