Page JO 



BETTER FRUTf 



Aprjl 



future students of the subject. We are 

 more interested here, however, in the 

 positive results, and I need only point 

 to the very material progress made in 

 the testing of the efficiency of insecti- 

 cides and their foliage neutrality and the 

 discox'ery of new methods of manufacture, 

 from which the orcharidsts of this valley 

 are already receiving" benefits. Among 

 these we wish also to call your attention 

 to the arsenite of zinc. This has proven 

 to be the safest of the arsenicals that 

 can be procured in the form of a dry 

 powder. It is not so safe, of course, as 

 the neutral lead arsenates, but has been 

 used without very serious evidence of 

 burning in the orchards where dusting- 

 has been adopted instead of spraying. 

 Dusting is usually entirely unsatisfactory, 

 and has been condemned by a great 

 many of the Eastern experiment stations. 

 Here in the Pajaro Valley, however, 

 undoubtedly because of our persistent 

 fogs, results almost, if not quite, equal in 

 efficiency to those obtained by spraying 

 are secured from dry applications by 

 quite a number of our orchardists. There 

 is no doubt that the zinc arsenite stands 

 foremost at the present time among the 

 available arsenicals with high arsenic 

 content. Its particular value in the 

 Pajaro Valley lies in its availabilitj' for 

 use in spraying for the tussock moth 

 early in the spring when the danger from 

 arsenic injury is at its minimum. This 

 gives us a better means of control than 

 that recommended in our bulletin No. 

 183 on the tussock moth. 



Mr. Volck has also made great prog- 

 ress in clearing up the problems asso- 

 ciated with the manufacture of emulsions, 

 miscible oils and soaps. A phase of this 

 work which is bound to have very impor- 

 tant results is the progress made in the 

 incorporation of nicotine. I trust that 

 before long the opportunity will come 

 for the presentation of the results of 

 these investigations in bulletin form. Mr. 

 Volck's association with the California 

 Chemical Spray Company has given him 

 unusual opportunities for perfecting the 

 manufacturing side of these preparations 

 and has made it possible for the growers 

 in this valley to immediately avail them- 

 selves of the result of the investigations. 



Among the triumph-s in the manufac- 

 ture of insecticides, one that stands sec- 

 ond only to the creation of a neutral 

 arsenate, has been wrought out through 

 the work of the last three years, whereby 

 the grade of commercial lime-sulphur 

 solution has been steadily advanced till 

 now it reaches a standard of 36 degrees 

 B.aume, a strength one-fifth higher than 

 any found in the market three years 

 ago, and decidedly higher than the output 

 of any other factory in the United States 

 or in the world. This has been (hjne 

 willniut increasing the cost to the 

 grower, and is, therefore, equivalent tn 

 a reduction in price of twenty per cent. 

 The production of this lime-sulphur mix- 

 ture commercialli' in this ^^alle)f has 

 resulted in quite as notable an increase 

 in the amoimt of spraying for San Jose 

 scale as that indicated un the chart in 

 the case uf sprai'ing fur ct idling ninth, 

 with the difference, however, that work 

 against the San Jose scale does not 



require a treatment each year, therefore 

 the number of acres unsprayed in any 

 particular year will always remain larger 

 than that treated. The amount of lime- 

 sulphur solution applied to the orchards 

 in this valley this year exceeded ],G00 

 barrels. 



I will not attempt, however, to discuss 

 in detail the development (if this process, 

 nor refer to the great progress made in 

 the control of the mildew, but will close 

 with the thought that the orchardists in 

 this section deserve all of the success 

 that they have secured through these 

 investigations, since they have shown a 

 long-sighted policj'. not only in the 

 inau.guration of the investigations in 



3 903 and the maintenance of the work 

 through the succeeding years, but by 

 their persistence, notwithstanding the 

 discouragements of I'JOo, and I rejoice, 

 as I know you rejoice, in the fact that 

 this investigation has resulted in the 

 establishment in your midst of such a 

 manufacturing plant as that of the Cali- 

 fornia Spray Chemical Company. Of 

 course my own first interests are in the 

 scientific results obtained, but I have 

 little doubt that this factory is destined 

 to continue in this valley as a more 

 efficient living influence than the direct 

 work of the university toward the pro- 

 duction in the highest qualit}'' of fruit in 

 this valley. 



FRUIT GROWING 



IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 



BY E. R. BENNETT 



FRUIT GROWING as a commercial 

 business has beeti largely developed 

 within the past one hundred years. 

 America — that is the United States and 

 Canada — leads the world in its output of 

 fruit, particularly fruits of the temperate 

 zone. The apple, though a native (.)f the 

 Old World, reaches its highest develop- 

 ment and greatest production in North 

 America. In the colonial daj's the apple 

 was grown and used extensively in the 

 eastern part of the United States, but 

 the varieties were for the most part 

 inferior seedlings, and the apple was 

 utilized largely in the making of cider 

 and other alcoholic products. This prob- 

 ably accounts for the lack of interest 

 taken in the early history of apple grow- 

 ing in the United States in developing 

 better varieties of fruit. 



Another factor that may have been 

 somewhat responsible for the ccjnditions 

 that existed was the fact that apples, 

 and in fact all kinds of fruits, were pro- 

 duced one hundred years ago without 

 any particular care. The apples of New- 

 England may be said to have grown wild, 

 and after they were first planted by the 

 settlers the squirrels carried seed into 

 the stone walls that soon produced trees, 

 and even now a large part of the apple 

 production in parts of New England 

 comes from these seedling trees that 

 are growing along walls and fence rows 

 of the New England farms. 



The many diseases and insect pests 

 that have to be contended with at the 

 present time were largely unknown in 

 those days, and good apples of their kind 

 were to be had from any of the farn-is 

 from New England to the frontier. 



A half century ago apple growing was 

 more or less profitable in connection with 

 the general farming of the Central States, 

 and the apple orchard was one of the 

 features of every Michigan, New York 

 or Illinois farm. A few years later the 

 diseases and insect pests became s<j 

 pre\-alent that it was difficult to grow 

 apples that were at all salable, or even 

 fairly edible. Up to this time apple 

 growing, or in fact fruit growing of 

 any kind, can hardly be said to have been 

 an industry. When the diseases and 

 insect pests made apple growing as a 

 side issue unprofitable the opportunity 

 for apple grrnving as an industry became 

 possible. In fact fron-i this date' — that is. 



twenty-five to forty years ago — may be 

 traced the rise of fruit grf)wing as an 

 important industrj' in the United States. 

 The experiment stations became active 

 in working out remedies for the various 

 troubles that beset the fruit grower and 

 individuals began seeking for varieties 

 that were better adapted for culinary 

 uses and as dessert fruits. 



The f)ld farm orchard of the East has 

 become largely a matter of history or 

 sentiment, and has to a great extent 

 passed away, as practically none of them 

 has in the past fifteen nr twenty years 

 produced fruit enough to make the 

 orchard worth leaving on the land. 

 E\en in the past ten or fifteen years 

 the fruit growing principles and prac- 

 tices have very materiallj' changed. 



Fruit growing is an intensive business, 

 and the cost of production is necessarily 

 high whether the returns are large or 

 small. As a result only those places will 

 succeed in commercial fruit growing that 

 have all conditions uniforn-ily favorable. 



BOOK 



This is the book every fruit 

 grower and farmer needs. It is 

 complete in every detail includ- 

 ing an absolutely scientific Spray 

 Calendar with diseases and in- 

 5 illustrated and described. 



HAND AND POWER 



Spray Machinery 



Tested spi-ays and in- 

 secticides are all in- 

 cluded together witli 

 p rice s, illustrations 

 and full descriptions. 

 Lill.v's Spi'a.v Book is a 

 practical guide. Send 

 for it — free to those ask- 

 ing. Chas. H .Iiilly Co., 

 Seattle. 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



