474 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



We always used the sulfur the first week in July not because we knew that was 

 the best time, in fact we believed it would have been effective at any time during 

 the season, but it happened to be a convenient time. Early peaches and apricots 

 were always picked, dried and shipped by the fourth of July and about ten days 

 elapsed before we began picking cling peaches. These ten days were always a slack 

 time in the orchard so we did the sulfuring then as a matter of convenience. In 

 all the years I have watched the spider in this county I have never seen orchard 

 trees infested until the first of July. At that time it can be seen on the lowest 

 leaves of the tree. Sulfuring done within a week of that time must then be most 

 effective as there are few or no adults, which are resistant to sulfur, and there are 

 many young spiders which are readily controlled by the fumes. 



THE STATUS OF 



THE PEACH INDUSTRY 

 COUNTY. 



IN TEHAMA 



By Chas. B. Weeks, County Horticultural Commissioner, Red Bluff, Cal. 



During the years 1912-13-14-15 it was extremely difficult for any one growing 

 drying varieties of peaches to understand why the word peach was in any way 

 synonymous with that which was fair and beautiful, for during these years 



practically every grower in the state, as well as 

 Tehama County, found the production of peaches a 

 losing venture. The formation of the California 

 roach Growers Association, however, in time to 

 handle the 1916 crop, evidently has furnished the 

 necessary relief and has enabled growers to take 

 renewed interest in this product. 



During the late eighties and early nineties the sec- 

 tion of Tehama County lying along Deer Creek near 

 Vina was a very large producer of low-grade dried 

 peaches of what was then known as "China'" fruit, 

 that is, practically all the orchards were leased to 

 Chinamen whose chief aim was to produce the largest 

 quantity of fruit at the minimum of expense which 

 resulted in some very peculiar methods of harvesting 

 and drying. The budded varieties in those days were 

 very scarce, the majority of trees being seedlings, 

 resulting in a heterogeneous lot of peaches of all 

 colors, sizes and shapes, the majority of which had 

 flesh that was very soft and watery and in no way 

 fit for drying. The fruit was shaken from the trees 

 on the ground when it became dead ripe, and as the soil was a soft black sandy loam 

 a very large amount of said soil remained permanently attached to the peaches. 

 During the early part of this period but little was known as to the best methods 

 of sulfuring and drying fruit, which resulted in the fruit being cut in halves, thrown 

 back into the boxes, which were then stacked in imperfectly constructed sulfur 

 houses, and allowed to sulfur for a short time. Instead of being placed in trays the 

 fruit was dumped on platforms to dry. Later in the game trays were used, which 

 resulted in better sulfuring and drying, but, of course, did uot improve the quality 

 of the original fruit or get rid of any of the dirt which was accumulated in the 

 process of picking. This method of harvesting and cultivating resulted in a grade 

 of fruit which had a very unattractive appearance to say the least, and while most 

 of the dirt which it contained was of the kind known as "clean" dirt, the fruit was 

 certainly not clean to look at. 



Prices for this grade ranged high and stimulated the planting of a great many 

 acres of budded peaches, principally Muirs and Crawfords. As a great deal of the 

 new acreage was in the form of small holdings and the fruit was harvested^ by the 

 white owners a better grade of fruit began to be placed on the market. Prices for 

 this fruit were also good, but the thousands of tons of low-grade China fruit which 

 had been placed in consumption in the East at very high prices began to have its 

 effect and the demand for dried peaches of any kind was seriously injured.. This 

 together with speculations by packers resulted in great fluctuations in the price of 

 dried peaches during the late nineties ami until 1011 and 1012 the growers received 



