THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



475 



from 2J cents to 12 cents a pound for the dried product or an average of about 

 U cents per pound. As the high prices, however, generally obtained during years 

 when crops were fairly light, growers did not make much more than operating 

 expenses for a period of years. 



These fluctuations in prices have resulted in orchards being neglected one year and 

 eared for the following season when prices showed improvement, and as a con- 

 sequence a great many orchards have been neglected to the extent that they have been 

 permanently injured. 



The low prices intimated in the opening paragraph as obtaining through the years 

 of 1912-15 caused the planting of peach trees in Tehama County to cease almost 

 completely, as in three years less than fifty acres of new peach trees were planted, 

 growers devoting their lands exclusively to the planting of prunes and almonds. 

 This has resulted in there being but few young orchards coming into bearing at this 

 time and a very considerable acreage of the old neglected orchards being removed. 



Cultivating and harvesting methods in this section are identical with those practiced 

 • Isewhere in the state. With a possible exception that largo sheets are used to 

 shake drying peaches on, instead of hand-picking them from ladders. The sheets 

 protect the fruit from the ground and if the work is carefully done results in an 

 equally high grade of fruit as would result if they were hand picked. 



This article has confined itself chiefly to the discussion of drying peaches, as 

 canning varieties are grown only to a very limited extent, as the distances from 

 Tehama County points to the nearest canneries are too great to admit of profitable 

 shipping. The past few years a very considerable tonnage of peaches has beeu 

 shipped green to eastern points (by "green" is meant fresh peaches for shipment I. 

 The two varieties which have stood up to the test of time are Muirs for drying anil 

 Elbertas for shipping and drying, the Elbertas, in the writer's mind, being preferable 

 to the Muirs for general planting inasmuch as they are inclined to make a larger 

 made of dried peaches than Muirs grown under the same conditions. 



i (ne of the most frequent questions asked a county horticultural commissioner is 

 "which is the best variety of fruit to plant?" This question is almost always supple- 

 mented by a desire to know positively what the market will be on this particular 

 variety when it comes into bearing some five or six years hence. In attempting to 

 answer this question when applied to the planting of peaches it is the writer's plan 

 to advise against the planting of additional peach acreage at the present time and 

 until the demand and consumption of dried peaches is so thoroughly stabilized that a 

 repetition of the past periods of low prices can not be repeated. 



CONTROL OF CITRICOLA SCALE IN TULARE COUNTY. 



By Chas. F. Collins, County Horticultural Commissioner, Visalia, Cal. 



Tulare County has 38,200 acres of citrus trees and the only insect pest of this 

 vast acreage, of sullicient importance to call for control, is the citricola or gray scale. 

 The first attempt a! control work in this county was made in 1913, but owing 



probably to insufficient dosage of the chemicals used 

 in fumigation, poor results were secured. 



After a somewhat exhaustive series of experi- 



ins conducted by R. P. Cundiff of Riverside, in the 



early summer of 1914, commercial work" was begun 

 on July 23 and 1,200 acres were treated with excel- 

 lent results in most cases. The pot system of 

 fumigation was employed and sodium cyanide at a 

 dosage of 1 ounce to 100 cubic feet of tent space 

 was used until early in September, when this was 

 increased 10 per cent. It was clearly demonstrated 

 that with the humidity usually prevailing in Tulare 

 County during the summer months, successful work 

 could be done, with this dosage, at a temperature of 

 80 degrees or even higher under favorable conditions. 

 Commercial work was continued until November 19. 

 and early in December some experiments were con- 

 ducted with a dosage of 1} ounces of sodium cyanide 

 to 100 cubic feet of tent space, which resulted in an 

 excellent kill of scale and no injury to tree or fruit. 

 The season of 1915 marked a new era in fumigation 

 Tulare County through the doing away of the "hi poi system and the adoption of 



