18 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



Even this remnant of once extensive plantations exists, on sufferance 

 only, in the midst of wheat fields or of some other equally thirsty crop 

 that drinks all the moisture from the soil before the poor olive tree is in 

 blossom. In the eastern part of this region, i. e., east of the River Rhone, 

 things improve. Cultivation is a little more rational, and one finds the 

 circle around the roots of the tree picked up with a grub hoe a little 

 larger. Pruning is a trifle more regular, but somewhat more severe. 

 Nature having endowed the land with less richness, the olive is retained, 

 for the simple reason that nothing else will grow there. 



Ellwood Rancho. — There are seven different olive orchards, a- half to 

 one mile apart; three persimmon orchards, walnut orchards, chestnut 

 orchards, deciduous fruits, orange, lemon, and lime trees. In the flower 

 garden there are about one thousand different kind of plants, and 

 numerous vines and thickets; among these are oleanders and acacia 

 trees, which are particularly attractive to the black and white scales. 

 We have on this ranch the white scale, black scale, soft orange scale, 

 red spider, walnut aphis, green aphis, and other noxious pests. I have 

 not fumigated or sprayed for ten years, except for the codling-moth, and 

 for two years I have not sprayed for the codling-moth. Last year we 

 had 90 per cent of our apples free from worms. I am not certain but 

 that a parasite for the codling-moth is at work in the orchard. I will 

 report on this at the Fall Convention. Considering the great number 

 and variety of plants and trees, I have less injury from pests than any 

 other ranch. The oranges and lemons are clean. The olives are beau- 

 tiful. All this was brought about by the parasites collected in Australia 

 by Albert Koebele. 



The Woolly Aphis on Apple Trees. — I tried the experiment of fighting 

 the apple aphis with caustic soda, and by neglect on the part of a man 

 whose business it was to apply it, about half the apple trees in the 

 orchard were killed by not sufficiently diluting the caustic soda. 



MR. BERWICK. What proportion was used — how much to the 

 gallon? 



PRESIDENT COOPER. I do not remember now. It was many years 

 ago. But I followed the formula. I tried experiments with the common 

 California ladybirds — the brown, the red, and the seven black spotted. 

 I gathered those ladybirds and placed them on the trees in the orchard, 

 and the moment they were liberated they flew away. I failed. I went 

 to the walnut orchard and gathered the leaves where they had deposited 

 their eggs. I found that they deposited their eggs on the under side of 

 the walnut leaf, near the trunk, where there was the most shade, about 

 twenty-five to thirty eggs in a clump. I took those leaves off and tied 

 the stems at the foot of the apple trees, where the woolly aphis was 

 most numerous, and on the limbs, where a limb had been cut off, 



