P A f I K I (• !" R K F. AND \'I N E 



the full and all wood showing any in- 

 dication of the disease removed; this 

 should be followed during the growing 

 season by the removal of all portions 

 which have been attacked and all wood 

 removed from the trees should be 

 burned and all tools and implements 

 used for pruning should be disinfect- 

 ed. For this purpose, a solution of 

 five per cent carbolic acid is effective. 

 Spraying, fumigating and all other e.\- 

 ternal remedies are utterly worthless, 

 as the disease is in the sap wood of 

 the tree, protected fronx all external 

 influences. 



There is yet another group of dis- 

 eases which have proved very serious 

 and which are as yet unilassitied. These 

 are such as the peach yellows, peach 

 losette. Littles, Anaheim disease, etc 

 It is not yet known what causes these 

 diseases or what remedies can be ap- 

 plied. As they are not responsive to 

 external remedies, however, it is quite 

 probable that they are bacterial in 

 their origin. Fortunately, except for 

 the vine disease, these scourages are 

 unknown to our fruit growers, and by 

 quarantining against the sections in 

 which they exist, we may be able to 

 prevent them from obtaining a foothold 

 in California. 



For practical purposes, pests of de- 

 ciduous fruits, like the diseases, may be 

 roughly classified under two heads- 

 insects that gnaw and insects that 

 suck. Under the former classification, 

 we include the larvae of the different 

 moths and butterflies, all the beetles 

 and some others. These do damage in 

 various ways, some by gnawing into thf 

 fruit, like the coJlin moth, others by 

 burrowing into the wood, like the peacli 

 tree borer, others by eating the foliage 

 or fruit, like the Diabrotica. Among 

 this class we find some of the worst 

 pests with which the orchardist has 

 to contend, as many of them conduct 

 their work under cover where it is al- 

 m,ost impossible to reach them and 

 their destruction involves the destruc- 

 tion of the fruit or great damage to the 

 tree. The best means to circumvent 

 this class is preventive. Where 

 their habits are known, methods should 

 be taken to keep them out of oui- trees 

 and in this case an ounce of preven- 

 tion is worlh many pounds of cure. 

 In the case of the peach-root borer, 

 it is much easier to erect barriers 

 against the jiarent moth to prevent 

 her laying eggs on the tree than it is 

 to dig out the larvae after they have 

 become established. The protection of 

 young trees from the sun by shading 

 their trunks until they produce enough 

 top to supply a natural protection will 

 go far toward keeping out borers from 

 young trees. But there is still a large 

 class that cannot be circumvented in 

 this manner, and for these the use of 

 arsenical poisons has been found the 

 best method of fighting. Paris green 

 is the standard remedy for the codlin 

 moth and all the leaf-eating insects. 

 and while this method is a ruinbersome 

 and expensive way of fighting our little 

 eneimles. It Is yet the best at our dis- 

 posal. For the whole group of gnawing 

 ing insects, then, the two standard rem- 

 edies are preventives and poisons. 



The second group are the sticking in- 

 sects. Here we have a very large 



array of injurious insects, for while 

 some suckers are beneficial, the great 

 majority of them are destructive. In 

 this group we have the large and seri- 

 ous family of Coccidae or scale insects. 

 It is not necessary to take up your 

 time by describing these, as you are 

 probably as well aware of the damage 

 done by them and the experience of 

 fighting them as I am. There are in 

 this family some 2000 named species, 

 some of which we have in California. 

 The Aphis family also comes under 

 this <iass. and these two are probably 

 the most numerous, widespread and de- 

 structive of the sucking insects. Their 

 method of operation is to insert theii 

 rostrum or beak into the sap wood of 

 their host plant and deprive it of its 

 life fluid as rapidly as possible. Thei;- 

 rapid increase causes them when (une 



resin wash, are usually effective, and 

 where these will not reach or are in- 

 effective, hydrocyanic acid gas will do 

 the work. 



It is not improbable that in time we 

 shall be able to restore the balance of 

 nature by the discovery, introduction 

 and distribution of parasitic and pi'e- 

 dacious insects so that our present 

 cumbersome, inefficient and expensive 

 methods of fighting pests will be large- 

 ly, if not wholly, rendered needless. 

 We have already by this means greatly 

 reduced the number of our destructive 

 insect enemies, and are keeping those 

 that we have reached in a state of "in- 

 nocuous desuetude." At present there 

 are not over a half-dozen really serious 

 pests of deciduous fruit trees, among 

 which is the codlin moth, the woolly 

 aphis, the ])each-root bOrer and the 



started, to soon cover the plant which 

 harbors them, and while one is in- 

 significant, when they are at work by 

 millions, the jilant is soon weakened. 

 Now, for this class of insects, of course, 

 ejjtornal poisonous applications are 

 worthless, although I have met with 

 people who had such faith in paris 

 green that they used it for aphids. 

 With their sucking beak well inserted 

 lielow the surface of the plant, no poi- 

 son will reach them unless it could be 

 forced through the sap of the tree, onil 

 this is not probable. To reach there, 

 therefore, a different method of at- 

 tack is necessary. Preparations that 

 kill by contact are necessary, as whale 

 nil soap, the kernsene emulsion or the 



various forius of aphids. For the lat- 

 ter, the lady-birds are an efficient check 

 and while the pests apear in large 

 nuniljeis at some seasons, they also as 

 lapidly disappear. 



Even under the most favorable con- 

 ditions, however, we can never hope to 

 be free from insect pests, for there 

 will always be occasional serious out- 

 breaks, but with their natural checks 

 ihoroiighly established, these outbreaks 

 .vill be spasmodic and not continuous, 

 .IS in some cases at present, and will 

 continue only until their check can 

 again overtake them. In the inean 

 lime, it behooves our orchardists who 

 -vould have marketable fruit, or. often. 

 • iny fruit, to watch and spray. 



