THE MONTHLY I'.ll .I.IOTIN. 



441 



potatoes are sweeter tliau those usually grown and seem to please the buyers. 

 Sprouts arc shipped to seed houses, growers and for family gardens to all parts of 

 the stale, every spring. 



When dug, the potatoes are piled in the field until the weather gets cool or they 

 are packed iu crates holding one hundred pounds, or occasionally in half crates, and 

 hauled to the loading shed. Unlike Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes must be kept warm, 

 about tiO degrees, to prevent decay. 



Sweet potato growing is hard, heavy work, and the growers, many of whom are 

 Portuguese, deserve the prosperity they have enjoyed. 



COMMON PESTS PREVALENT IN MODOC COUNTY. 



By Thomas Briles, County Horticultural Commissioner, Davis Creek, Cal. 



As Modoc County is not situated in the citrus belt of California and the fruit we 

 grow is of the more hardy kind, we naturally have fewer insect pests to contend 

 with than some of the more southern counties. Few as they are, however, it 



requires vigilance on the part of the horticultural 

 commissioner and cooperation from the farmer and 

 orchardist to control them. 



We have very few commercial orchards as yet in 

 Modoc County. The average orchard consists of 

 from 20 to 150 trees of mixed fruit used principally 

 in the home and. in general, the trees are more or less 

 neglected, which is only natural where commercial 

 value is not considered. However, our Modoc-grown 

 fruit, especially apples, pears and cherries, are second 

 to none and considerable of our foothill land 

 especially adapted to fruit growing is being planted 

 to orchard. 



Our most common orchard pests are of the well- 

 known kinds, namely, green and wooly apple aphis, 

 codling moth and pear blight, but by proper spraying 

 we keep them controlled beyond serious damage. 



Codling motb exists in every locality in Modoc 



County but one, in Xew Pine Creek near the Oregon 



line, and the orchardists iu this section are very 



vigilant as to its introduction. 



Aphis, especially green apple aphis, is numerous iu every section, but one winter 



spraying is usually all that is necessary to control. 



Pear blight is prevalent throughout, but as each mixed orchard has only very few 

 pear trees, cutting out at first appearance makes control in a measure easy. 



The common cabbage worm was so numerous this season that the home garden 

 usually suffered and, as a consequence, cabbage is being shipped into Alturas. 



I have instructed a great many farmers who grow more cabbage than is used iu 

 the home, regarding the control of this pest, but as this county is one of so many 

 industries, some of the smaller suffer in consequence. 



As in many other counties, the most serious problem to be solved by the county 

 horticultural commissioner of Modoc County is the eradication and control of 

 ground squirrels and gophers. Our board of supervisors is to be commended for 

 starting this good work three years ago by furnishing free poison to every farmer 

 in Modoc County. However, ou my trips over the county, by observation and 

 inquiry, I learned that ground squirrels this year are more numerous than for 

 si vera I years, so in consequence it is easy to be seen that this matter can not be 

 left to the farmer alone, although he is furnished with free poison. Modoc County 

 will derive more benefit from squirrel and gopher eradication than similar work with 

 all other pests combined, due to the fact that the chief industries are farming and 

 stock raising. Our range and hay is the principal source of Modoc's wealth and 

 when 5 per cent of the range alone is taken by squirrels the damage amounts to 

 thousands of dollars, not counting the 15 or 20 per cent toll in grain fields. To rid 

 each county of this most destructive pest will require a considerable outlay of 

 money and full and earnest cooperation of farmers, supervisors and county 

 horticulturists. 



