214 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



results show that careful work is usually done cheaper than where less 

 careful work is permitted. The fact that careful work is usually 

 cheaper is accounted foi* hy reason of better organization, each emploj^ee 

 feeling a certain responsibility for the work he is performing. 



The cultural problems that confront the grower who is trying to 

 produce good-keeping lemons are more numerous and harder to solve, 

 perhaps, than those that are met in the other two departments. No one 

 has demonstrated that all lemons can be grown up to size while they are 

 still green, but intelligent effort to come as near as possible to this 

 optimum is well paid for. Cultural methods that will keep the foliage 

 dark green and the trees growing and free from gum disease, scale and 

 other parasites will produce the largest proportion of green lemons that 

 are up to size, and any grower who fails to do whatever is necessary to 

 maintain this condition is increasing the per cent of decay by neglecting 

 his part of the work, as well as the foreman who permits rough handling. 



Brown rot was at one time one of the most alarming causes of decay, 

 but Math the help of the State University and some of the most progres- 

 sive growers well defined methods for the prevention of this loss have 

 been worked out; for instance, the covering of the ground under the 

 tree and out beyond the drip of the branches with some kind of a 

 mulch, or the spraying of the lower branches and the ground with 

 Bordeaux. The latter method is considered the most effectual, and if 

 the trunk of the tree is wet with the spray at the same time, tliis will 

 help protect against possi))le infection of the bark by brown rot which 

 causes gum disease. The Bordeaux dries on the fruit and leaves a 

 coating, which .protects against infection. The comparatively small 

 amount of Bordeaux that is sprayed on the ground would have little 

 eff'ect in killing all the brown rot that is pr^^sent in the soil of badly 

 infested orchards, as it has lieen found scattered through the soil to a 

 depth of four feet ; but when the brown rot attempts to grow to the 

 surface of the ground, a very large part of it is killed by coming in 

 contact Avith the Bordeaux. 



A good cover crop also acts as a check to the spread of the brown rot 

 spores, in that it forms a covering over the ground, and the spores are 

 not so apt to rise up through a thick growing crop and get on the trees. 

 However, a heavy cover crop creates an ideal condition in wet weather 

 for the propagation of another form of decay, commonly known as 

 "cottony rot" or "white mould." This fungus is carried over from 

 one wet season to another in the soil by the selerotia, or small black 

 bodies that develop in the cottony growth. During wet periods the 

 selerotia send a growth to the surface of the ground which produce 

 cup-shaped discs in which the spores are produced in microscopic sacs. 

 At the end of the sacs the growth upon drying breaks apart, and the 

 spores are ejected into the air. The sacs are so sensitive that ev(>n 

 blowing the ])reath over them will cause the outer end to break and a 

 cloud of spores to rise into the air. 



I have seen trees where a large part of the young lemons and bloom 

 was destroyed by cottony rot. It does not often attack the larger 

 fruit, but when this form of decay gets started in a box of lemons, it 

 soon takes all the fruit in the box, if not discovered in time. There are 

 some l\inds of cover crop in which it seems to thrive better than others. 

 It can he found more abundant, perhaps, in vetch than in any other 



