TIM) MONTHLY HI'LLETIN. 



47:? 



At the same time, many inferior crates have been passed but the work in the main 

 lias been satisfactory. The pack has been shipped in 100 per cent better condition 

 than ever before, and it is hoped that next year a perfect pack may be secured. 



There is a feeling among the trade members that the "Pony" standard 54 pack 

 should be eliminated, this one classification giving more trouble than all others. 



There is little doubt that one of the packers arrested for failure to properly 

 mark his crates intends to test the constitutionality of the law. If the law is sus- 

 tained there will be no reason for further imposition upon the consumer, and then 

 the marking "Stanislaus" or "Turlock" on a crate of cantaloupes will be a guarantee 

 of quality. Realizing the permanent value of this hoped-for condition, the larger 

 number of growers and packers are supporting the commissioner and endorsing the 

 eonrse followed this season by the official inspectors. 



THIRTY YEARS WITH RED SPIDER. 



By H. P. Stablkk, County Horticultural Commissioner, Yuba City, Cal. 



In 1885 we planted an orchard of 100 acres of deciduous fruit trees in Sutter 

 County. Twenty-five acres were devoted to prune trees while the rest of the place 

 was divided between peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines. The season was dry. 



no rain falling after the first week of January. In 

 July our troubles began as the prunes became 

 infested with red spider. Sprinkling the trees with 

 water was suggested as a control measure and as we 

 knew of nothing better we deluged the foliage, using 

 the old reliable garden sprinkling can. In a few 

 days reinfestatiou occurred and we repeated the 

 application. Several times during the season we had 

 recourse to the water pots, saving much of the 

 foliage. 



An interplanting of Hubbard squash and pumpkins 

 was infested so we burned the vines and cultivated 

 the ground. Grasshoppers appeared that year in 

 great swarms, destroying the foliage saved from the 

 spider attack. Of the 2,000 prune trees planted 50 

 per cent were lost and were replanted the next year. 

 Red spider infestation occurred in 1886 and the 

 water treatment was repeated several times with 

 partial control. In those days the spider was 

 seemingly not well distributed, as some orchards, 

 even in the vicinity of ours, were not attacked. 

 About 1888 the late Mr. Geo. F. Ditzler, manager of the Hatch & Rock orchard. 

 Biggs, Butte County, told us of the use of dry sulfur for control of red spider. At 

 the next appearance of the pest we dusted the foliage of the prune trees with dry 

 sulfur and the results were successful. A can with perforated bottom was the 

 implement used in this work. For several succeeding years this treatment was 

 given during the first week of July and red spider troubles were at an end. 



Even in the nineties red spider was not generally a troublesome pest in the 

 county, so we felt that after having treated the trees so often we would omit the 

 sulfur one season. The result was disastrous: Off went the foliage with resulting 

 sun burning of the fruit. Thereafter the sulfuring during the first week of July 

 was never overlooked, spider or no spider. The orchard, which was on Myrobolan 

 root, is still standing and bearing fruit, with green leaves during the entire season. 

 After the trees became full grown it required a pound and a quarter of dry sulphur 

 to the tree, using the crude can with perforated bottom system of applying the 

 sulfur. When sulfur was $1.50 a sack it was not as important as it is today to cut 

 down the expense of materials, but now at four cents or more a pound the improved 

 dusting machines and the finely-ground dusting sulfurs are recommended. On large 

 trees spraying with sulfur paste has advantages over the dusting in some instances. 



The use of sulfur in red spider control soon became general, but strange to say 

 not always with good results. While, as I have described above, our control was 

 all that could be desired I have myself seen red spider alive on well sulfured orchards. 

 We did not know some years ago that the adult was resistant to sulfur fumes and 

 that only the young mites were controlled. Many growers applied the sulfur too 

 late to secure results. 



