PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



19 



reaching their highest last fall. 

 How long this demand will contin- 

 ue, whether or not it will remain 

 steady and the market for Califor- 

 nia wines be increased, or whether 

 there will be an overproduction of 

 grapes and wines and a slump come 

 again, it is hard to predict; but in 

 this as in all human affairs, the 

 farmer has got to take some 

 chances, and while he may lose by 

 planting, he is certain to lose it 

 there is a demand and he has noth- 

 ing to sell. The old saying applies 

 here as elsewhere, "Nothing ven- 

 ture nothing have " 



Every live metropolitan .daily has 

 a prize Bght editor .and a horse- 

 racing editorand others who under- 

 stand every line of sport and can 

 describe in the most approved ver- 

 nacular every movement in these 

 advanced forms of our civilization, 

 and they never make a mistake. 

 Bat when it comes to horticultural 

 and agricultural subjects it is evi 

 dent the devil in the office is called 

 upon to exerci.se his editorial abil- 

 ity, as probably knowing more on 

 the subject than any of the mem- 

 bers of the .staff An example of 

 this delightful ignorance of useful 

 things has lately been displayed in 

 the appearance in a laige number 

 of our coasi dailies of a very impor- 

 ■ tanl item telegraphed from Nevada 

 City stating that the Departmentof 

 Agriculture had sent to tbat place 

 a large number of Irish sparrows to 

 destroy the codlin moth, which was 

 doing such damage to apple, olive, 

 orange and other trees. The De- 

 partment of Agriculture never sent 

 any Irish sparrows to Nevada City. 

 It never imported any sparrows 

 from Ireland. The codlin moth 

 does rrot trouble olive and orange 

 trees. The Irish sparrow will not 

 eat the codlin moth. There is no 

 such bird as an Irish sparrow. 

 With these few exceptions the item 

 is probably correct. 



seases as the peach yellow aud'the 

 peach rosette, is doing immense 

 damage in the peach districts of the 

 East. In Michigan hundreds of 

 acres of peaches have been destroy- 

 ed and heroic measures are being 

 takerr by the federal government to 

 eradicate the blight It is predicted 

 that many fruit growers will be 

 practically ruined, as to eradicate 

 the disease means the destruction of 

 the entire orchard. "The Little" 

 is called so because the leaves and 

 fruit attacked shrivel up. The 

 peaches are about the size of mar- 

 bles. Growth is dwarfed and the 

 di.sease spreads from tree to tree 

 with great rapidity. 



The Board of Horticulture has 

 taken stringent measures to prevent 

 the introduction of the yellows and 

 rosette by quarantining against the 

 districts in which they prevail, and 

 it is probable that the embargo 

 against infested sections will also 

 apply to those affected with The 

 Littles. It would certairrly be a 

 serious matter if any of these tli- 

 seases were to obtain a foothold in 

 our peach sections, and that they 

 have not has been largely due to the 

 action of the Board of Horticulture 

 and the vigilance of its officers. 



drought. Yet she has suffered 

 severely, many farmers have been 

 ruined, and much grain land has 

 had to be abandoned. Reservoirs 

 have dried up and many quarrels 

 over irrigating water have resulted. 

 It is to he hoped that the preserrt 

 season may be a good one and that 

 we have entered upon a new cycle 

 of wet years that will fill the nat- 

 rrral reservoirs and place Southern 

 California on the safe side once 

 more. 



A NKW PEACH disease known as 

 Little Peaches or The Littles, and 

 belonging to the same class of di- 



Rain has fallen in abundance, in 

 fact rather too much of an abund- 

 ance, all over the State during the 

 latter part of January, and all fear 

 of a dry season has been dissipated. 

 With ordinary sea.sonal showers, 

 good crops are now assured. In 

 Northern Califoruia we have no 

 great dread of a dry saason, for 

 even in the season of the shortest 

 rainfall there is precipitation enough 

 to make fairly good crops, but in 

 the South it is entirely different, 

 and the specter of a po.ssible dry 

 vear is always present, and a dry 

 year there means almost the total 

 failure of all field crops on unirri- 

 galed land, and also a great short- 

 age in the irrigation water. South- 

 ern California has passed through 

 five seasons of deficient rainfall, al- 

 though there has been no actual 



San Jo«e has set apart the tenth 

 day of March as Arbor Day, and 

 the Highway Improvement Club of 

 that city has asked Prof. W. R. 

 Dudley of the Botany Department 

 for suggestions as to the best meth- 

 ads of planting trees along the pub- 

 lic thoroughfares. He has suggest- 

 ed that the stretch of road between 

 Palo Alto and San Jose be divided 

 into half-mile sections, each to be 

 planted with a separate species of 

 semi-tropical trees The plan is 

 not for a wholesale planting of trees, 

 but for a system extending over 

 several years, which will result in 

 making the road between San Fran- 

 cisco and Mt. Hamilton a beautiful 

 semi-tropical driveway. 



San Jose asks the neighboring 

 towns to co-operate with that city 

 in carrying out these plans. The 

 planting on March loth will be con- 

 fined to a district of one or two tuiles 

 from San Jose. Deciduous trees 

 only will be planted this year. 

 Prof Dudley made a special point 

 of the planting of evergreens, such 

 as paltus, sequoias, and gums, in- 

 stead of deciduous trees, because of 

 their perennial freshness and beauty 

 but county regulations permit plant 

 ing nothing but trees of the decid- 

 uous varieties. 



Monday at noon Governor Par- 

 dee signed the bill which makes the 

 golden poppy tire State flower. The 

 Governor in affixing his signature 

 to the bill used a stylus made from 

 the <iuill of a California bald eagle, 

 and this pen was presented to Mrs. 

 J. G. Letnmon, who has been 

 mainly instrumental in having this 

 flower made the State emblem. 



