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BETTER FRUIT 



December 



BLIGHT-The Pear- 

 Growers' Nightmare 



This season it is our great good fortune to announce one of the most important 

 discoveries ever made in connection with bhght control. If you are interested in 

 pears, you must write now for our new booklet, which describes 



U-SU-RI-EN-SIS 



the new, practically blight-proof, Chinese seedling — incomparably superior to the 

 Jap root — by use of which orchards are going to be made 75% blight-proof. 



Professor Reimer of Oregon, the highest authority on blight-resistance, recently 

 stated that he believed the least resistant variety of this species more blight-resistant 

 than the most resistant of any other known! 



The only stock of U su-ri-en-sis in an American nursery today is our own 

 limited supply, from which we are reserving enough to plant 60 acres of our own 

 orchard in the spring. 



Because we do not know when we can again offer Usuriensis (owing to an 

 uncertain seed supply) and because we desire to supply the requirements of as 

 many orchardists as possible, in order to bring about a wide distribution of this 

 most desirable species, we urge intending planters to send TODAY for the booklet, 

 informing us of their probable planting for 1919. 



The booklet may be worth thousands of dollars to you, if you intend to plant a 

 large orchard. It's free, of course, but if you will take the trouble to give us the 

 addresses of a few friends who will plant pears, we will certainly appreciate it. 



LOMA RICA NURSERY 



PEAR SPECIALISTS 



A. L. WISKER, Manager 



GRASS VALLEY, CALIF. 



ORCAS LIME CO. 



Sales Office 



422 Globe Building 



Seattle, Wash. 



Fruit Spray Lime » 



W. R. DALLY 



Selling Agent 



EWBALTESAND 

 COMPANY 



Printers ♦ Binders 



Unexcelled facilities for the production of Catalogues, Book- 

 lets, Stationery, Posters and Advertising Matter, Write us 

 for prices and specifications. Out-of-town orders executed 

 promptly and accurately. We print BETTER FRUIT. 



CORNER FIRST AND OAK STREETS 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



Sulphur Experiments 



By R. A. Ward. County Agricultural Agent, 

 Redmond, Oregon 



THE alfalfa lands of this country 

 have also respontled quickly to the 

 use of land plaster as a fertilizer. The 

 land plaster, however, was rapidly ex- 

 hausted and had to be applied at least 

 once every year. Experiments con- 

 ducted by the Oregon Experiment Sta- 

 tion, and particularly by Mr. Reimer of 

 the branch experiment station at Talent, 

 Oregon, showed that a large proportion 

 of the benefit derived from the land 

 plaster was due to the eighteen pounds 

 of sulphur which it contained and not 

 to the eighty-two jjounds of lime. Mr. 

 Reimer also secured some wonderful 

 results in the Medford country, which 

 is 150 miles from Redmond, by the use 

 of pure flowers of sulphur on alfalfa. 

 Following this lead, the office of county 

 agricultural agent experimented with a 

 few sulphur demonstrations in Des 

 Chutes Valley two years ago. The re- 

 sults were so gratifying that the demon- 

 strations were enlarged, during the past 

 season, to take in about fifteen repre- 

 sentative farms. 



The soil of Des Chutes Valley con- 

 tains about 6 per cent lime, while it is 

 our understanding that the average lime 

 content for the earth's crust is about 21/2 

 per cent. This being the case, it was 

 poor business on our part to apply land 

 plaster, when the benefits we were 

 deriving were undoubtedly due to the 

 sulphur which it contained. The sul- 

 phur in the land plaster being in the 

 sulphate form, was rapidly consumed 

 and exhausted by the plant. In apply- 

 ing the pure flowers of sulphur, this 

 form is broken down gradually into the 

 sulphate form and the process may take 

 two or three years. During this time 

 the beneficial results of the sulphur 

 continue. 



Our first applications of sulphur were 

 at the rate of 200 pounds per acre. 

 When applied very early in the season, 

 that is, before the first growth of alfalfa 

 started, the crop increase on each cut- 

 ting was remarkable. In some cases 

 this amounted to an increase of 100 and 

 1.50 per cent on each of the two alfalfa 

 cuttings, not only during the first year 

 it was applied, but also in the second 

 and third years after application. Pro- 

 fessor W. L. Powers, of the Oregon Ex- 

 periment Station, reports the beneficial 

 efYects carrying well over into the 

 fourth year in Klamath County. This 

 was a great point in favor of the sul- 

 phur. If we could apply it only once 

 in three years, the cost of labor and 

 materials would, of course, be greatly 

 reduced. 



The sulphur requirements of alfalfa 

 are much heavier than has been com- 

 monly supposed. It is generally recog- 

 nized today that the amount of sulphur 

 in plant materials, as determined in the 

 a.sh, is in most cases entirely too low. 

 Analyses by the Osborne method show 

 that the alfalfas and plants of the cab- 

 bage family are fairly heavy sulphur 

 consumers. It is held by some investi- 

 gators that sulphur may be what is 

 known as a limiting factor in plant food 

 supply. That is, there may be sullicient 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



