PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



19 



started in circulation by the warm 

 weather, only to be chilled by the 

 later cold, and sour sap results, do- 

 ing very much damage in the or- 

 chard and often killing whole blocks 

 of trees. It is for these reasons that 

 a cool January is a blessing to the 

 orchardist, as it usually insures a 

 good crop of fruit and healthy trees. 



Wh have in the past season re 

 ceived many complaints of the in- 

 efficiency of sulphur as a check on 

 the red spider, and in one case, 

 having occasion to investigate, 

 found that a cheap grade of ground 

 sulphur had been used. Th-re is 

 little doubt that sublimed sulphur 

 properly used will destroy the red 

 spider. This remedy has been used 

 for years in this state, and where 

 proper sulphur has been obtained 

 has always given satisfaction. But 

 very much of the sulphur put upon 

 the market for sale is either ground 

 or mixed, and it is practically a 

 waste of both time and money to 

 apply this. Let all fruit growers 

 who use sulphur, either in the vine- 

 yard or the orchard, insist upon 

 having sublimed sulphur, and there 

 is little question but that they will 

 obtain satisfactory results from its 

 use. 



The past year has been a 

 good one in all lines of agriculture 

 and horticulture, and the new 

 one promises eveu better things. 

 Prices in all lines are fair and ad- 

 vancing. The season has opened 

 very well. Rains have been plen- 

 tiful, coming at the proper time and 

 at good intervals; we have had no 

 severe or injurious weather. A 

 visit to our orchards discloses the 

 trees well laden with fruit buds 

 which promise well for next sum- 

 mer, while grain is well advanced 

 and feed plentiful. It is said that 

 you should never erect a monument 

 to a man until he is dead, so per- 

 haps we should not hope for too 

 much from the coming season; but 

 so far the outlook is good, and un- 

 less the unexpected happens, it is 

 safe to predict a good season. 



The favorable sea.son which we 

 have so far had, coupled with the 

 active demand for wheat, has started 

 our wheat farmers at active work 

 all over the State; and at the pres- 

 ent writing, the prospects favor the 

 largest grain acreage we have had 

 in many years. Very many of the 

 wheat ranchers in the upper San 

 J(iat|nin valley have suffered from 

 sliort crops for several years past 

 and there has been a decided short- 

 age in the winter precijjitation 

 there, which the present season 

 promises to reinedv. Acting upon 

 the hypothesis that it is a long lane 

 that has no turning, and that so 

 many dry seasons must end in a 

 good one at last, our farmers are 

 preparing for a good 3'ear and are 

 sowing a largely increased area. 



Good fruit pays the grower. 

 This fact is becoming so well im- 

 pressed upon all orchardists that 

 every effort is now being made to 

 produce the best. Time was when 

 a tree was stuck in the ground and 

 left to its fate, and it produced a 

 fruit which we thought unequalled 

 in our boyhood, but which l;day 

 would not be worth picking Fruit 

 production has become a science, 

 and in the past few years in Califor- 

 nia, almost one of the exact sciences, 

 for as the market demands only the 

 best, so our growers vie with each 

 other to produce only the best. To 

 accomplish this care in selection, 

 the adaptation of soil to varieties, 

 careful cultivation, and the persis- 

 tent fighting of insect pests and 

 fungus diseases have to be exer- 

 cised. Many young orchardists 

 are now preparing to enter into 

 active life, and it is fortunate for 

 them that they have the experience 

 of the past to guide them, and more 

 fortunate if they have the wisdom 

 to investigate and profit by this ex- 

 perience. 



It is gratifying to note that the 

 committee of fifteen, on the labor 

 question, appointed at the late Fruit 

 Growers Convention, have already 

 commenced earnest work. The 



committee is compo.sed of promi- 

 nent fruit men from all sections of 

 the State, and they realize fully the 

 necessity of doing something, and 

 doing it soon, which shall relieve 

 the stringency in the labor market. 

 Most of them have learned by sad 

 experience during the past two sea- 

 sons that there is a crying need for 

 reliable labor within the range of 

 the producer's means. The com- 

 mittee have held their first meeting 

 at Pas ) Rdbles, as being the most 

 central puint in the State and with- 

 in easy reacli of the members. At 

 this meeting sub-committees were 

 appointed, whose duty it will be to 

 organize sub-organizations all over 

 the State, these sub-organizations 

 to look out for work, and place ap- 

 plicants where their labor is needed. 

 Every means will be resorted to to 

 impress upon the Eastern farm 

 laborer that there is work in abund- 

 ance in California at good wages. 

 Compared with what is paid in the 

 East, and that he can come here 

 and be sure of steady employment 

 and be well taken care of while he 

 works here. It is 10 be hoped that 

 the efforts of the committee will 

 produce good results, for our fruit 

 farmers have suffered heavy losses 

 from shortage of labor during the 

 past two years, which they do not 

 want to face again. 



E. A. Bryan, President of the 

 Washington Agricultural College, 

 speaking of the relative value of 

 potatoes as hog food, says : 



"One hundred pounds of pota- 

 toes cannot be turned into li worth 

 of meat, even at the present high 

 price of hogs. Only about one- 

 fifth or one-sixth the amount of 

 meat can be gotten out of the seme 

 weight of wheat or barley ground. 

 The cooking of the potatoes per- 

 haps help.s the ff-ed, but the cook- 

 ing of the wheat does not increase 

 its feeding value, as has been re- 

 peatedly demonstrated. The grind- 

 ing of the wheat does. Potatoes 

 can be fed as part of ration at from 

 20 to 25 cents per hundred, but 

 cannot be profitably fed at all at li 

 per hundred, unless the price of 

 bogs should increase abnormally." 



