78 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



I took six or seven sacks of soot and scattered it around. I pruned 

 my apple trees very close. Just as soon as the blossoms came out I 

 scattered the soot around among the trees. I have raised good apples 

 for the last two years, and, all things considered, they are the cleanest 

 apples seen in California for five years. It seems to me that we could 

 effect some improvement in our apples. 



A vote on the resolution offered by Major Berry was then taken, and 

 the same was adopted. 



THE RUSSIAN THISTLE. 



Mr. Motheral: Another pest that has been introduced, and which is 

 liable to be a great menace to the State, is the Russian thistle. Those 

 who know anything about the ravages of that terrible weed will under- 

 stand what I mean. It is now in the lower part of the State. There 

 ought to be a resolution passed by this body, asking the Legislature to 

 appropriate money to aid in its eradication, or our whole agricultural 

 interest will be very seriously injured. It might take millions of money 

 to take care of our property, and provide against the ravages of the 

 Russian thistle. I hope that some one who knows about this matter 

 will submit the facts to us. 



Mr. Sprague : I reported to the convention last year, you will remem- 

 ber, the introduction of the Russian thistle the first time it was observed 

 west of the Rocky Mountains, which was two years ago. I then urged 

 very strongly that some action be taken for its immediate extermination. 

 It was a rare opportunity for exterminating it at that time. The con- 

 vention passed a resolution that this be done; that the Legislature take 

 some action. That is about all that resulted. We endeavored to do 

 something in our county. The situation was a difficult one. The people 

 of Los Angeles were unacquainted with the danger, and could not wake 

 up to realize its magnitude. They could not raise the money, as there 

 was some difficulty in the way of an appropriation for that purpose. 

 Furthermore, it was a slow process to assess damages. In Los Angeles 

 County, this past year, it has made headway. It seems to me, taking 

 the record as it stands, that it is of sufficient importance to demand an 

 extra session of the Legislature of California, to appropriate money for 

 the extermination of the Russian thistle. It can be done. Three years 

 from this time who knows whether it can be done or not? Now, then, if 

 you know what the danger is, why not appropriate a sufficient amount 

 of money to exterminate it? No weak measure will do it. You have 

 got to have five or six men to look up every single rod of ground within 

 the area where the Russian thistle now is. With sufficient care we may 

 be freed from danger. You have got to work. But it is not enough to 

 cover two thirds or five sixths of the area. It is now in Los Angeles and 

 Kern Counties, and is coming up the valley. It grows as high as a bush, 

 ripens seeds every day in the summer, rolls for a hundred miles, and 

 scatters seeds all along the route. It is an annual, so full of thorns that 

 it cannot be handled with bare hands. It has injured, to the extent of 

 millions of dollars, the farm lands in Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, 

 and the Dakotas. It crossed the Rocky Mountains some two years ago, 

 and made its first appearance in Los Angeles County. It spread rapidly, 

 "and now covers hundreds of acres in the southern portion of the State. 



