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BETTER FRUIT 



Page 65 



HISTORY OF SPRAYING IN THE PAJARO VALLEY 



BY C. W. WOODWORTH, EXPERIMENTAL STATION, BERKELY, CALIFORNIA, AT WATSONVILLE APPLE ANNUAL 



THE magnificent display of this 

 apple "show justifies a feeling of 

 pride in every Californian. These 

 products represent not only the richness 

 of the soil and the perfection of the 

 climate, but testify even more to the 

 enterprise, courage and faith of the 

 people of this section of the state. For 

 be it known that such results as have 

 been attained in this valley represent 

 the resolute facing of difficulties and the 

 conquering of them. It is a high honor 

 for any of us to have been associated in 

 any way with the solution of the prob- 

 lems that have confronted these apple 

 growers and to share even to a small 

 extent in this triumph. 



It is undoubtedly true that nowhere 

 in the world is there an area planted to 

 any crop to the extent of the apple 

 orchards of this valley, where spraying 

 is so universally and efficiently done, 

 and there is no similar area where such 

 difficulties had to be surmounted in 

 order to place spraying on a practical 

 basis. The story of the horticultural 

 achievements of the Pajaro Valley will 

 always include the contributions here 

 made to the means of controlling the 

 insect pests. 



Just a quarter of a century ago I had 

 the privilege of taking part, under the 

 direction of Professor Forbes, in Illinois, 

 in the first thorough scientific experi- 

 ments made to test the efficiency of 

 arsenicals in the control of the codling 

 moth. This method has gradually been 

 extended until now spraying with these 

 substances has become an essential part 

 of the practice of apple growing in every 

 region which figures in the commercial 

 production of this fruit. 



Just twenty years ago Professor Wick- 

 son conducted the first experiments in 

 spraying for codling moth on the Pacific 

 Coast, and my first task on coming to 

 the state was the preparation of the 

 notes on these experiments for publica- 

 tion in the report of the experiment 

 station. Spraying was not immediately 

 taken up in the Pajaro Valley, though 

 the codling moth had already reached 

 this region, and wormy fruit became 

 very prevalent. A few of the more 

 enterprising orchardists finally began to 



experiment with sprays, but could not 

 obtain satisfactory results, though some 

 of them continued their efforts year 

 after year. 



The conquering of the codling moth 

 has been the work of the last eight 

 years. Previous to 1903 spraying for the 

 codling moth was not extensive enough 

 to produce any appreciable effect on the 

 apple market in this valley. Even today 

 the good which can come from spraying 

 is only a little over half realized. While 

 we have a right to felicitate ourselves 

 upon the progress thus far made — that 

 this valley today leads the world in this 

 phase of the fight for perfect fruit — let 

 us realize that this pre-eminence can 

 only be maintained by improving the 

 spraying practice over the greater por- 

 tion of the present acreage, bringing it 

 in line with the best practice in the val- 

 ley. Many orchards are today experi- 

 encing a loss from codling moth, not- 

 withstanding their spraying work, of 

 between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, 

 while adjacent orchards, under identical 

 climatic conditions, sufifer a loss of less 

 than one per cent. An insignificant 

 increase in the cost of spraying would 

 easily add two or three hundred cars 

 of merchantable fruit to the output of 

 the valley. As we recount the efforts 

 and achievements of the last few years 

 may we gain a renewed determination 

 to permit no pause in this forward 

 movement. 



When the call for help was sent to 

 the university in 1902 the staff of the 

 entomological division consisted of a 

 single instructor. With the funds con- 

 tributed by the two counties he was 

 enabled to bring into the field a corps 

 of four assistants, all students of the 

 university. All of these have made 

 good. Mr. Clarke was shortly afterward 

 called to Alabama as professor of ento- 

 mology and later recalled to California 

 as assistant professor of horticulture, 

 and given charge of the Farmers' Insti- 

 tute work of the state. Mr. Kirkman has 

 for years successfully managed a large 

 nursery in the San Joaquin Valley. Mr. 

 Hunter is the horticultural commissioner 

 of San Mateo County, whose successful 

 work against the mosquitoes of the 



Milbrae marshes has been particularly 

 notable, and Mr. Mitzmain did good 

 service in the study of fleas in connec- 

 tion with the bubonic plague work in 

 San Francisco, and is now in the gov- 

 ernment serivce in the Philippines, study- 

 ing the insects associated with diseases 

 of domestic animals. 



With the aid of these young men we 

 were able to carry on rather extensive 

 experiments and to study the life history 

 and habits of the insect. 



The primary object of our work was 

 to prove that the arsenicals were not 

 inefficient, as those who had previously 

 experimented in this valley had con- 

 cluded, and the work was eminently suc- 

 cessful in demonstrating this fact, though 

 the spraying program generally recom- 

 mended was found to be entirely inap- 

 plicable under the conditions existing in 

 this valley. This success, however, was 

 something like the successful operations 

 we sometimes hear about in the hos- 

 pitals in which the patient dies. The 

 fact (entirely unanticipated, one that 

 brings this region in striking contrast 

 with all other sections where spraying 

 for codling moth is practiced) that arsen- 

 icals, when used in the most approved 

 manner and with all the known precau- 

 tions, produced serious damage to the 

 foliage wlien the necessary treatments 

 are made to secure the fullest control of 

 the insect. In one orchard particularly 

 the loss was very much more than would 

 have been produced by the codling moth 

 had the orchard remained untreated. 

 Long before the end of the season it was 

 seen that the most serious problem was 

 how to so apply the arsenicals that the 

 foliage should not be damaged. On 

 account of this development of the situa- 

 tion another man was added to the 

 staff — another student — Mr. Volck, who 

 had already done good service in another 

 part of the state in the study of the 

 injuries produced by oil in spraying 

 citrus trees. He has remained with this 

 problem now over seven years. To his 

 ability and untiring effort and devotion 

 more than to anyone else is due the 

 splendid victory against the codling 

 moth. His work was full of failures, but 

 as soon as one thing failed he at once 



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