558 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



leaves. They drop to the ground when the vine is disturbed, and 

 may be caught as just described for vine hoppers. 



Grasshoppers. These pests often invade orchard and vineyard, 

 and sometimes kill the plants outright by completely defoliating 

 them. This' plague has been successfully met by the use of the 

 arsenic and bran remedy, prepared as follows : Forty pounds of 

 bran, two gallons of cheap syrup, five pounds of arsenic, mixed soft 

 with water; a tablespoonful thrown by the side of each vine or 

 tree. If placed on shingles about the vineyard, much of the poison 

 not eaten may be afterward gathered up and saved.* 



Red Spider and Other Mites. Very minute insects, usually dis- 

 cernible only with the aid of a magnifier, sometimes destroy the 

 leaves, causing them to lose their color and health by their inroads 

 upon the leaf surface. The red spider and yellow mite are con- 

 spicuous examples ; they infest nearly all orchard trees, especially 

 the almond, prune', and plum. The eggs of the red spider are ruby- 

 red globules, as seen with the magnifier, and are deposited in vast 

 numbers upon the bark of the tree, and leave a red color upon the 

 finger if it is rubbed over them. The eggs are very hard to kill, 

 and treatment is most effective when applied in the spring and 

 summer after the mites are hatched out. The popular remedy is 

 a thorough dusting of the trees with sulphur. On a large scale the 

 sulphur is applied in a cloud by means of a modification of the 

 broad-cast barley sower or with the sulphur machines specially 

 made for this purpose. On a small scale it may be applied with a 

 bellows as for grape-vines, or shaken from a cheese-cloth bag at 

 the end of a pole. Sulphur sprays have been found most effective 

 in controlling the red spider. The ingredients of the sulphur sprays 

 are as prepared as follows : 



Flour Paste. Take one pound of wheat flour to one gallon of 

 water. Place the flour in a box with a screen bottom (common 

 window screening), and pour the water through it, until all the 

 flour has been washed into the receiving vessel. It will then be 

 finely divided and free from lumps. The mixture should then be 

 brought to the boiling point, being stirred constantly, thus form- 

 ing a thin paste, without lumps. 



The paste is conveniently made in 20-gallon lots, using the com- 

 mon 25-gallon kettles so often found on California ranches; if 

 large kettles are not available, the paste can be boiled in less water 

 and then diluted to the above proportions before cooling. The 

 paste should be strained before using. 



*For the protection of nurseries, orchards, and vineyards it is often necessary 

 to resort to various devices for excluding the grasshopper, or for destroying them 

 upon adjoining fields. Publications describing such devices are Bulletins 142, 170 

 and 192, University Experiment Station, Berkeley. 





