THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
5° 7 
Notwithstanding the gibes and ridicule 
TOP WORKING directed at the notorious variety, Ivieffer, 
THE KIEFFER there are many places in the country 
PEAR where it can be still grown with profit. 
In our judgment this is simply an example 
of the law of adaptation. Those regions to which the 
variety is not naturally adapted will be eliminated from the 
contest. Those regions where it is productive and where 
the climatic conditions are such that its highest qualities are 
approximated will continue to grow Kieffers for the canning 
and cheaper consuming trades. 
One of the interesting questions to growers who are out¬ 
side of the Kieffer zone is, what to do with established 
orchards. In the early history of our experience with this 
variety the feeling was prevalent that when it became un¬ 
profitable it could be easily worked over to varieties which 
the market would handle. Later experience indicates that 
the problem is not as easy as it seemed and experience is 
filtering in from the rank and file of the fruit growers that 
there are few varieties, especially from the Oriental hybrids, 
which have a proper affinity for the Kieffer stock. 
One of the troubles is that blight seems to be encouraged 
where the Kieffer is used as a stock. Several instances of 
this kind are recorded. In the Canadian Niagara district 
the Anjou has been worked on Kieffer, but in almost every 
case, if not in every instance, the Anjou has blighted badly. 
At the recent meeting of the Ontario Fruit Growers Associa¬ 
tion one orchardist cited his experience in top working six¬ 
teen acres of Kieffer with Bose, with the result that his Bose 
blighted so badly as to practically destroy this block of 
trees. Again, that noted authority, J. R. Cornell of New- 
burg, goes on record as saying his experience leads him to 
believe that it is an undesirable ard unsafe stock to use. 
On the whole, therefore, the outlook for the Kieffer as a stock 
is not promising. 
Every farmer, fruit grower and trucker is 
LEGISLATION interested in the bill now before Congress 
FOR providing for the control of the purity of 
SPRAYERS insecticides and fungicides, so far as they 
enter interstate commerce by the U. S. 
Dept, of Agriculture. The general scope and purpose of this 
bill have been previously explained in these columns. The 
measure has the endorsement of all the leading national 
organizations representing the farmers such as the National 
Grange, the National Apple Growers’ Congress, the National 
Horticultural Congress, the American Pomological Society, 
the Association of Economic Entomologists, etc., and also 
has the hearty endorsement and support of practically all 
the manufacturers. The use of insecticides and fungicides 
has increased so rapidly in the last few years that the manu¬ 
facturers realize that it is of the utmost importance that 
standards be adopted so that the use of the manufactured 
products may be on an equitable and scientific basis. It is 
often impossible for the reputable manufacturer to compete 
with one who is selling inferior goods at a slightly lower 
price. This sort of business is injurious both to the legiti¬ 
mate manufacturer and consumer. 
The question has been raised whether this sort of control 
should not devolve upon the states, and whether it would 
not be an infringement of the powers of the states for Con¬ 
gress to enact such legislation. An increasingly large pro¬ 
portion of the insecticide and fungicide business, however, is 
direct from the manufacturer to the consumer, or to a 
cooperative association of buyers. This business, which is 
a very large proportion of the whole, in which the manufac¬ 
turer ships in original packages, or cargoes direct to the con¬ 
sumer is strictly interstate and is beyond the police powers 
of the state. The control of such interstate commerce is 
entirely subject to national laws and administration. 
There is a very general appreciation of the need of such 
control due to many a low grade and some evidently fraudu¬ 
lent insecticides and fungicides, so that no further argument 
for the passage of the measure would seem to be necessary. 
The measure is one of those many meritorious ones, which 
come before Congress, whose passage will depend largely 
upon whether Congress feels that there is any real need or 
popular demand for it. 
We, therefore, urge upon any of our readers who are per¬ 
sonally interested in this matter, or who have suffered from 
the impurity of adulteration of insecticides or fungicides to 
at once write to Hon. Jas. R. Mann, Chairman of the Com¬ 
mittee on Interstate Commerce .Washington, D.C., and to 
their own congressman, in favor of H. R. 3658. A public 
hearing will be given the measure on March 8th, and inter¬ 
ested parties should let their congressman hear from them 
before that date. 
SOLUBLE OIL OR LIME-SULPHUR 
There has probably never been before as much discussion 
in regard to remedies for fruit-tree pests as there has been 
during the past few years in regard to remedies for the 
different Scale Insects, principally the San Jose Scale. 
Fruit growers have become accustomed to hearing the 
Lime-Sulphur man make his claims that Soluble Oil is no 
good—will kill the tree—and can be used only at an excess 
sive cost. 
At the same time, the Soluble Oil manufacturer is to a 
great extent making the claim that the Lime-Sulphur Wash 
is a very inefficient remedy, and that with its use the fruit 
grower can never get rid of the scale. In the writer s opin¬ 
ion, both claims are exaggerations. 
Looking at the question from an unbiased standpoint, 
we find in actual results, about the following: The fruit 
grower who has an orchard badly infested with scale and 
sprays thoroughly three or four times the first winter with 
the Lime-Sulphur Wash—that is, between fall and spring— 
and possibly two or three times the following year, gets the 
scale pretty thoroughly cleaned out of his orchard. On the 
other hand, the fruit grower with a badly infested orchard 
who gives it one thorough spraying with a properly made 
Soluble Oil, has accomplished fully as much as the part} 
who has used some four or five sprays of the Lime-Sulphur- 
Wash. This is not theory, but is the actual fact based on 
results. It should be noted that the writer refers to or¬ 
chards that are quite badly infested with scale. 
The Lime-Sulphur Wash is a combination Fungicide 
and Insecticide, and Soluble Oil is distinctly a remedy for 
all scale or Sap-Sucking Insects, F. G. Street. 
