30 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



wagons were driven about and did the 

 best work, as they could go wherever most 

 needed. The smoke and vapor were car- 

 ried to the rear as the wagon moved, and, 

 being at once out of the rising heat, fell 

 close to the ground in a long white trail. 

 At daylight our whole 400 acres of orchard 

 was covered with a white fog extending 

 from the ground about twenty feet high." 

 That seems to be a perfect solution of 

 the problem. The wagons may be driven 

 among the trees or anywhere else, and the 

 blanket of vapor left behind is a sure pro- 

 tection against frost. The idea is econom- 

 ical, the question of fuel being one that 

 every grower can answer for himself. 



Pear Bligfit in Texas. Mr. H. M. 



Stringfellow some years ago planted an ex- 

 tensive pear orchard at Hitchcock, between 

 Houston and Galveston, Texas, and for 

 some years it was reported to be abso- 

 lutely free from blight and the most prof- 

 itable orchard of the kind in the country. 

 But all that has changed. It has been 

 found that what Mr. Stringfellow believed 

 was an ideal location for pears was so only 

 for a short time, and that now the trees in 

 that locality of which great numbers have 

 been planted, are subject to the disorders 

 which affect such trees elsewhere. From 

 a letter in the Texas Farm and Ranch we 

 take the following: 



"I am just in from Houston and while there 

 took a run down to Hitchcock to see the String- 

 fellow pear orchard. I was anxious to see how 

 that fine pear orchard had fared, while blight 

 was everywhere playing havoc with pear or- 

 chards. I found the old original orchard badly 

 affected; the Kieffer worse than I have ever 

 seen it here which so far has been almost clear 

 of blight. Le Conte was as badly affected as 

 here. I was exceedingly sorry to see this. 

 Thousands of trees of these'varieties are planted 

 and being planted around Hitchcock, Loma 

 and Alvin. It is a grand sight to a fruit man, 

 but when we think of the blackened ruin that 

 it must come to in a few years, it makes us sad. 

 We also saw the Satsuma orchard set out by Mr. 

 Stringfellow, dead to the ground, on the trifoli- 

 ate stock. But when we think of eighteen 

 inches of snow lying on the ground for several 

 days it is no wonder that orange trees, even of 

 the most hardy type died. 



Calomel for Pear Slight. The ques- 

 tion of administering calomel to cure pear 

 blight is attracting some attention in the 

 Eastern States, and in this connection we 

 give the gist of the claim made for this 

 prescription by Dr. Hensley before the 



Missouri State Horticultural Society some 

 three years ago. The doctor alleged that 

 the remedy had been successfully tried for 

 twenty-two years, and he regarded it as 

 practically infallible. He alleged that it 

 had invariably cured the disease whenever 

 tried. The dose recommended is five to 

 ten grains administered by cutting the 

 bark across the trunk and longitudinally, 

 as in the operation of budding, turning 

 back the bark, inserting the calomel, then 

 closing the wound and tying it in place by 

 means of a bandage. 



While the lay mind may possibly be 

 inclined to skepticism regarding the effi- 

 cacy of this treatment, it can be easily 

 tried by any one and the matter fully 

 tested. The medicine should be applied 

 in the spring when the sap is flowing 

 freely. 



Copper Sulphate as a Fungicide. 



Professor Taft, of the Michigan Experi- 

 ment Station, has much faith in copper 

 sulphate as a winter spray for fungous 

 growths of various kinds. He says : 



" It is now about three years since a strong 

 solution of copper sulphate first came into use 

 as a fungicide upon the bare branches of trees 

 before the buds opened, and the results obtained 

 from its application have been so favorable that 

 it is recommended by nearly, if not all, of the 

 spraying calendars. When used at the rate of 

 one pound to fifteen or twenty-five gallons of 

 water, it destroys the mycelium of such fungi 

 as winter upon the branches, and prevents the 

 germination of such spores as may come in 

 contact with it ; but at this strength it will 

 destroy the foliage, hence it cannot be used 

 later in the season." 



Prune Acreage in the Pacific North- 

 west.^ its splendid "Prune Edition," 

 the "Rural Northwest" gave valuable statis- 

 tics of the industry in Oregon, Washington 

 and Idaho. From careful investigation 

 the "Rural" has learned that prunes are 

 grown in 20 counties of Oregon, in acre- 

 ages ranging from 20 acres in Curry 

 county to 5,000 acres in Douglass county. 

 The total for the State is given at 28,370 

 acres. Washington produces prunes in 

 twenty-seven counties, and the smallest 

 acreage in any county is fifty acres in 

 both Columbia and Kittitas. The total 

 acreage is 11,500 acres. Six counties in 

 Idaho produce prunes in quantity, and 

 the total acreage is 6,450 acres, of which 

 Ada and Canyon counties have 4,500 

 acres. Total for the three States, 46,320 

 acres of prune orchards. 



