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OFFICIAL REPORT

OF THE

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’
CONVENTION

OF THE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA,

HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF HORTI-

CULTURE, AT RIVERSIDE, COMMENCING TUESDAY, APRIL 28,
AND ENDING FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1908.

SACRAMENTO:

W. W. SHANNON, 2 3 : SUPERINTENDENT OF STATE PRINTING.
1908. |

23-4¥37

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE.

J. W. JEFFREY, COMMISSIONER.
JOHN ISAAC, Secretary. GERTRUDE BIRD, Stenographer.

MAIN OFFICE:

State Capitol, Sacramento.

QUARANTINE DIVISION.

E. M. EHRHORN, Deputy. O. E. BREMNER, Assistant Deputy.

OFFICE :

Ferry Building, San Francisco.

INSECTARY DIVISION.

E. K. CARNES, Supt. . GEORGE COMPERE, Collector Beneficial Insects

OFFICE:

Capitol Grounds, Sacramento.

ee

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PROCEEDINGS OF FIRST DAY.
Morning Session—

PAGE
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. By S. C. Hvans... 2... cece eee eeecnes 7
eee ter tion. ME. Bstudillo.. . 0... cc ete eee ee ens valle ink 9
BeeminG ADDRESS. By J. W. Jeffrey... 2.0 ccc ccc eee eee eens 10
eens OF DR. DAVID STARR JORDAN.... 2... cec ec ce esc uies IU¢¢
Afternoon Session—

WALNUT CULTURE AND TOP-GRAFTING. By J. B. Neff......... 19
eter OH PROFHSSOR RAMSBHY 2s... 2... ewe c cece cece semen 25

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE STATUS OF OUR GRAPE
Emm esr C). Hy Brenner... ccc ccs paca ance seen eens 30
PARASITES AND THE STATE INSECTARY. By S. A. Pease....... 39

PARASITIC CONTROL OF INJURIOUS INSECTS. By Prof. A. J.
I eg Te pc cl cigs ah aaa vay mw el'e ley (0) 4 0 0,0 0a Oisrae git a «a ee bee 0 49

PROCEEDINGS OF SECOND DAY.
Morning Session—

THD PROPER HANDLING OF CITRUS FRUITS. By J. H. Reed..... 56
THE HANDLING OF ORANGES IN 1908. By G. Harold Powell...:.. 59
PACKING HOUSE EQUIPMENT. By C. E. Rumsey...............4- 66
fever anus PROTECTIVE LHAGUE. By BH. M. Lyon......i-..... 71
eeememen ns ©.) ©. (GEA PIEAN 2. oi... oe ee alk pice chee eisia wee aisles betes 74
rey Ger OP NDIA LT. oo, cc es ce ci en cere weed ne tenes wees 75

Afternoon Session—
HEALTH AND DISEASE IN THE CITRUS TREE. By Prof. Ralph

TERME PE RMN STRI EEA foie oe aia Tatoo ake dites stare ere nyse (o eva css che, Sahil a aside Oa! nee ew sie )
PeoauthORNIA LHMON. By C. C. Teague..........-ceederesees 93
GROWING INTEREST IN LEMON CULTURE. By R. C. Allen....... 97

THE UNIVERSITY FARM SCHOOL. By Prof. E. J. Wickson......... 99

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRD DAY.
Morning Session—

INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF HYDROCYANIC ACID GAS IN

Bektic A EEING CITRUS TREES. By BY S. Woslumie.. 023.2... 103
SULPHURED FRUIT AND ITS RELATION TO THE NATIONAL
Pano DIA Ws (Biy sAneiaiy Fue Psi. YS 6s aie ee ols, iw. 'sthe, 0 eo, ware 118

SOME RELATIONS BETWEEN SOILS AND FRUITS. By Prof.
IES A A GT) Ca =a ee eS Aaya is eM OOK: pole iS Eds a Aa A ee RE iar 127

G CONTENTS.

Afternoon Session—

PAGE.

WHAT IS THE TRUE VALUE OF A CERTIFICATE IN SHIPMENTS
OF NURSERY STOCK. - By, C. E: Beniiss. ... cs. -u--- 2s eee 139
CAUSES OF NEW INFESTATIONS. By P. D. Fowler.......- 33. 143

QUARANTINE BETWEEN CALIFORNIA POINTS. By R. P. Cundiff. 149

PROCEEDINGS OF FOURTH DAY.
Morning Session—

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS—
FAVORING THE APPOINTMENT OF COUNTY HORTICULTURAL COMMISSIONS 157

INDORSING THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WHITE FLY...........-<..--- 158
INDORSING THE WORK OF G. HABOLD POWELL...........500 6s 158
INDORSING .THE STATE UNIVERSITY AND PROFESSOR WICKSON........... 158
In FAvor OF INSPECTION OF PLANTS PASSING THROUGH THE MATIS.... 158
FAVORING WOMAN ‘SUFFRAGE °. 2. c.i2.a.- 50> o0 dees ae Ee eee eee 158
OF THANKS | 9)0) o.0s\sjemspin s dyalh quatniyeldyecwie leyaym iw me paste a aoe ele era 158
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS........... 159

MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF THE ORCHARD. By Frank
Wo: Paden >). i555 '5.2 Sn Sen cic eve» eqe-a b spcln Sm eeumm © og eae eee 160

DATE GROWING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. By Silas C. Mason 170

SOME POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF CAPRIFICATION IN THE
LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG: By Walter 'T. Swale... ooo 178 |

THE EUCALYPTUS, FOR USE AND ORNAMENT. By F. P. Hosp.... 187

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE .

THIRTY-FOURTH CONVENTION OF THE CALIFORNIA
STATE FRUIT GROWERS.

RIVERSIDE, CAu., April 28, 1908.

Pursuant to call, the Thirty-fourth Fruit-Growers’ Convention met
at the Loring Opera House, Riverside, Tuesday, April 28, 1908, at
S250 A: M.

J. W. JEFFREY, State Commissioner of Horticulture called the meet-
ing to order.

Rev. Arex Eakin, of Riverside, opened the Convention with an

invocation.
_ PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are now ready for business, and the next
on the programme is an address of welcome to the visitors and members
of this Convention by the Hon. 8S. C. Evans, Mayor of Riverside.
‘Applause. )

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
By S. C. EVANS, MAyor OF RIVERSIDE.

I don’t know of any subject that could be of more interest to the
people of Riverside than the subjects that will come before a Conven-
tion of this kind, and it surely behooves the people of Riverside and
ef all Southern California to seriously consider the questions that will
come before you.

I don’t know what more I can say than to indicate that in some lines
particularly, perhaps in the lemon industry, the tendency of late years
seems to have been—perhaps it is a necessity to achieve best results—
to have the holdings in large tracts of land, so that the market can be
supplied through all the months of the year, and the lemons properly
handled and cured by those who are expert in that particular line of
business. And as we notice the drift of things, many of our orange
eroves are going into large holdings, through combinations of people
and companies or corporations. Perhaps the best results come through
that method of handling, as illustrated in the packing-house system of
our Fruit Exchange. Of course the citrus industry is our mainstay.
It is very profitable. A good orange grove is better than anything ©
else in a money way—a poor one is a source of aggravation all the
time; but it seems to me that we ought to encourage the small grower
in the small fruits—anything that can be grown and produced, berries,
vegetables, all small fruits-—-and get as many people settled upon the
land and on the small tracts as possible. I know in this southern part
of the State where water is fairly scarce, and sometimes very hard
gnd expensive to bring upon the right kind of soil, that it is hard to

& THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

divide it and subdivide it into small tracts and give proper water
delivery where a man can make a living.

This thing of growing fruit and farming i is not all that it is cracked
up to be. Sometimes a man makes a very poor stagger at it, like I do,
sitting on a stool in an office and trying to farm. Usually we pay for
the experience, and we don’t get very much revenue in return. But a
man who can go on a place and live and farm it ought to be encouraged.
We ought to encourage the small fruit industry as well as the big one.

The people are settled throughout our city and throughout our State
on small tracts. Upon them we have to depend mainly for the public
sentiment that creates and makes it easy to accomplish our public
improvements, such as tree planting, good streets, and things of that
kind. Where one or two men, or a company, many of whom are not
living upon the tract, have large holdings, they have very little interest
in such things. Sometimes they are willing to pay for them, but they
have not the same personal interest in the public improvements that
we so much enjoy in this city, although we have not made very great
progress in them yet.

So if there is one thought I can leave with this Convention, it is to
settle as many people as you can on small tracts, and encourage the
small industry. I don’t know how you will do it, but probably the
question will be solved.

Now, on behalf of the people of Riverside, I welcome all the strangers
that are with us, and I am sure you will find that welcome doubly
expressed in the ability of our people who are among you in this Con-
vention to show you about our city. I am sure you could not have
arrived here at a more pleasant time, for everything is now at its best,
and you could not have seen things at a better time than to-day. I
hope you will have an exceedingly pleasant time in our city, and I
welcome you to it. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The speaker has certamly given some
good advice, and his remarks will be in the library of every institution
in the State inside of a couple of months. I hope you will all remember
that you are not talking for a little Convention of fifty people. After
to-morrow we will have three or four hundred. You are really talking
for the permanent literature of the State, and what you say should be
delivered with that idea in view. We have now in my office in Saera-
mento hundreds of copies, nicely bound, of our last Convention reports.
It will be the same with this Convention; and we are glad that the
Mayor has given us good advice, especially in the matter of small
Loldings. Something may develop later in this Convention to show
what the people of the city of Riverside owe to the orange growers of
Riverside and to the lemon growers, what the business men -here owe
to these people; and the more of those orange growers there are, the
better for the business men of Riverside.

As you know, Governor Gillett has been very ill, and very busy even -
during his illness. When it came time to think of this Convention, he
sent word that he would delegate somebody to come and represent him,
and he chose Mr. M. Estudillo, one of your fellow citizens. I am very
pleased now to introduce to you, as the representative of the Governor
on this occasion, Mr. Estudillo.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 5

ADDRESS.
By HON. M. ESTUDILLO, REPRESENTING GOVERNOR J. N. GILLETT.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: ‘‘A farmer,’’ says
Bryan, ‘‘is a man who makes his money in the country and spends
it in the city, and a horticulturist is a man who makes his money in the
‘city and spends it in the country.’? The Governor is in thorough
sympathy with you and keenly interested in your efforts. He takes
a personal interest in the welfare of the horticultural and agricultural
interests of this State. Every bill that came before the Legislature,
which had a tendency to help those interests, received his support.
The Davisville Farm, the Agricultural College, and our own Experiment
Station received the Governor’s cordial support. In fact, the Governor
has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a true and enthusiastic
friend of the fruit industry of the State.

If further evidence should be required regarding the Governor's
interest in the fruit industry of the State, I would refer you to the
appointment of the Hon. J. W. Jeffrey as Horticultural Commissioner
of California. A word in reference to Mr. Jeffrey. I wish that he were
not present, for being a modest, unassuming man, I am afraid he would
blush like a sixteen-year-old maid. If he were not present, then I might
say all the nice things I wished about him.

Gentlemen, this is a grand State, this glorious California of ours—a
grand Empire nestling on the shores of the bluest’ of oceans, the
Pacific. I realize that the people have different problems in the different
parts of the State to solve. You fruit men, together with the rest of the
people, have problems to solve other than fighting insect pests, the
fertilization of the soil, markets, the best methods of packing and
transportation. And these problems, I repeat, are different in different
parts of the State.

In the northern part of the State it is how to break up these princely
principalities into smaller homes; how to make them produce and
support millions where they now support thousands; how to harness
the streams that now flow unchecked in their mad career to the sea;
how to make them light your towns and cities, do your bidding, turn
the wheels of commerce; how to reclaim the vast inland seas and make
them blossom forth as the rose; how to force a small tract of land to
support a family where it requires a thousand acres to-day. These are
some of your problems in the north.

Here in the south the problems are: How to cause a spear of grass
to grow where none grew before; how to garner the precious drops
of water, how to conserve them; how best to tap nature’s underground
supply, and how to thwart nature’s thirstbeams after the water comes
to the surface; how to make a foot of land support a family; how to
turn the desert, sands, and the rocks into gold, milk, and flowers.

Believing that the. fruit industry should have every means of pro-
tection I would suggest that you ask your Legislature for adequate
appropriations in the future. You should advise and confer with your
representatives regarding your needs. I believe that the time has
arrived when more money should be placed at the disposal of the
office of the Horticultural Commissioner, for you can never tell what

10 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

emergency may arise. Fighting the white fly in the northern part of
the State alone cost $20,000. Surely the State can not spend money
more judiciously or to better advantage than in fighting the pests that
threatened her greatest industry.

OPENING ADDRESS. 5

By J. W. JEFFREY, State ComMMISSIONER OF HORTICULTURE.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Thirty-fourth Fruit-Growers’
Convention of California: One who can stand before the fruit growers
of Southern California and the other horticultural experts of the State
and address them upon their own business affairs without a feeling akin
to panic, must either know them as I do, or have a great deal of ignorant
assurance to undertake the task. I can not plead ignorance of what the
people will stand for, and must rely upon long acquaintance and what
I may say to them for the fair hearing which I know will be given. this
morning. Twenty years ago this month Riverside was honored for the
first time by a visit from the present: State Commissioner of Horticul-
ture. I was an ambassador of no mean pretensions, for I had with me
the entire navel orange crop of the San Gabriel Valley with which to
astonish the natives of Riverside at their citrus fair. Like Artemus
Ward, who loyally offered to immolate all his wife’s relatives upon the
altar of his country, the people of my valley were willing to sacrifice
their every orange to give publicity to their town sites, and as the bearer
of these fruits I expected attention in proportion to the disinterested
surrender of crops my people had made. The exhibit when in place
consisted of a pyramid eighteen inches square at the base and a plate of
fruit at each corner. After looking over the Riverside tables I decided
that the fewer specimens I put up the better my exhibit would appear,
and I chucked the balance of the three boxes under the table. My offer-
ing was finally smoothed up to public view, and I stood back to see the
nearby glory of the fruit of Twogood and Cutter refiected from the
prisms of my alligator-skinned oranges, and to await the rush of
approval toward my table. It didn’t come, though an oceasional visitor
in pity lingered a moment to hear of the wonderful citrus possibilities
of the upper San Gabriel Valley, which I may say have since been
iulfilled in a measure that my ripe experience of ten months in the
State could not even foreshadow. By the end of the week I had eaten
the whole output of the San Gabriel Valley with the relish distinguish-
ing a tenderfoot, and cast about for some way to get even with Riverside
for not noticing my exhibit. Knowing that L. M. Holt was gifted in
expressing the wonders of California’s products, I paid him $60 for an
editorial column of appreciation, and the next morning it was seen
that my exhibit had eclipsed anything at the fair. When I returned
home the weight of my newspaper testimonials was greater than that
of the fruit which had brought out such modest notice. It was the
first time I had ever subsidized a newspaper, and for years it worried
a tender conscience to have imposed upon so guileless a community as
the Riversiders then seemed to be. I knew they would not resort to
such questionable expediency to boom their citrus fruits.

About three years ago my conscience ceased from troubling. At that

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 11

time I had written about the wonderful achievement of the Washington
navel at the New Orleans Exposition, and with some remorse told how
squarely Riverside had met the citrus world and conquered it with the
famous orange from Brazil. A few days after the publication of my
tribute in a Los Angeles paper, a letter was received from your best
known citizen commending my zeal, but disputing my facts. ‘‘ Why,
it was not the Washington navel at all that took the great prize at New
Orleans, although it was exhibited under that name,”’ so the letter ran.
‘When the call for oranges to enter the competition came from our
committee the Washington navels were all gone and we sent over a lot
of Australian navels instead.’’ The exposition committee had forgotten
to mention this fact, and the Riverside Washington navel has been
accredited with the victory until this day. Had I known this fact, my
respect for the fruit exhibitors of Riverside would have been greatly
enhanced.

-But these bits of historical sauce will not pass for the solid food
that ought to be set before this Convention. Before introducing the topic
to which most of this address will be devoted, a few words of apprecia-
tion may properly be spoken of this community. The State of Cali-
fornia owes more than compliments to the people of Riverside. The
fruit growers of Riverside are of the highest type of successful business
men, and no more expert or enterprising horticulturists than our hests
are to be found in the world. So great has been the progress of this
people that nothing we could say in praise of them would add to their
fame as fruit growers. No matter how warmly we might commend the
achievements of this section, however, it would neither stimulate local
vanity nor eagender outside jealousy, for the conquest of the desert here
has been that of the honest pioneer, and has been so helpful to other
portions of the State that there is no place for envy. The self-
complacency of Riverside twenty years ago was a challenge; now it is
understood, and it is a charm. It is not blandishment to tell her
people that they have earned such distinctive honors in horticulture,
and bear them with credit and profit to the State as well as tactfully ©
to their own distinction.

But we can best show our appreciation here of what Riverside has
done for horticulture, by making this Convention of substantial value
to the industries so well represented on the programme of this meeting.

To make the office of State Commissioner of Horticulture worthy of
support, it should be devoted more largely to the initiation and execu- °
tion of policies that should command the attention and respect of the
‘State. It should reflect the best Judgment of the fruit growers and
earry out their will wherever possible, and without injury to the
welfare of others, to unite, advance and protect the fruit interests for
the common good of California. Indeed, this office should forfeit the
confidence of the taxpayers should it be content with the performance
of mere routine duties or clerical work. No executive office can fill its ©
measure of usefulness without understanding the needs and the aspira-
tions of its constituents, and I wish, during my incumbency, to recog-
nize this principle by taking the fruit growers of the State into full
partnership, both individually and in their conventional capacity.
To secure this codperation, we must have more personal acquaintance-
ship and closer individual touch. Especially should our conventions

ae THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

devote more time to conference upon the administrative measures of
the Commission, to the relation between its work and that of the county
horticultural offices and to the improvement of the laws governing the
officials delegated to conserve the interests of fruit growing. Since my
experience at the last Convention I am sure that the present meeting w ill
recognize the Commissioner’s address as a legitimate means of pro-
moting this unity of purpose and efficiency throughout the State.

How ever well we may understand the ‘needs, establish policies and
provide laws governing your State Commission, they can not be prop-
erly executed through the meager appropriation now received. Do
you know that only one cent out of every 400 paid in State taxes is
appropriated to the business of maintaining the office, patrolling and
quarantining the State against pests, fighting invasions of insects, hold-
ing these conventions, and publishing information for the fruit growers ?
That is exactly what the fruit industry is getting—one penny out of
every $4 paid into the State treasury. And that is not all. The State,
with commendable economy, requires us to give back 24,000 of these
pennies every year for office rent in a State building from which we
must maintain continual watchfulness to protect the commonwealth
herself from the invasion of fruit enemies and plant diseases. But it
is not of record that any one, either fruit grower or his representative
officials, has ever made a serious effort to get more than this one fourth
of one per cent with which to guard and promote one of the heaviest
taxpaying industries in the State. It is difficult to account for this
inertia on the part of the otherwise most enterprising and successful
body of fruit growers on the face of the earth; or to explain why the
horticultural leaders and officials have not adopted broader policies,
and worked for the means of carrying them out. And thts we should
not blame our legislators for overlooking a giant industry that has
no insistence or coherence in securing recognition from the public
funds—an industry that has enriched all California from the con-
sumers’ purses of the East as no other has; an industry that has directly
and indirectly brought hundreds of millions of capital for investment,
and established tens of thousands of families; an industry which in
1906 acknowledges 315,000 acres of vines and 32,700,000 fruit trees,
besides the number to which the attention of the assessor may not have
been called. Therefore it is not in eriticism or complaint that we
should consider this deficiency of support, but with good will and
assistance to all other landed industries and their kindred, provision
should be made in the future for the proper support of your chief
office, therewith to protect and promote your industry and give it
added security as a heritage to your children.

I am devoting this paper largely to personal conference with the
members of this Convention. For the privilege of meeting you I am
paying car fare from Sacramento and return and the living expenses
_ here this week from my private funds, and must continue to do this
wherever my duty ealls for the next sixty days. After the first of July
I will again for another year get one penny for traveling expenses from
every 14,200 paid into the State treasury, as the law provides that these
traveling expenses must be paid from our fund of $500 per annum
given for this purpose to your Commissioner’s office. Again, the
Constitution forbids the Commissioner from accepting a pass or even

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. te

accepting reduction in ticket rates, although the railroads would will-
ingly grant either, in recognition of the benefit my office might be in
extending their fruit traffic. The fruit growers have not been told
these plain facts at their conventions before and I know they will
enjoy it, especially when I tell them in this Convention that I do not
regret having to pay my own way here to represent them officially, for
it is worth all the cost to again meet the people of the city where my
great citrus fruit triumph occurred twenty years ago. But it requires
money to go about over the State trying to adjust the difficulties of the
county commissioners, and pull together the codperation and efficiency
contemplated by the law. Since last Convention week I have traveled
from Yreka to National City, from Siskiyou to San Diego, as the orators
put it. These visitations were made in conference with the supervisors
and horticultural commissioners regarding their relations and the
support of the latter’s work. In an intervening county a new issue was
met. The supervisors in session stated that their grain farmers and
stockmen were complaining about the few hundred dollars the county
had appropriated toward the protection of orchards and stamping out
the greatest peril with which the State has yet been threatened. The
complainants were not getting their share of the county appropriations.
Let us see what grounds they had for this idea. However, in presenting
the following figures it is foreign to my purpose to criticise a coordinate
department for securing large appropriations, and we should approve
here without reservation the full support of every institution that may
advance the welfare of those who get their living from the soil—a posi-
tion that should be taken by every patriotic citizen of the State.

For the fiscal years 1907 to 1909, the State Agricultural Society
secured for maintenance and buildings $87,500, and for the State Fair
$5,000 and the gate receipts. The Dairy Bureau was given $11,000.
For cereal improvement $10,000 was appropriated, and for tobacco
culture $1,000. These items foot up $114,600 appropriated by the last
Legislature almost exclusively for the advancement of the interests of
the grain and stockmen. For the same fiscal years the State Horti-
cultural Commission was given $35,000 for support and $12,000 for the
Insectary building and parasitic research. There was certainly no dis-
crimination here in favor of the orchardists, for these figures show that
the farm and stock industries were granted more than three dollars for
every dollar appropriated to the promotion and protection of fruit
vrowing. Neither were other landed industries nor the outdoor sport-
ing interests neglected, for the same Legislature voted $51,000 for the
use of the State Mining Bureau and $87,500 for the Fish Commission.
Summing up these items we find $253,100 were voted to the field,
mining, and inland fish interests, as against the $47,000 devoted to the
work the State Commission of Horticulture is expected to do in the
promotion and protection of an industry which has done more for the
State than any other enterprise. We should sit in admiration at the
feet of these interests, and while applauding their success in securing
funds, learn of them how all things come to those who do not wait.

In the foregoing account no State funds appropriated to agricultural
education and investigation have been included. In the University and
California Polytechnic appropriations, it is impossible to segregate
what portions may be used for the different branches of agriculture, and

14 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

this is not necessary, for the mere presentation of the list will show that
farming, stock raising, and dairying have not been treated unfairly.
During the three lage ‘years the University has received $282,000 for
the Davisville Farm. The stockmen were the prime movers in getting
the $150,000 in 1905 with which to purchase the land. In 1907 the
Legislature added $132,000 to the farm fund, the appropriation bill
providing that this fund shall be used ‘‘for the purpose of equipping
and furnishing the dairy building and livestock pavilion; the erection
and equipment of a dormitory building, the construction of cottages,
livestock barns and buildings, of greenhouses and propagating houses.
for horticultural and viticultural purposes, the purchase of livestock,
dairy and farm machinery.’’ The great educational work here pro-
vided for is not partial to the fruit grower, for the livestock and dairy
buildings alone will absorb the greater part of this appropriation. The
University has given wide attention to the interests of farming and
vegetable growing through its regular faculty work; and in the labora-
tory at Whittier field crops are receiving about as much attention as
fruit trees. Of the $164,500 appropriated in 1907 to the California
Polytechnic School the policy toward farming was as liberal as the pro-
visions made for the work of the University. The Polytechnic School
received $12,000 for building a creamery and $15,000 for the purchase
of additional farm land. There can be no question but that the Uni-
versity College of Agriculture and the Polytechnic School will be
impartial in the way they will conduct their educational and experi-
mental work, but from the very nature of the work the equipment and
support of their course must largely favor the farm and stock interests.
Nor has the General Government been less attentive to the interests in
question, for the agricultural bill just passed at Washington carried
an appropriation of $11,500,000, and the largest single appropriation
for agricultural purposes on record was that of $250,000 for investi-
gating the cotton boll weevil. And the fruit growers pay their pro-
portion of these great expenditures.
In this discussion I have not alluded in detail to the expenditures of
the Federal, State and county governments for the advancement of
agriculture. Immense sums have been spent here in forestry work and
protection, in soil and drainage, surveying, and kindred activities. But
it requires an equal amount of money per acre to determine the char-
acter of grain land as compared with fruit land; reforestation and fire
protection are alike valuable to fruit culture, orazing, lumbering and
grain growing; reclamation, drainage, ‘and levee protection cost the
same for’ all lade of ‘land, and national irrigation, even if applied
entirely to fruit culture, is not paid for by a property tax. Those
interests which complain of county expenditures for orchard protection
should remember that no assessment is made on farm crops, except
alfalfa, and that every vineyard over three years old and every orchard
over four pay tribute to the county as well as the State fund in addi-
tion to the assessed value of the land on which the orchard or vineyard
may grow. It requires no argument to show that the fruit growers.
should receive protection from the State and county funds that will
in some measure ‘make up Or! this special tax which 1s levied on their
property every year.

pl hope this subject 1s of such vital interest to you that it will not

- THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15

tax your patience to pursue it further. But this subject is paramount
to all others you may consider at this Convention, unless it be that of
the proper legal equipment of the State and county horticultural officers,
and this matter is to be considered by a special committee appointed at
this meeting. From the field assessment notes of fourteen counties of
the State, and embracing fifty fruit-growing districts, the average
assessed value of orchard trees is $50.50 per acre, and the average
assessed value of the land bearing these trees is $140 per acre. The
best orange land in Orange County is assessed at $310 per acre including
the trees. Covina reports show some assessments as high as $500 an
acre for land and groves. San Bernardino County has land standing
at $375, and $125 for the trees. The highest assessment of fruit land in
Santa Clara County is $560 for land and orchard. But I have taken
the highest and lowest and all intervening values in these fifty localities
from the fruit-growing districts north and south, and the average
assessment for land and trees is $190.50 per acre. An equal number
of farming land reports shows the average assessed value to be $31.20,
and grazing lands average $7.60. From this showi ing it appears that
bearing trees make the taxpaying duties of the land six times as great
per acre when compared with that of farms, and twenty-five times as
great when compared with stock land. But some one may say: “‘ Look
at the immense value of these lands to the owners. An orange grower
at Riverside could sell his grove for $2,000 an acre and walk away with
the money. What would the public get out of that transaction?’’ I
would answer that the grove still remains. Of the $12,000,000 assessed
valuation of this county, it is safe to say that $6,000,000 lies within
cannon shot of this hall. The town lots and their improvements are
assessed at about one third that of the acreage and its improvements.
Hence, the business and professional men of Riverside are doing busi-
ness on practically a $6,000,000 capital with an investment of only
$2,000,000. Rough figuring, you say, but it is smooth enough no doubt
to slide far below the realities, for no one can estimate the business
value, the residential value, or the future value altogether that accrues
from the turning of a wilderness into a garden; the value of the
tourists who come here to see- what the fruit-growers’ activities have.
actually created here in taxpaying wealth and homelike beauties. And
so it is in a hundred horticultural districts throughout the State. Can
you say this of the other landed interests, some of which cover whole:
townships without a home? With the exception of a few shipping and
trade centers, and a few health and summer resorts, every live city or
town in the State i is in the midst of a fruit district, as no other industry
approaches horticulture i in the work of building up other industries of
the State. °

Then why should not the orchardists require more adequate protec-.
tion for their fruit trees and vines? There are over 40,000,000 fruit
trees growing in the State at this time and 315,000-.acres of vines. If
the growers were allowed but one cent for every five of these orchard
trees, to say nothing of the vines, it would provide an annual fund of
$80, 000 with which to guard our boundaries from further invasion,
stamp out perils already established, unify the work of quarantine and
control throughout the State, and equip the office of the State Com-

16 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

missioner with the machinery for doing the work intended, and which
no other department can do.

This address has now gone to the limit of the time and perhaps of
your patience. There are many topics of great importance that have
not been reached at all, but I believe one subject considered in detail
is worth a dozen merely brought to your attention. I have presented
the subject of the proper equipment of this office, and without prejudice
or resentment toward any other interest that may have been more
fortunate in receiving support from the State. You will notice that I
have not boasted of what the office has done since I took charge last
October. There is too much time given to telling of one’s achievements,
and it is so easy to magnify one’s work and make believe things have
been accomplished that have only been attempted. But we have been
busy all the time, and yet I hope these meetings will find occasion to
inquire more minutely into the policies and work attempted by my
office, and try to find out if your Commissioner is doing his duty. There
is simply no limit to the field in which this office could make itself
useful and yet not encroach upon the duties of any other department.
This body of fruit growers is able to secure the means of making my
administration more effective, and if you give the matters herein set
forth your most earnest attention it will be but a short time that we
will have to skimp and economize and even borrow money with which
to fight the greatest peril of the fruit industry.

MR. JAMES MILLS. I think one of the most important matters
that this Convention may consider, or can consider, is this address so
ably made. It contains information that every grower who shal] attend
this Convention should be in possession of; and I believe, Mr. Chairman,
that the discussion of this address should be deferred until the largest
number of growers who can attend here at this Convention are present.
I move you, therefore, that the address be referred to a special com-
mittee of three, to be appointed by the Chair, for their consideration,
and for the placing of it before the Convention at a-later date.

Motion seconded, put, and earried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Would you like to make suggestions,
Mr. Mills, about the committee?

MR. MILLS. I would suggest that Mr. J. H. Reed be chairman of
that committee.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. That is very acceptable to the Chair,
and I am sure it is to the house. Mr. Reed will be the chairman of
that committee. I have not been able to find out who are here yet, and
I will appoint the balance of the committee this afternoon.

Now, if there is nothing of a business nature to bring up at this
time, we have Dr. Jordan with us, and I am sure you will all be pleased ©
to hear Dr. Jordan. (Applause.)

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 17

ADDRESS OF DR. DAVID STARR JORDAN.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Fruit-Growers’ Association:
I have no particular message. I have been here presiding over an
Indian conference. I don’t know very much about Indians, but being
chief of a tribe of savages, I was well fitted for any such work as
presiding over the conference.

But I am very deeply interested in the fruit-growers’ work, the fruit-
growers’ convention—very deeply interested in this treméndous in-
dustry which is as yet in its very beginning.

I was thinking awhile ago that primitive man was in very much the
same condition as the primitive bear that Charles W. Warner speaks of.
He was out gathering blackberries at one time, and he saw a bear coming
along. The bear was gathering blackberries. He took them in both
hands and ate all the green ones and ripe ones together, had not any
thought of selecting the ripe ones; and Mr. Warner abandoned his pail

of blackberries to the bear, who was very much gratified to find that the
* good ones had all been selected, so he didn’t have to eat the green
ones and the prickles.

Primitive man went into the woods and took what he could find,
ate his blackberries green and ripe the same as the bear does. He
used in those days to live in hollow trees or caves. By and by he
learned the trick of making trees hollow. By and by he learned the
trick of splitting trees up and making them into hollow houses, and
he learned a good many tricks afterwards besides those I have just
mentioned. He learned the same way in regard to fruit. He learned
after awhile there were places where there was good fruit and places
where there was not; he would go and camp out where the good fruit
Was, just as a primitive man used to go and camp by the bays where
elams were to be found; and in many places you will find great mounds
or hills of clam shells; the result of these visits of primitive man. Then
it occurred to primitive man that he could take the clams and place
them in other places, so he could have fresh clams to eat whenever he
wanted them.

In the same way, he learned where the good fruit was and good
blackberries were; that he could take the seeds and plant them wherever
ke pleased, and so have his own berries; and that he could dig up
roots and plant them wherever he pleased and so have them wherever
he liked. So he began to gather around his house these wild fruits of
various kinds. By and by he found that some bushes had better fruits
than others. Then he began to select out his seeds from the best berries
and things of that kind, and in the same way about the same time he
learned that with many fruits he could take one of the buds off of one
tree and put it on another and so get a better grade of fruit.

_ And so this work of selecting wild fruit went on unconsciously and
finally consciously, and within the last generation men have learned the
fine art of developing fruits and making fruits. It is Just as easy to
improve on the wild fruits as it is to improve on the hollow trees and
make houses by splitting up the trees and fastening the pieces together.
With these wild fruits enormous improvements have been made—un-
consciously at first.

2—FPGC

18 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In the first days when the Roman writers speak of the apple and
pear, they had no idea of the Bartlett pear or the Baldwin apple, or any
of the better apples grown in late years. They had a pear in mind that
was not over an inch in diameter and of sweet juice, and sweet flesh
there was very little of it. They had only little pears and little apples.
They hadn’t anything such as we know of the apple or pear. They
speak of the grape. The grapes were farther along than many other
things. Finally we come to the fine art by which a man takes two
different kinds of fruit, or what he wants, that is, two pears for instance,
or two plums that have good qualities, and crosses this one with the
other, thereby getting something new, getting a mixture of the qualities
of one and the qualities of another. Then, in the next generation, he
has all kinds of mixtures, and out of these mixtures he selects anything
he wants. If there are certain good qualities that one pear has, and
other good qualities that another has, he can select out of those the
things ‘that he wants.

The work of Mr. Burbank is in the absolute infancy of such work.
It is going to be as possible to improve on the fruits of to-day as to
improve on the huts of our ancestors when they got out of the hollow
tree business. We are to continue in enormous developments in that
line. It was said by Summerville that one had only to chalk out on
the wall the kind of house he wanted and he could build to that end.
It is possible to chalk out on the wall the kind of pear, plum, cherry,
wheat, or anything else we want, and by selecting, by the fine art
Mr. Burbank has carried farther than any one else, produce it. Many
men are learning to do this, because there is no seeret about it; it is
simply crossing and the selection of what you want, and having the
skill to know what you want, and the patience to wait for what you are
working for along those lines, everything will come in time.

I should like to live a few hundred years from now in order to pass
through the month of August and see what kind of fruits people are
going to have in California in those days, for this country is most
favored of all in regard to the production of these high fruits; and
they are going to be developed higher than we now conceive of.

It is a simple thing to prepare almost anything. If one wants to
make sugar out of turnips, it would be easy to get a sweeter turnip
than usual out of which to make it. It was an open question at one
time whether we would make sugar out of beets or parsnips, because
both had sugar in them and we could make it out of either one. It
would be perfectly possible, if we should lose every fruit tree we have,
every orange.and every plum, every pear, every apple, everything,
to go out into the woods of Siberia and Japan and North America and
Europe and take wild fruits and bring them right up again in a few
generations to the fruits that we now have, or to even better fruits,
by the processes that we know of now connected with horticulture.

I am not telling you anything new. I come here simply to show
my good will. I have been invited many times to address the Con-
vention, but always for the last few years I have had something else
en hand. I can’t always get away; I am not my own master; I am
the servant of a great many people. But it is a great pleasure to me
this morning to come here and just say good morning; and I hope

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. iy)

you have found the fruits in Riverside all that you have expected.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now listen to a statement from
the Secretary, Mr. JoHN ISAac.

Secretary Isaac stated in his report that, as secretary of the Thirty-
third Convention, he had been instructed to forward resolutions, then
passed, favoring a national horticultural quarantine and the parcels
post, to the representatives of California in Congress and to other —
United States officials. interested therein. Thatin compliance with such
instructions he had sent copies of the resolutions, and received acknow!l-
edgments from those to whom they were sent. These letters of acknowl-
edgment, which were of a favorable trend, were read by him, and on
motion, the report was adopted.

(At this time an adjournment was taken until 1: 30 o’clock P. M.)

AFTERNOON SESSION—FIRST DAY.

Turspay, April 28, 1908.
PRESIDENT JEFFREY. You will please come to order. It now
affords me great pleasure to introduce Mr. J. B. Neff. Mr. Neff is a
conductor of farmers’ institutes for the University of California, and

lives at Anaheim. He will now read a paper on ‘“‘ Walnut Culture and
Top-Grafting to Increase Production.’’

WALNUT CULTURE AND TOP-GRAFTING.
By MR. J. B. NEFF, oF ANAHEIM.

When walnuts are spoken of in California it is always understood
that softshell walnuts are meant, and softshell walnuts are becoming
known in the markets of the United States as ‘‘California walnuts,’’
this being the mark of excellence and used to distinguish them from
imported walnuts. These were formerly known as English walnuts,
probably because of having been marketed by English merchants when
all walnuts were imported, but likely originated in Persia or Asia Minor,
though it has been found native over a wide area, including the moun-
tains of Greece, or Armenia, of Afghanistan and the northwest Hima-
layas. It is also found in Japan, and has been reported as growing on
the highlands of the Congo, in central Africa. Walnuts from Persia
were brought to Rome by merchants, and from there the trees were dis-
tributed over Europe and to America.

There are no records to show when the first walnut trees were planted
in California, but the best authorities say that it was about the year
1769, and that the planting was done by the Mission fathers. Very
few trees were planted after this first planting for nearly one hundred
years. About the year 1843 a few trees were planted at San Diego by

20 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

J. J. Warner, and in 1848 F. KE. Kellogg, Sr., planted a small orchard
a Calistoga, in the upper part of Napa Valley. J. R. Congdon planted
an orchard at Capistrano in 1869. H. K. Snow and P. T. Adams
planted the first walnut grove in the vicinity of Tustin and Santa Ana
in 1879. The planting was an orchard of eight acres, which was
characterized as a rash adventure by the neighbors, but the soundness
of their judgment is shown by the fact that the orchard is one of the
best producers in the valley after more than one third of a century has
passed. These early plantings were all of hardshells. A few years
later some additional acreage was planted by Snow and Adams until 15
acres were in one plot. The trees were planted too closely, and ten
vears ago they began to take out alternate trees. The orchard has been
abundantly fertilized lately with stable manure, and the production
last year was 25,800 pounds.

The softshell walnut originated in Santa Barbara County, on the eon
of Joseph Sexton, and came into notice in 1880. It is supposed to have
been the result of cross- pollination between hardshell and papershell
walnuts, but is more likely to have been a seedling of the hardshell,
showing one of the many changes that may be expected of seedlings.
Softshell walnuts soon hecame popular and have been planted exclu-
sively for the past twenty years under the name of Santa Barbara soft-
shells, but this term does not mean any particular variety and includes
all seedling softshell walnuts generally found in the market.

There are but few walnut groves of commercial importance north of
Santa Barbara County, though there are some small orchards in the
Sacramento Valley and several small areas in Santa Clara County and
near Santa Rosa. The walnut trees of the northern part of the State

-are mostly of the French varieties, and largely of Franquette, as it has

proven the most productive in that district, though not equally success-
ful in the southern counties.

Large plantings of grafted and budded walnuts have been made in
the southern counties within the last ten years, and almost the entire
planting of the northern counties are grafted trees. The variety mostly
propagated in the south is known as the Placentia Perfection, and
originated in the Placentia district of Orange County about eighteen
years ago. This is a vigorous, upright growing tree, which produces
large smooth nuts that hull freely and are well filled with white meat,
but while it gives better returns, both in price and production, than the
average seedling softshell it will sometimes lose half its crop by blight.

The stocks used for grafting and budding have been largely seedlings
softshell in the south, while that used in the north has been mostly.
native black walnut, and very frequently these are not grafted until ten
to fifteen years old.

Walnuts should be planted only on good, deep soil, not underlaid by
hardpan, nor where the water will stand on the surface. A deep, sandy
loam is to be preferred, but walnuts will do well on the heavy soils that
are free from alkali. Good drainage is always necessary, as well as
freedom from late frosts and a comparative cool climate. The greater
part of the orchard planting has been 40 feet apart. This is too close on
cood land and better results can be had by planting 50 feet apart, while
60 feet is not too far in some cases. The planting is generally done with
the object of getting a large number of trees to the acre instead of get-

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ot

ting the maximum production of walnuts from the tree, and increasing
its length of life. An orchard may be made to pay a good income early
in its life by planting 50 feet apart in squares, with a tree in the center
of each square which can be taken out after twelve to fifteen years. In
this way the profit from the interset trees will often be enough to pay
for planting and land by the time they will have to be taken out. It is
necessary to have water for irrigation in most places, as the walnut tree
needs more water than it usually gets. Walnut trees do not require the
heavy pruning that is needed by most deciduous fruit trees. The lower
limbs should start four or five feet from the ground, and in such a way
as to have the heavy side of the tree to the southwest. A good rule for
the early pruning is to cut off only those branches in the way of the
team when cultivating, or that will draw the tree too much to the north-
east or away from the prevailing winds. When the trees are eight to
ten years old there will be small branches in the center that shut out the
sunshine, which should be taken out, together with all branches that are
erossed. There will be no walnuts in the center of the tree unless there
is some sunshine through the tree. A good deal of labor and time can
be saved if the trees are gone over in June and the long and useless
shoots taken off. It may also be necessary to go over them again in
July, but the work at that time will be light. The young trees should be
supported by stakes for the first two or three years. A convenient stake
is made by using redwood 2x 2x 9 feet long. This makes a stake long
enough to use for support for branches that may be drooping, and
these branches may be trained in the proper direction by using short
lengths of light baling rope to give the branch the proper angle.

A walnut orchard that has been well cared for will begin to bear
paying crops after the fifth year from planting and should increase in
production for many years. Walnut trees will live to a great age in suit-
able localities and with proper care. Trees in the south of France and
in Spain that are believed to be more than 300 years old bear regular
and heavy crops.

A blight of both nuts and green twigs began to attract attention about
nine years ago; the Department of Agriculture at once instituted inves-
tigations, which were supplemented and are now being carried on by
the University of California, but the idea of finding a remedy for the
blight has been to a great extent abandoned and attention turned toward
solving the problem by finding trees that are resistant to the blight to
such a degree that they will produce paying crops under the same condi-
tions which cause other trees adjoining them to lose the greater part of
their erop. A series of investigations have been made with a view of
getting a tree that will be resistant to a great degrée, and at the same
time produce large crops of desirable walnuts, from which to propagate
by grafting or budding. . The investigations give much hope, as several
such trees have been found, and with the added interest that is taken
some very excellent trees are likely to be found.

Grafting old walnut trees in order to form a top of some more desir-
able variety than the original has long been practiced in a small way in
California, but has been confined mostly to black walnut stocks. Almost
every other variety of fruit tree has been top-grafted, some of them sev-
eral times on the same tree, but there has always been a hesitancy about
cutting off a walnut tree that was not paying, the common belief being

oD, THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

that the work could not be done successfully. That this is without
foundation is shown by the many trees in various parts of the’ State,
notably Santa Clara Valley, the vicinity of Vacaville, the vicinity of
Santa Rosa and others, where roadside trees and small orchards have
been worked over at various times, running back as far as 1893 at Vaca-
ville and 1891 at San José. Some of these trees now have a spread of
branches of 60 feet.

The average seedling walnut orchard is not satisfactory for several
reasons ; the nuts are uneven in size and form, the trees are not equally
productive, and are largely subject to blight. Tt may be said that about
one quarter the trees produce but few walnuts, another quarter produce
about enough to pay their own expenses, leaving the other half to make
whatever profit is obtained. This will be entirely changed when the
entire orchard is of grafted trees, grown from scions that came from
resistant trees that produce large crops. Each tree will then produce
nuts like every other tree, and if the selection of nursery stock has been
properly done, the trees will be very uniform in all respects.

Several styles of grafting have been practiced and all have had a fair
degree of success, but modifications of the cleft graft have been most
generally used, each operator making changes as he thought best. If
the trees are from three to five inches in diameter they may be eut off
at about four feet above the ground and below the branches, then four
or five scions may be placed in one stock, or three or four of the branches
may be cut back to within 10 to 24 inches of the trunk and two or three
scions placed in each. All the other branches should be removed from
the trunk. Old trees of from twelve to twenty years should have the
branches cut at places where they are from three to six inches in
diameter and from five to eight stubs left, which will be from three to
six feet in length, and should have as many as six scions in the large
stubs, the other branches being removed before the scions are put in
place.

The method used in my orchard near Anaheim, which was very suc-
cessful, is as follows: just before the nuts were ready to gather last fall
the orchard was gone over, the trees that were non-producers and those
that did not produce paying crops, as well as those producing small or
badly shaped nuts, were marked so they could be distinguished later.
The object i in marking was to do the orafting on trees that were of no
commercial value, and to keep up the production of walnuts to an
amount equal to that of other years. Having determined the trees to
be grafted, the operator marks the stubs that are to be left by a small
notch out of the bark at the place where the cut is to be made. All
other branches are Cut close to the trunk of the tree. Several trees are
marked while the assistant is preparing the first tree. The operator
places the scions, and the assistant follows with hot wax, covering all
cuts on both scion and stock. In cutting large branches it is necessary
to make two cuts, the first being some distance outside the final cut, to
prevent splitting the stub or the trunk. The scions should always be
of solid, mature wood, that is, with as small pith as can be had readily,
and must have good living buds. They should be about one quarter inch
in diameter and have at least two buds. The growth having buds close
together is best, as shorter scions can be used “which do not require so

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 23

much moisture as the longer scions, and consequently are more hkely to
grow. 3

When the tree is prepared use a heavy knife and mallet to split the
stubs. placing the knife across the stub as if a chip one half to five
eighths of an inch thick was to be taken off. Then depress the handle of
the knife to an angle of 30 to 45 degrees and split the edge down to 214
to 3 inches, allowing the knife to reach the farther side of the stub, but
not making the split entirely across the stub. Open the cleft with an
iron wedge one half to five eighths of an inch wide and thickest on one
edge, placing the thickest edge toward the outside. Trim the cleft in
the stub with a sharp knife so it will be smooth. Then cut the scion so
as to fit perfectly and place it so as the inner bark (the cambium layer)
of both will be on the same line, or at least will cross twice, then remove
the wedge and put hot wax over all the cuts on both stock and scion
at once. It is as necessary that the scion should fit the cleft on the
inside as it is to fit along the cambium layer, and also necessary that
the cleft be filled with wax near the scion. The work should be exam-
ined every three or four days until leaves are found, and if threadlike
eracks are found near the scions they should be closed with hot wax so
_ the scion will not be exposed to the air when the tree begins to grow.
Any cuts on the body not waxed should have a coat of heavy mineral
paint, and the body and stubs a coat of whitewash.

The wax is made of 1 pound beeswax, 5 pounds rosin, 1 pint flaxseed
oil and 1 ounce lampblack, melted together. The object is to get a wax
that is soft enough to be pliable without running, and a little practice
will soon show whether the wax needs more or less oil. A convenient
furnace can be made for heating the wax in the orchard by taking a
coal oil can, cutting out the top, placing four wires across, two each way,
about four inches from the top, and cutting an opening to use in placing
fuel in the bottom. A wire bail completes the furnace. <A three-quart
saucepan is large enough to hold wax, which may be made as needed.
A good operator will place 300 scions per day, and about 25 scions are
needed in each tree to insure a stand, it being better to have more than
is needed rather than too few.

If there is an excessive flow of sap it should be wiped off the stub at
every examination of the scions and the stub covered with wax as soon
as dry. Any excessive flow of sap for several weeks will cause the. loss
of the scions, as the callus can not form in water. This may be con-
trolled by boring one-quarter inch holes in the body of the tree near the
ground. Care is needed that too many holes are not made. Three or
four holes four inches deep will be sufficient to control the flow of the
largest trees. No damage is done to the body of the tree, as the holes
‘soon callus over.

After the scions have made one-foot growth it will be necessary to
nail laths, 1 inch by 2 inches by 8 feet, Oregon pine, on the tree in such
a manner that the shoots can be tied to them and the new tree formed
as desired. Leave the laths on two years.

Do not take off any of the sprouts at first except such as may be very
close to the scions, but as the scions grow some of the sprouts may be
taken off. When the sprouts grow to two feet long they should be
headed back, but not removed until the following winter. Keep all the

24 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

scions that will grow the first year, and never head back the growth from
a scion while it is in a growing condition. If more scions have grown
than are needed, they can be thinned out the next winter, and if some
scions should fail so as to leave a stub without growing scions a sprout
may be trained and budded the following August or September, or may
be grafted the following spring.

Trees that are fifteen. years old when top-grafted may reasonably be
expected to have a spread of 30 feet in four years and to be in full bear-
ing. It is not at all unreasonable to expect an orchard to average 150
pounds to the tree, and trees that are 50 feet apart should produce an
average of 200 pounds when well fertilized and well cultivated. Graft-
ing may be done at any time within six weeks of the time the buds will
open, and the scions may be cut as needed. Heavy fertilization will
produce larger crops, even where blight is serious, and by this means
production can be increased until the orchard may be gradually changed
to the more resistant varieties. The most economical method, and at
the same time the best, is to grow green manure crops and supplement
with acid phosphate, or superphosphate, as commonly known. Buy acid
phosphate that will run 18 to 20 per cent available phosphorie acid and
sow broadcast 10. to 15 pounds per tree at the time the green crop is
sowed, or it can be sowed just before plowing at any time, the object
being to get the phosphate as deep as possible in the ground.

Walnut orchards have not had the care that has been given to oranges,
neither in selection of varieties nor in culture and fertilization of the
soil. It is possible that the blight may cause growers to use better
methods of culture as well as selection of varieties, and in the end be
the means of largely increasing the production and value of walnut
groves. The largest annual production of walnuts was 8,000 tons, but
with increased planting this has fallen off until the production is only
6,500 to 7,500 tons per year. Individual trees that produce 200 pounds
per year are not uncommon, so it can readily be seen that if only the
best trees are used for propagating, the yield of walnut orchards can
be greatly increased without much additional expense and the profits
be correspondingly greater.

It is very probable that seedling walnuts will become as searce as
seedling oranges are at present. In fact, there is no good reason why
they should not be entirely: replaced by the better orafted varieties.
The markets demand the best in other fruits, and the seedling walnuts
will eventually be left without friends.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are now ready for discussion of Mr.
Neff’s paper by a young man who has had a great deal of experience
along certain lines in efforts to better the resistant qualities of our
walnut trees. As you are aware, some of our old walnut sections are
nearly out of the race. The trees are there, but the blight is bad, and it
has been the duty of Professor Ramsey to try to find some better resist-
ant varieties, and he is here now and will come to the platform and tell
you what his experience has been. Professor Ramsey of the Southern
California Pathological Laboratory.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 2d

PROFESSOR RAMSEY’S ADDRESS.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Your honorable Chairman here asked me to
prepare a paper also on the walnut industry and the top-grafting of
the walnuts. A very short time ago I was down to see Mr. Neff and saw
the paper which he had prepared, and saw that he had very fully
eovered the ground which I shall cover at this time; and as I was out
in the field nearly all the time since then, I decided that I would simply
try and discuss and emphasize some of the points which he made here
this afternoon, and also probably go a little more fully into the nature
of the walnut blight, about which you have all heard more or less, and
try, probably, to correct to some extent the impression that has gone
abroad that this walnut blight has really put most of the old seedling
walnut orchards in a very bad condition. That is, that it is a blight
which is seriously threatening to do away with the whole industry.

There is a good deal of truth in that, but the walnut industry I feel
sure is going to come out of it all right. It is not in quite as serious
a condition as the pear blight industry in the north, though it does
resemble that to some extent in this respect, that the disease which
afflicts the pear is a bacterial disease. This walnut disease is also a bac-
terial disease, but we have this difference: the pear blight endangers not
only the crop of the pear tree, but the vitality of the trees, of the
orchard, and of the industry itself. The walnut blight, while it does
eut down materially the crop in the walnut orchard and in the whole
walnut section of Southern California, does not materially decrease
the vitality of the tree. .

To some of you who may be unfamiliar with the situation and with
the workings of the walnut blight, I will say this, that most of the dead
branches which you see in the tops of the old seedling walnut orchards
at present are not a result directly, I should almost say indirectly, of
walnut blight. That is primarily a result of climatic and soil condi-
tions which are rather peculiar some years, and which differ a good
deal. The old seedling walnut is very susceptible to changing climatic
and soil conditions. If you should have certain periods of cold weather,
followed again by warm weather, there is very liable to result a serious
die-back of the walnut. In fact, most of the dead twigs which you find

seattered through a lot of the old walnut orchards at present in South- |

ern California, even in some of the larger walnut sections, are due
primarily to sudden changes in climate, or to some change in the
moisture conditions in the soil, or else to indifferent or no care at all.

I will say this in reference to the walnut situation this year, that the
conditions have been very favorable thus far this spring for the setting
of a good crop, and if the weather conditions continue as they have
during the past three or four weeks, the prospects are that Southern
California will have one of the largest walnut crops in its history.
But this does not mean at all that we are getting past this period of
‘disease ; that this disease is dying out in any measure at all. I want to
try to explain to you briefly how this disease is primarily dependent
upon climatic conditions. |

As I said before, this walnut blight is a bacterial disease, caused by a
minute organism so small that you can place from twenty to twenty-

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Y%6 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

five thousand of the little fellows side by side and you would only have
2, string one inch long. It is not their great swe which does the injury
at all, but their great number. The loss is primarily due to the first
infection, which occurs in the spring about this time, or a little earlier,
when the small walnuts which are just formed, are from one quarter
to one third of an inch in diameter. These little walnuts commence to
blacken at the end. There, where the moisture is the greatest, where
the succulency of the tissue is also the greatest, where it is the tenderest,
and where it gives the best foothold for the blight, there at the blossom
end you nearly invariably see the blight starting; and. in most eases
these walnuts will fall off before the loss is noticed, and after they have
remained on the ground for two or three days, they have dried up, and
the orchardist, if he has not observed very closely, will simply say that
the walnuts did not set very well. While it is a fact that most of the
loss occurs at that time, you can see the ravages of the blight through- .
out the whole season. When the walnuts become larger, the infection,
in addition to taking place at the blossom end, may occur at certain
points or most any point on the walnut itself: and if the walnut has not
reached sufficient size, in most cases these infections will continue
through the hull and into the shell and into the meat of the walnut, and
then, of course, that particular walnut is of no more value from a com-
mercial standpoint. The ravages of the walnuts are noticed principally
at the gathering time in the fall, when there will be all these hulls
which will be found to be empty of meat; that is, the blight has eaten
out the meat entirely.

Now, the blight does infect the young twigs to some extent, and the
shoots of the walnuts, the small leaves sometimes an inch long, some-
times two or three inches long; but in very few cases does it kill the twig
entirely. The blight is carried over from year to year, principally
through these old leaves which occur in these young twigs, and again
perhaps in the old decayed and infected walnuts which are found on the
ground. There is a saying that there is nothing really so bad but what
there is some good in it after all; and while the walnut blight has very
materially cut down the production of walnuts in this State, and in the
southern part of the State particularly, it has,-I am safe in saying,
hastened the time when we are going to have grafted instead of seedling
orchards. The industry itself is in a stage of transition from the
unscientific seedling era of the past to the more scientific and stable
period of the future, when you are going to have the walnut orchards
composed entirely of grafted trees, of varieties which are good pro-
ducers and more or less resistant to blight. :

This proposition of getting resistant or immune varieties for the
control of walnut blight is not simply a dream of the future, but is an
actual reality. We have to-day at least half a dozen varieties, which,
if the orchards of Southern California were composed of grafted trees
from these varieties, would, I am safe in saying, materially increase the
production of the walnuts in Southern California, while also extending
its range of culture. We have varieties that, while they are not good.
producers, produce walnuts of good, desirable shape, walnuts of good
size, with white meat and well filled. We have these varieties that are
at the same time almost immune to this disease. |

There has been some work done by orchardists in the past to try to

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 27

perpetuate these desirable varieties by planting walnuts from these par-
ticularly desirable trees. However, if they had taken scions from these
trees instead of planting walnuts from them, and grafted them on to
some desirable stock. they would have perpetuated in nearly every
detail all of the desirable characteristics which they wish to perpetuate
in their new orchard; whereas in planting seedling walnuts from these
old trees, they were simply getting another seedling orchard, which
would in very few respects be superior or even equal to the old orchard.

There may be a possibility that out of one hundred walnuts planted
from some desirable tree there would be five or six trees which would
be equal to the parent tree; probably two or three which would in
ssome respects be better; whereas ninety-five per cent of the trees would
in all probability be inferior to the one from which the walnuts were
procured. That is the experience in planting seedling walnuts, as much
as in planting any other seedling fruits. However, there is this to
commend the planting of seedling walnuts, and that is, the planting of
seedlings with the idea of selecting some certain tree or strain which
may suit his particular purpose. The best tree in an orchard is largely
a personal equation. The owner himself may have picked out a certain
tree which in all respects suits his tastes; whereas if some other man
had owned that orchard he might pick on some other tree. Of course,
productiveness is not to be disputed. They would probably all pick on
certain trees for productiveness; but there is that element of personal
equation which always enters into the selection of what is best, because
our idea of what is best is not always the same.

Now then, briefly, all other methods of blight control have been found
to be a failure. The idea of spraying a walnut tree with either Bor-
deaux mixture or some chemical or other has been abandoned by the
station entirely. We tried it out pretty thoroughly when we first took

up. the investigation of the walnut blight. We tried out a whole lot of .

different chemicals, tried it at different times, and tried it on a scale
Jarge enough which ought to show something at least as to its efficacy
in controlling the blight; but in no ease of all the chemicals which we
used, applied at different times and in different places, did we find any
good result whatever.

Then. again, the great size of walnut trees, the time and money
required to spray them, would have to procure a saving which would
be decidedly large in order to make it a paying proposition at all. And
then, besides, there is this element: After you have sprayed this year,
if you want a crop again the next year, you would have to do it all over
again. Then the idea of inoculating a tree with some kind of chemical
by boring holes into the trunk of the tree has been exploited largely
both in pear and walnut blight, principally by unscrupulous persons,
who were after the money more than the results; and even all the
scientific experiments which I know of which have been made along that
line fail to show a single instance where this method of control of any
bacterial or fungous disease has been of any practical value at all.
They seem to fail to comprehend the situation. They do not seem to
understand that anything put into the trunk of the tree will not enter
into the circulation of a tree exactly as it will in the human system.
Any of the chemicals which may be introduced into the tree, no matter
what it may be, if it gets into the ascending sap, will be carried up into

i

28 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the sap, and there all of the inorganic food materials which can be
utilized for food in that tree will be transferred into organic material ;
whereas the poisonous product will be left more or less as a residue, and
if enough of it accumulates will ultimately prove injurious to the tree.

There i is, however, another method which I think will materially help
to bridge over this gap between the going out of the seedling orchard
and the coming in of the grafted orchard, and that is the proposition
of proper fertilization, irrigation, and cultivation. There is no doubt
that in nearly all the old seedling orchards which we have to- day in
Southern California, if they were properly, intelligently and carefully
fertilized, irrigated, and cultivated, the production could be materially
increased to the profit of the one who is the owner or the recipient of
that orchard. By a number of experiments which we have made in
cooperation with experiments which have been made by growers indi-
vidually, it has been conclusively demonstrated that the production of
an orchard can be very materially increased by the use of fertilizers
rich in nitrogen and phosphoric acid, by intelligent and careful cultiva-
tion the season through, so as to conserve moisture, and also by a late
fall and winter irrigation. Orchards which have had good dressings
of barnyard manure, followed by heavy applications of fertilizers rich
in both nitrogen and phosphoric acid, have within the last three or four
years, some of them, almost doubled the yield. The idea of irrigating
late in the fall is simply this, that in that way we can escape largely
the ravages, or, rather, we can escape some of the effects that usually
result in a seedling orchard from sudden changes in climatic conditions.
By keeping the trees growing as late as we possibly can in the fall, the
trees will come out later in the spring and escape that worst period of
infection which occurs in the spring about two weeks or so earlier than
at the present time. |

So, then, Mr. Neff has covered pretty well the proposition of grafting
over an old orchard by the selection of non-producing trees in an
orchard, and gradually working these over. If, at the same time, we
will supplement this top-grafting of the orchard by intelligent fertiliza-
tion, cultivation, and irrigation, we can keep up the production of
most of the orchards to what it is at the present day, and at the end of
five or six years have most of the orchards grafted over into varieties
that will not only be desirable from the standpoint of productiveness,
but also desirable from the standpoint of quality and every other char-
acteristic that. you may require in a walnut. He has explained to you
pretty well the method which he has used down there at his place; and
J want just briefly to mention another which we have used in our experi-
mental work this spring at the Whittier Station, and the work of course
being carried on at various places through the walnut-growing sections
of Southern California. The method which Mr. Neff used, as he told
you, was a variation of the cleft method. For the sake of variety, and of
trying out various methods, we used a modification of the whip-graft
method, which has been used very successfully by Mr. Weinshank of
Whittier, especially in nursery grafting. - This year I looked over much
of the nursery grafting which he did this past spring. Only yesterday,
and by actual count, we found that the per cent which he has growing
at present varies from eighty-five to ninety. As a nursery grait I
think that is, perhaps, the best method which we have at the present

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 29

day. It is a modification of the regular whip-graft which we use in
apples, and is made simply by cutting the scion across and making
another cut right straight down with the grain in the scion. Then,
instead of cutting the stock completely across like the scion, we just
simply make a little cut on the side. We don’t cut into the pith of the
wood at all. Then, just simply place the two together in that form, tie
them over with a string, and then wax them over. That, on young trees,
or at least on stock of this size, has proved to be the best kind of a graft
that I know of. It has at least proved to be very successful the last
three or four years, at least in nursery grafting. This year we tried
this same method on larger trees, performed exactly in the same way,
only that the lip of course on the larger limbs, which are three or four
inches through, would be considerably larger, and the scion instead of
being placed directly in the middle of the lip, or in the center, would
be placed on the side so as to have the cambium of the scion connecting
with the cambium on the stock at least on one side.

I examined within the last two or three days all of fie trees which
we had grafted over that way, and found that while there are not one
hundred per cent of the grafts growing, there are enough of the grafts
growing to make a top on every one of the trees. We would put in
from three to four, or sometimes five scions on a large limb, and in most
cases there are growing three or four scions on each limb at the present

time, with every indication that they will keep on growing and make:

good limbs. After tying these up, after the scion has reached a certain
stage of growth, this string will commence to bind. After it has
reached, say three or four inches growth, take a knife and cut down
right there where the scion is. Just cut the string in two. Of course
that is all waxed over, and the wax on either side will still tend to hold
the string, and as the wood gradually grows, the strings will gradually
draw apart, and it will not bind it as it would if the string was not cut.
Of course if you would leave the string on there, the string would
eventually cut the scion in two, and then the scion would die.

In the northern part of this State, and in Oregon and Washington,
they are growing principally the French varieties, the Franquette or
the Mayette. While those varieties may do equally as well with us
down here, we have varieties which will probably do a great deal better,
which up there would not do very well, because they get out earlier and
would be liable to frost. So this proposition of different varieties will
have to resolve itself into the adaptation of certain varieties to certain
localities as suits those particular climatic conditions.

The problem of walnut blight control for the future rests quite
largely with the nurserymen, and of course with all the other individuals
working in cooperation with the nurserymen, and with the station, too, in
the selection of blight resistant trees, and then in the honest propaga-
tion from varieties which are known to be good; and while we have not
found an absolute remedy for the blight, no spray of any kind which is
going to save the walnuts from this dread walnut blight, I am, in a
measure, glad that no such thing has been found, because it would be, at
the most, simply a temporary measure. This idea of getting resistant
varieties, which is not simply an idea or a dream of the future, but a
reality to-day, is not going to be a thing of temporary value, but a
permanent benefit to the whole walnut industry of the State. It is

30 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

going to help place the walnut industry on as stable a basis as is the
citrus industry to-day, and I look forward to the day. when we shall
have orchards of grafted varieties where there will be an average pro-
duction in the orchard of at least 100 pounds to the tree. To-day, in
a seedling walnut orchard, it varies all the way from 5 pounds to a
few exceptional trees with 100 pounds. Perhaps the average would be
between 40 and 50 pounds. .

Kliminating, then, the proposition of blight altogether, is it not
reasonable to suppose that by proper and judicious selection we could
get grafted varieties which would produce, even though they did blight
to some extent, walnuts to the extent of 100 pounds or more to the tree.
We have to-day blight resistant walnuts which are producing desirable
walnuts of 200 pounds to the tree. I do not think the walnut industry
is a thing of the past, or that it has seen its best days, but I think that
the walnut industry is just coming into its own, and that the time will
come in a few years when the walnut industry will be on a more stable:
foundation than ever, and that the output, instead of decreasing from
year to year, will continue to increase until it will outstrip all known
previous production.

The President next introduced O. E. Bremner, of the Quarantine
Division of the State Horticultural Commission, who presented a paper
upon the grape industry, as follows: |

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE STATUS OF OUR GRAPE
INDUSTRY.
By O. E. BREMNER, or .Sonoma County.

If the predictions of the pessimistic experts of grape culture, uttered
some five years ago, as to the conditions at that time, and what was to
happen in the near future, had been correct, we would find our grape
growers in about the same dilemma that to-day confronts the pear
orchardist; but a prosperity marking the degree of their error, and
by this contrast showing to the highest advantage the present status
of the industry, in spite of phylloxera, Anaheim, and all the other
diseases that grapes are heir to, has placed us beyond the vagaries of
the past to a position well nigh impregnable, and California has to-day
a greater acreage of grapes than ever before, and there will be planted
this year more vines than in any year previously.

The ultimate success of our grape industry must be attributed to
the spirit which pervaded the men, who, having faith in our California
soil and climatic conditions, were willing to risk something in experi-
menting. It may be, by introducing the new varieties of grapes from
Europe, we also brought in the phylloxera and other less disastrous
diseases ; yet the same men who sought most earnestly to establish these
European varieties were just as persistent in working out the problem
of resistancy. And although we are profiting by their mistakes, other
mistakes are being made and will continue to be made. Still we feel
that the future of the industry is assured, if the prospective planters
will not repeat these experiments, but using the facts now before them, .
plant quality and quality only. This is the one point and sole theme of

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ay

my argument, and if I can just make you see it as I feel you ought, I
believe that the last and perhaps greatest menace to our industry w ould
be removed.

In Europe, after the phylloxera had ravaged their wonderful vine-
yards, and they had found that as large if not larger crops could be
produced on their resistant vines, they immediately sought to increase
their output by sacrificing those forces which formerly gave them
quality for those that produce quantity. And what is the result?
The Italian papers just recently came out with an appeal for the
people to drink more wine so.as to reduce the glut on the market.
And why this glut? This wine is quick aging, some or much of it
old at eighteen months, and is not fit for bottling, and there is too much
of it to attempt to blend with their fine botthng wines. Northern
Africa is developing into an immense wine-producing country, but of
this same low quality. So, if Europe ts suffering from an overpro-
duction of low-grade wines, what can we, with our limited market for
such a product, expect by following in her wake? This same principle
holds good, in a measure, for everything the land produces here in
California, but the result is not so manifest in an almond tree producing
enly one crop in five years, as in a grape producing an abundance
of an unmarketable product annually.

First, we are to consider whether our conditions will warrant the
planting of vines, then the variety and the:method. I saw a query in
one of our horticultural papers the other day, the substance of which
was, ‘‘ What variety of vines shall I plant on a low, damp piece of land
subject to frost?’’ How could any one expect to raise any kind of
erapes under such conditions? Why try to raise grapes on land
adapted to water cress or late garden truck? We necessarily look
to our market as the criterion of our variety. The table grape shipper,
Wine maker and raisin packer will readily inform us as to the quality
expected, and we can not discriminate between a Zinfandel, with a low
or a high percentage of sugar, and a Tokay poorly colored or badly
packed. I know of no other rule or law completely covering these
vital points. The individual conditions must be looked into. There
are, however, some fundamental facts that we all know or should know,
and as there is, just now, so much indiscriminate wine-grape planting,
it might be well to look at a ease.

The Zinfandel is a first class dry wine grape in every respect, yet
to produce the ideal wine certain conditions must be adhered to. We
know that this grape does not ripen evenly if not on proper soil and
under proper conditions, or the quality of the grapes may vary widely.
For instance, in a place that I have in mind, the hillside produces a
medium sized bunch of firm, sweet, highly flavored grapes, with tough
skins, very little affected by mildew or even arain. About a* hundred
yards away, in a rich silted flat, the vines produce enormously with
excessive foliage, large compact bunches of large grapes with thin
skins, lacking in sugar, very subject to mildew, and totally spoiled lone’
a light rain.

Now, in pruning these vines, we must consider the quality of our
crop, and the conditions under which it is grown. If you prune
severely, leaving few spurs and buds, you will get a large growth and
a big second crop, a condition, therefore, advisable where you have

e)

32 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

frosts that may destroy your first crop, as you will then have a second
crop to partially make up this loss. If, on the other hand, you want all
first crop, you should leave more spurs and buds and your growth will
be shorter, and therefore little second crop. Zinfandels seem to do best
on bottom land, pruned trellis system, and contrary to the European
conditions, a vine pruned high will mature as early as a low one, so
no uneasiness need be felt about pruning high when the conditions
warrant it. If you wish to produce only first class wine, Zinfandels
should be planted only where they will produce a sugar test of at least
twenty, and not over twenty-four, as a Zinfandel at twenty-two pro-
duces wine with eleven and one half per cent alcohol, which is ideal.
I have merely used this grape as a type, the same relative conditions
applying to the others, for when they are too low, or exceed the sugar
limit, or are lacking in the finer qualities, they depreciate themselves
just so much. |

As to some of the other standard varieties, the Caragnan is a good
-grape, ripening a little later, a heavy bearer, but not quite so fine a
variety. The Petite Syrah is the grape of the future. A grape ful-
filling all demands as to bearing, quality, ete., with but perhaps one
drawback, a very difficult vine to prune, but experiments now under
way will, I believe, solve this problem the coming season. I might also
mention the comparatively new Grannoir as a grape of quality. I must
say, however, that the Bouschets are poor, and the planting of these
should be discouraged; the wine drops color badly and is no better than
third class. For blending, the Burger is a great bearer, but has a
tendency to be sour and can not be universally recommended, as can
the Chasselas.

There is very little use to quote varieties in raisin or table grape
culture, but with these latter the same characteristics pervade as to
localized conditions. With the resistants there seems to be still much
to learn. We can, however, profit by what has already been done and
can, at least, begin where the French have left off, and thus prevent
largely what would probably be useless experimentation. The French
have settled on the bench-grafted vine as the best, and for good reasons,
the principal drawback now being the lack of affinities. For instance,
the Zinfandel seems to be one of the worst, and takes poorly to all of
the resistants; the best results attained so far being a Champain graft
on Rupestris St. George. The shoulder graft, used by the French
growers, gives fairly good results. There is little need of saying that
vines on resistant, roots produce just as good quality and a little larger
crop, on the average, than on their own roots.

In planting rooted vines your general conditions should be earefully
taken into consideration, that you may have the best results. For
- instance, in deep, warm soil with plenty of moisture, where you get a
large growth, it is best to eut the roots back to at least one and a half
inches; in dry, lighter soils, six inches or more should be left. You
will readily see that this resolves itself into a rule which will, I believe,
fit most cases: Prune your roots in inverse proportion to the growth
produced by your soil conditions. If the growth of a vine is equal
above and below ground, what will happen when we plant a vine with
a large root system and cut the top back to two buds? If you have
plenty of moisture, and your ground is fertile, you will get a large root

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 33

system that will take up more water than can be thrown off by the
leaves. A check of sap issues which, I believe, is the prime cause of
black root knot. In other words, there can be no return flow, and this
unassimilated sap must escape, and we therefore find the root knot
breaking out at the weakest point of our vine. In many of our sections,
Where vines are now being planted in warm, deep, gravelly loam, I
prefer cuttings to rooted vines if properly taken and planted. The
cuttings should be eighteen inches long, with the bottom cut squarely
across, just below the bud, one quarter of an inch below the diaphragm.
The relative position of this partition can be more easily judged if.
you split a few canes and observe carefully its relationship to the bud.
Never cut slanting through the bud, as is sometimes recommended, for
you will destroy the bottom node and the roots will be found straggling
all the way up the cane, instead of a whorl at the bottom node. The
top cut should be slanting, one half to one inch above the bud. The
eutting should be planted with just one bud above the surface of the
eround. I believe by this method you will get a vineyard with root
systems natural to the conditions and very less apt to suffer from root
knot. You eliminate to.a minimum the danger of introducing diseases
or insect pests. You are sure of the quality and variety of parent
stock, and the cost is enough reduced to be an object.

It is an old adage, but as applicable to-day as ever, that you should.
not earry all your eggs in one basket. The raisin and table grape
erowers are not absolutely compelled to dispose of their grapes in one
particular channel. But with the dry wine grape grower it is different.
Their grapes would not make good raisins even if their locations would
permit of drying. They are not acceptable as a table product, so it is
just wine, wine, wine, and at this day when we are all going dry, as far
as alcoholic beverages are concerned, many who have locations admir-
ably adapted to this variety of grape culture feel some uneasiness, if
not panic, over the future prospects of our wine industry. As I have
said before, there is and always will be a demand for the best, but I feel
>that there is bound to be corresponding. glut of the inferior wines
if the present ratio of planting is indulged in. Is there, then, any way
out of the difficulty? I think there is, and that the problem will be
at least partially solved by the establishment of the unfermented or
sweet juice industry. Now, it may be that we are to go through the
Same stages in establishing this product that we have passed in our
wine, raisin, or, perhaps, as a better example, our olive oil products.

The Eastern States have created a good and steadily increasing market
for sweet juice, which they produce entirely from American vines, and
which is consequently endowed with their particular flavor. Whether
it is advisable to continue along these lines by planting their best
varieties in the locations most favorably adapted in this State or,
acting independently, produce from our European varieties a sweet
juice of a different flavor, is perhaps the key to the situation. As for
me, | am for the production of a California juice as distinctive as
is our olive oil, and I am as firmly convineed that its success will be
much more rapid and complete than has been the production of this oil,
which we ail hold superior to the imported product.

There are those who contend for the Eastern varieties, and their

3—FGC

34 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

arguments are good at least as to the particular flavor, their hardiness
as shown by their resistancy to phylloxera, their value as a table
product, ete. On the other hand, we run some risk of importing new
pests if we introduce their vines. We have troubles of our own now,
for, what with contending with phylloxera, hoppers, Anaheim disease,
etc., we have no desire for a closer acquaintance with their grape root
worm (Fidia viticida, Walsh), the grape cane borer (Amphicerus
bicaudatus, Say), the grape berry moth (Polychrosis viteana, Clemens),
or the black rot (Laestadia bidwellu, Sac.). We also import a vine
adapted to only a restricted portion of our State and one which has
no other uses than the aforesaid hmited sale as a table product. By
the production of,a high grade juice from our European vines, we
will create another channel into which any excess of production could
be turned; we will create a market for another strictly California
product, and the fact that it is distinctly Californian, will assure its
acceptance by the consumers who have already learned the value of a
California fruit product. We will assume no liability in planting vines
that we do not already know the productive value of, and that could
not be turned to other purposes, should there by any delay in estab-
lishing the industry.

In New York, which produces a greater amount of sweet juice than
any other State, a full crop is estimated at from two to three tons per
acre, these grapes selling for from $30 to $40 a ton. They are, of
eourse, handled with much more care than we are wont to give our
wine grapes. But considering this extra cost, compare it with our
California vineyards, producing from four to eight tons to the aere and
for which we would be glad to be guaranteed from $15 to $20 a ton.
It might be that the handling of these grapes for sweet juice would be
a valuable lesson to the wine men. For it is essential in the production
of must to eliminate all foreign elements, and to this end the greatest
care must be exercised from the picking until the juice comes out in its
sterilized bottled form. Just the opposite methods are apt to prevail
to a great extent in the handling of wine grapes. From the first slam
into the picking box, which after a few trips to the winery is soaked
with juice and reeking with dust and refuse, to the chute they are sub-
jected to the roughest kind of handling.

The sweet juice industry has already been started in California, and
I learn that there is a growing demand for our product. Both red and
white juices are being produced from some of our highest flavored
European vines of the Muscat type. Cabernet and Mondeuse, are being
successfully used, and there has been suggested by one of the best
authorities in the State the Petite Syrah, to which I have ealled your
attention particularly as being probably the most desirable of all dry
wine grapes, and now on this suggestion recommended as one of the
best, if not the best, for the production of red juice. Of the Eastern
varieties used, the Concord is practically the grape. Others include
such grapes as Catawba, Early Moore, Delaware, Ives, and Isabella.
If such grapes are to be planted, I would particularly recommend
a comparatively new grape, the King, a Concord seedling, which is
probably a better grape than the Concord. The Brighton and Banner
are also good grapes. As to location and cultivation, they require well
drained, preferably sandy soil, with a moister climate than our interior

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 35D

valleys afford. They would, therefore, be better adapted to our coast
counties. In the East they are generally grown on a two-wire trellis.

The method of producing the juice is a sterilizing process, which
neither eliminates nor changes, but merely concentrates the elements of
the grapes, and thus we have a product, not only pleasing to the taste
but of a high nutriment value as food. It is not only used as a drink,
but forms the basis for many pleasing and nutritious foods. It is also
used extensively as a nourishing beverage in the sick room, for invalids
and convalescénts, as it is a wonderful system builder, containing about
one fifth grape sugar, one of the most easily assimilated forms of food.
The elimination of the fermentation and fortifying processes used in
the production of wines leaves it absolutely non-alcoholic.

There is always danger in exploiting a new industry that you will
be carried away with your project and may strand some zealous follower
high on the shoals of a barren market. But with this subject, if I have
made my meaning as clear to you as I have intended, that we are not
to explore a new field, but are merely establishing a new channel for
our California grapes which may tend to reduce the current of our
mighty river of wines and may eventually establish itself on a founda-
tion just as broad and firm as any of our similar industries. As our
present success can be directly attributed to the careful selection, care
and indomitable energy of the past, so will the future depend on the
degree to which we exercise these same actuating principles.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The discussion is now open, and I will
be pleased to have Mr. Roeding come forward to the platform. He is
not unknown to most of you, but I take pleasure in introducing to you
Mr. George C. Roeding.

MR. GEO. C. ROEDING: I have prepared no address, and it seems
to me it would be far better if I might be permitted to answer questions
rather than to attempt to discuss matters. In doing so I might touch
on many matters which would not be of interest. I would feel far
‘easier if questions were asked for me to answer, and if I can not answer
them I will call on others in the audience who are more familiar with
the subject than Iam. I think we can get more information in that way
than by my attempting to make an address.

PROF. A. J. COOK. We have a three-thousand-acre vineyard near
here that is very badly affected with flea-beetle. I would like to ask
you what is the best remedy for that disease?

MR. ROEDING. I know very little about that, and I think I will
have to refer that question to Mr. Carnes or Mr. Bremner. They are
entomologists, and I am not.

MR. BREMNER. It is a pretty tough proposition. I have not
had a great deal of experience with it. Very little can be done for it.
I would advocate the use of hand picking, that is, jarring them off,
but that is not very successful. Then you can use a spray—any
arsenical spray. Paris green may do some good, but particularly I
would advise arsenate of lead.

46 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. There seems to be no positive way to
handle it, and if any one has any answer further than Mr. Bremner
has given, we would like to have it; if not, I would like to ask Mr.
Roeding a question about the main feature of Mr. Bremner’s address,
and I believe you all would like to hear Mr. Roeding’s opinion on that.
There is a general interest on the question of the fruit juices. Carloads
come to Los Angeles every year from the Welch Fruit Juice Company
of New York and other manufactories. Portland takes an equal amount.
San Francisco perhaps in the future, but not now, will take a similar
amount. California is not producing any of that juice. Rochester,
out here in your county, or near your county, is producing some fruit
juice. I would like to hear from Mr. Roeding as to that phase of the
- grape industry.

MR. ROEDING. I want to say to begin with that I know practically
very little about the wine business. I know this much, however, that
our larger vineyardists, or rather, the larger wine makers, notably
among them the California Wine Association,-and the other large manu-
facturers of wine, are taking quite a deep interest in the manufacture
cf grape juices. Irom the present tone of the people, not only in this
State, but in other states in the Union, it looks very much indeed as if
wine drinking, that is, wines that have alcohol in them, will not be
carried on to the extent that the makers would like to have it.
(Applause.) And it becomes necessary for our wine men to look into
the necessity of a makeshift, and probably that makeshift will be the
grape juices. I know that to a limited extent the wine men of Fresno
County and the San Joaquin Valley have been making experiments in
the manufacture of grape juices; and although they are not entirely
satisfied with the results of their work, nevertheless the experiments
which they have made thus far have given them sufficient incentive
so that it is quite possible they will be successful in making the grape

juice out of the common type of grapes that are grown in California.

It is a well-known fact that such varieties as the Concord, that have
been used for making these juices in the East, have not been planted
to any extent in California, although there is no doubt that these
varieties will grow. But before they will come into bearing, unless our
wine makers can find some other grape which will answer the same
purpose, the wine business will be in a very deplorable condition. You
are no doubt aware that the wine makers of California have spent
more in the development of their cellars, in their cooperage, and the
other paraphernalia which goes to make up a cellar, than probably any
other industry handling any of our fruit products. No one, unless
he has visited some of the immense wine cellars in the San Joaquin
Valley and other parts of the State, has any realization of the amount
cf money which these men have expended in the development of this
industry; and of course to cut it off without anything else, not only
jeopardizes their business, but jeopardizes the business of every man
who-is raising wine grapes.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to make one statement.
There is a woman at Pomona who established the business of making |
fruit juices. Some of you know that lady. She has established a fruit

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 37

juice business that is so profitable to her that she wouldn’t sell it at
any price. Mr. S. H. Taft is here, and I am sure you will all be glad
to hear from him on this subject.

MR. S. H. TAFT. I have a grape which is known as the California
Coneord. Hight years ago I found this grape, and found it different
‘and superior in my judgment to anything that I had tried. I learned
‘that it was sent down from the north with six or eight Isabellas. I
investigated to see if this was true and found that it was. This vine
had very much larger leaves and a more vigorous stock than the
Isabella, and the fruit was somewhat larger—not so very much, but
larger. I tried to buy the vine, but could not; and I got some of the
cuttings, and from those cuttings I commenced to develop the vines,
so that for a few years past I have been selling them wholesale and
retail. I will say in regard to the leaf that it is very large. You will
find some of them in the Chamber of Commerce. I took some there
that measured 14 inches across; I took some there later that measured
18 inches across. It is utterly immune to this disease that has swept
the grapes all over the country. There is never a sign of it. Its vigor
seems to give it entire protection. I call it the California Concord.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Taft, who is our euest to-day, is one
of our oldest citizens, and this grape that he is telling about has meas-
ured 18 inches in diameter in the leaves, and the grapes are nearly as
large as olives. It has exactly the flavor of the Concord. It is grown
at Santa Monica and is very free from disease. Whether it would be
a good commercial variety or not, we don’t know. If Mr. Taft has got
a grape which will succeed anywhere and everywhere, we will all be
very glad to know it. Mr. Taft does not claim to have created this
variety, but he claims to have developed it and brought it out. It is
a remarkable grape in itself. Whether it will be a good variety to
plant or not, we don’t know.

MR. JAMES MILLS. Mr: Roeding, what demand is there for a
table grape? To what production can the table grape be increased in
this southern country and yet give a favorable return on the capital
invested ?

MR. ROEDING. As I said, I have given most of my time to the
nursery business. But bear in mind that there is another large interest
outside of the wine industry in this State, and that not only pertains
to the table grape, but to the raisin grape as well. You must have some
realization of the development of the raisin grape business when I tell
you that the production last year was between sixty and seventy
thousand tons in this State. The table grapes shipped, if I remember
eorrectly—I am subject to correction in this—amounted to something
hke 8,000 carloads last year. With these facts before you, it is not
necessary to believe that the industry of grape growing in this State
is going into the ground because the wine business is not in the posi-
tion that it was a few years ago. There has been a very extensive
planting of raisin grapes—more during the past season than of table

38 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

erapes. I know of my own knowledge that in Fresno County alone
there were at least five million Muscat vines sold by nurserymen there,
mostly planted in Fresno County and some of the adjoining counties—
not many of the adjoining counties because of their restrictive ordi-
nances, from which I am a sufferer, I am sorry to say; but these
ordinances have not prevented the very extensive planting of Muscat
grapes and other varieties in Fresno County and in other counties of

the State. 7

It must be borne in mind that although planting is very heavy all
these vines don’t grow. There is always a large percentage of vines
that fail to start; and this, with another fact, that many of the older
vineyards are gradually going to decay, either from old age or the
ravages of the phylloxera, evens up the production when these younger
vines come in bearing. I am of the opinion that it is a mistake for
ene man to do just exactly what his neighbor is doing. Nevertheless,
that seems to be the tendency of the people in a great many eases. If
Muscat grapes happen to bring a very big price in one year, the ten-
dency of all those who intend to engage in the growing of grapes
inclines to the planting of that one variety of grape, regardless of
whether their soil is adapted to it or not. This is a mistake that a great
many planters make. Because a certain variety of grapes has brought
a large figure, the tendency is to plant that in preference to anything
else. It would be far better if those who intend to plant grapes would
plant the varieties best adapted to their soil conditions.

There are a great many other varieties of grapes which are profitable
and have been profitable in this State outside of the Muscat; and the
table grape business, in my opinion, has a great future. The varieties
which people have planted, as a rule, are the Malaga, Flame Tokay,
Emperor, and Black Hamburg. I am of the opinion that the Flame
Tokay is not adapted to San Joaquin Valley conditions; and even in
this locality, where the climatic and soil conditions are very much like
they are in the San Joaquin Valley, I don’t think it would be advisable
to plant the Flame Tokay—not because it does not bear well, but
largely because it does not color well. There has been a very extensive
planting of the Malaga and Thompson Seedless in the Imperial Valley,
and probably a limited planting in this section. There is no doubt that
the latter variety has a great future as a shipping grape up to a certain
time. There was a car of seedless grapes shipped out of Fresno County
last year that sold for a higher price than any carload of grapes ever
sold in the United States before. This ecarload of grapes brought $3,600,
if I remember right, in New York, which is the heaviest return ever
received for grapes. It is a very promising kind for shipping purposes, —
but of course must be shipped early in order to be profitable.

This grape is followed by the Malaga, which is a very large white
erape. Most of you know of its firmness, thickness of skin, and other
qualities, it has always earried well; and unless the market is glutted
by too many carloads in any one city, it has brought a good price.
The latest grape that we have in Fresno that has been planted to any
extent is the Emperor. This is very similar to the Tokay, but ripens
fully a month later. Most of the shipping commences toward the first
“ef October, and continues up to the first of November, and even later
than that. There is also another grape which has been extensively

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 39

planted, and-that is the Black Cornichon. It is very similar in shape
to the Emperor, ripens a little earlier, and is a heavy producer. It has
even a thicker skin than any of the other varieties of grapes, and for
this reason has always shipped well.

There are other varieties which I might mention, namely, the Black
Morocco and the Gros Colman. Both of these varieties ripen later
than the Emperor or any other variety I have mentioned, but they
are little known; and the only reason I can understand why they are
not planted more extensively has been, as some of the fruit men have
told me, because the demand has never been as heavy in the Eastern
market for black grapes as it has for red. Otherwise there is no reason
in the world why such varieties as the Black Morocco and the Gros
Colman have not been planted extensively. They are very good pro-
ducers and ripen fully two weeks later than the Emperor.

There are two new varieties, one called the Dattier de Beyrouth, also
known as the Risington. I predict a very great future for this grape.
It is sometimes on the form of the Malaga, only much larger, and has
the remarkable faculty of ripening almost at the same time as the
Thompson Seedless. It is a beautiful amber color, and in that respect
is far better than the Malaga. Another variety, which will probably
be extensively planted when it is better known, is the Sultanina Rosa.
That is the same as the Thompson Seedless. The true name is Sultanina
Rosa, not Thompson Seedless. That is a misnomer. The Sultanina
Rosa is identical with the Thompson Seedless, except instead of being
white it is pink, and it is a striking grape to be packed with the
Thompson Seedless.

The Dattier de Beyrouth comes from Asia Minor, and it is also
grown in Smyrna.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will say that the people of Lodi and
vicinity are literally riding in automobiles on the profits of their grapes,
and J don’t see why you should not add that to your other industries
here.

Now, we are going to have another lively time from now until a
quarter past four. Mr. S. A. Pease will read a paper on ‘‘ Parasites and
the State Insectary.”’

PARASITES AND THE STATE INSECTARY.
By S. A. PEASE, or SAN BERNARDINO.

The present status of parasitism means the value of the different
parasites, local and introduced, as proven by their efficiency or lack
of efficiency in the orchard or elsewhere to-day. California has had
a lively interest in parasites for our insect pests ever since the intro-
duction of the Vedalia cardinalis, parasite for the white scale (Icerya
purchasi), in 1888. At the time of its introduction, the white scale
threatened the citrus industry of California. Thousands of dollars had
been spent in mechanical methods endeavoring to subdue the pest, but
with very poor results. The Vedalia proved master of the situation,
and in fifteen months from the time of its introduction had practically
cleared the field and given the orchardists renewed courage. Later,

40 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

another parasite, Novius koebelei, was liberated in the orchards and
proved a good second for the Vedalia. Since that time growers have
hoped that equally good parasites would be discovered and brought to
our State to combat all of our insect foes. These hopes have been
crowned with varying degrees of success and failure.

Probably the San José scale (Aspidiotus pernisciosus) was next in
importance to the white scale, as its presence and injury was widespread
and fatal to the deciduous fruit industry in many localities. Great
expense was incurred in combating this scale with salt, lime and
sulphur, kerosene emulsion, and other remedies for a good many years.
Persistent efforts were made to find the natural enemy of the ‘seale.
and the effort was finally crowned with success. The San José scale
is kept in a satisfactory state of subjection by parasites—the Aphelinus
fuscipenms, Rhizobius lophantae, Chilocorus bivulnerus, and others.

A perfect parasite in one locality is not necessarily a perfect parasite
for the same scale in another locality. As an illustration, note the
trouble they are having with the San José scale in the Eastern States,
notwithstanding the efforts that have been made to introduce the
parasites there. The climate or other conditions seem to prevent the
perfect work that prevails here. This fact should teach us not to be
too hasty in declaring that we have a parasite for other scale pests as
soon as a supposed new parasite has been introduced into our State.
Every new parasite, no matter what its record or reported record in
some other country has been, must necessarily be tried out here and
should be given its just due and no more. We have too often had our
hopes raised by premature reports of perfect parasites being introduced
that after trial proved of no avail.

The apricot scale, Hulecanium armenacum, has never to my knowl-
edge been known south of the Tehachapi, but north of that has been a
serious pest. It is, however, now controlled by its parasite, Comys
fusca, which, like the parasite of the San José scale, lays its eggs
beneath the scale, these eggs hatching in the proper season into larve
which eat out the scale inside of its shell or house, pupates there, and
later the perfect fly emerges through a hole which it makes in the outer
covering of the scale.

The soft brown scale (Coccus hesperidum) is also kept in perfect
check by its natural enemies, chaleid flies and others.

Aspidiotus hederae, A. camelliae repax, which are common feeders
upon oleander, English ivy, umbrella, privet, pittosporum, and other
varieties of plants, and which are sometimes found on the orange and
lemon, and then called lemon peel scale, are quite well controlled by
chaleid flies, Rhizobuds, and Chilocorus bivulnerus.

Since 1893 we have had periodical reports that a perfect parasite
had been introduced that would keep in perfect check widespread
pest and hfe destroyer of fruit and other trees—the black scale
(Saisettia oleae). It was about this time that Rhizobius ventralis and
R. debilis and Rk. toowoombae or lophantae were acquired. Those, with
the aid of Tomocera californica and Chrysopa califormca, did some
splendid work along the coast. Indeed, they made such a good showing
that orchardists in the interior had great hopes that they would control
the scale everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of them were colonized
in every section of the southern orchards; but after repeated trials

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 4]

and after waiting a number of years for them to be acclimated to our
drier and hotter intérior climate we were forced to give them up and
again resort to fumigation and spraying to relieve the orchards.

In October of 1901 our hopes were again raised by the report that a
new parasite had been discovered in South Africa, and that a lot of
oleander cuttings were on the way to our State Commission. The cut-
tings arrived and the little fly was bred out—the Scutellista cyanea—
and after a little time colonies were liberated in Los Angeles County
and later were distributed from there over all Southern California.

hey increased so rapidly that it was commonly thought that finally we

had the right enemy for the black scale, and that the pest was doomed.
In two years’ time I saw in our own. county orchards where at least
60 per cent of the black scale was parasitized in the month of August,
and I, with the rest, thought that our troubles with the black scale
were at an end. The following April I looked for a colony, but could
not find one. The same results had to be recorded for May. In June I
could find a very few, as also in July. In the latter part of August
they were very numerous again, but I looked farther this time and I
found that while in some instances 60 per cent of the old scale was
parasitized, still from 75 to 90 per cent of the young.scale had hatched
and was out on the leaves and limbs of the trees. After close study of the
situation for a year or two I arrived at the following conclusion: The
Scutellista is an egg eater only, and as the black scale in the interior
counties are practically all hatched out by the first of September of
each year and do not commence laying eggs again until near the first of
May, the Scutellista starve out between September Ist and May Ist. I
have, however, seen some good work done by the Scutellista along the
coast. In Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, within one or two miles
of the ocean, the olive trees are the cleanest that I have ever seen, and
this result was accomplished by the Scutellista; but on one place I saw
that the olive trees were green, while just across a driveway the lemons
were quite badly affected with the black scale. This desirable condition
along the coast may be, I think, attributed to the fact that the black
scale have in some places more than one brood a year, and that Leca-
nium hemisphaericum, which is very plentiful there, breeds in the
same way, and thus more of the Scutellista are carried over the winter
and are ready to work on the first eggs produced by either the black or
hemispherical scales in the spring. At the present time the State
Commission is trying to establish a body parasite for this pest, and we
continue to hope that the efforts in this line will finally be rewarded.
with success.

The yellow seale (Chrysomphalus aoinidum citrinus) was first known
as the San Gabriel red scale on account of its lighter shade of color.
In fact, until very recently it was considered by the Department of
Agriculture as a variation of the red scale. Its habits, however, are
different, as the red scale infests the leaf, limb and fruit, while the
yellow is seldom seen on the limb, but only on the leaf and fruit. For
years this scale has been credited with having a parasite that would
check it to the extent that it would no longer injure the orchards.
Individually, I have had occasion to look up this seale very closely. It

was introduced into a part of our county not infested with any other

_ seale, so that it could not be confounded with others. It was reported

A? THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

to the State Board, and Alexander Craw, then with the State Commis-
sion, determined the species and sent colonies of Aspidiotophagus citri-
nus, the supposed parasite. These were reinforced many times, and
after thorough inspection I can say I never saw one tenth of one per
cent of the seale that were parasitized, and I so reported to the State
Commission. I was told that it was very queer, when they did so well
elsewhere. Later I had opportunity to observe this scale elsewhere
with the following results: I found the scale very bad everywhere that
artificial means were not taken to control it. I once had several hundred
leaves sent me from Los Angeles County so that I might breed out
this parasite. These leaves were thickly covered on both sides with the
scale (not a good indication of parasitic work), and I put them into
breeding jars and cared for them for a month, but not a single parasite
did I get. During a trip to the northern part of this State I looked
up the parasite there, and found very little, if any, evidence of their
work, but there was plenty of yellow scale everywhere. I found them
in the Capitol grounds ‘at Sacramento and on trees at Marysville,
Yuba City, and Oroville. So, I was forced to the conclusion that the
Aspidiotophagus citrinus was not to be relied on. The reputed parasite
is a golden chalcid fly, whose method is like that of the Scutellista,
v. e., Wherever it works you will find the small round hole in the scale
where it makes its exit.

Somewhere about the year 1891 or ’92 Albert Koebele, who had been
sent abroad by the State Board of Horticulture, sent among other
parasites a steel-blue ladybird (Orchus chalybeus), to prey upon the
red scale, and these ladybirds were liberated in the Kerchival orchard
in Los Angeles, but after much time the decision was arrived at that
they were not equal to the task. They are still to be seen occasionally
in the coast counties, but not in sufficient numbers to do much good.

For a number of vears we have been told that one of the Rhizobiids
was preying upon the purple scale, viz., R. lophantae, but I venture to
assert that a person untrained in this line would need to be told that
they were working. Later, the State Commission of Horticulture
received a new parasite for the red and purple scales and sent experts
to breed them in the worst infested orchards, but after a lapse of
considerable time they appear to diminish in numbers rather than
multiply, and we can place nothing to their credit.

Mealy bugs (Pseudococcus citrr) bid fair to be a most serious cca
They have a number of enemies, one of them Cryptolaemus montrou-
zveri, but their control of the insect is only partial, and so not satis-
factory.

The introduced parasite for the widespread enemy of the apple
grower, the codling moth, Carpocapsa pomonella, is Caliephialtes
messor. It works well in confinement when supplied with larve or
cocoons of the moth, but after a number of years’ trial in the orchards
has no friends to sound its praises.

The cutworms, Agrotis saucia and Peridroma saucia, are periodical
enemies and general feeders. The moths lay the eggs, and later the cut-
worms emerge. These dark colored moths may be seen flying in the
twilight over the flowers and elsewhere. They usually lay their eggs
in March, and the worms appear in April. We are troubled with them,
sometimes once in two years, and sometimes only once in four years.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 43

There are two common enemies of this pest, one a large black beetle
(Colosoma angularis), which feeds upon the worms in both larve and
beetle stages. The other enemy is a Tachina fly (Froutina frenchir),
which lays its eggs in the worm as it crawls; the eggs hatch out later
when the worms are in the pup stage, and the maggots eat out the
pup, and in turn pupates and comes out the fly again. I have known
as high as 90 per cent of the worms to be parasitized in this manner, so
that in the breeding jars I would get that percentage of the flies instead
of the moths.

Our common feeders, the Chrysopa californica and Chilocorus bwul-
nerus, and others feed upon the mites and plant lee to quite an extent.
Plant lice also have an enemy in the footless maggot, which devours
them in large quantities.

To sum the question up, it will be seen by the foregoing that we have
successful parasites for many of our insect foes and that others are
kept in check to a considerable extent. But, while this is a fact, we
should not be too easily satisfied and allow the pests that are only
partially controlled to continue to lower the value of our orchards; but
we should use the best mechanical methods to control the pests until
such a time as the State Commission can secure a parasite that after a
thorough test proves itself capable of subduing those remaining.

In this connection I wish to call attention to the Insectary, which
has been maintained in inadequate quarters at San Francisco by the
State Commission of Horticulture. At the present time a new building
is being erected at Sacramento for the express purpose of accommo-
dating this branch of the work. Too much can not be said in commen-
dation of our State Commission for the effort it is making to acquire
perfect parasites for all of our insect enemies. Continuous search is
being made all over the world to secure better parasites for some of the
seale insects, as well as additional ones for others. Comparatively little
is known by most of our people of the difficulties to be overcome in this
work. Sometimes it is difficult to get permission in some of the foreign
countries to make the search, Then, after the parasites have been
located, methods have to be devised to transfer them in good condition
to San Francisco. Some of them have been sent on cuttings, some on
infested trees, and sometimes they have been collected in boxes and
placed on ice, thus keeping the insects frozen until they arrive at their
destination. The next difficulty is food for them, and sometimes it
happens that considerable effort must be made to secure this food in
sufficient quantities and in such condition that it will keep until used.

- The new building is planned for convenience in breeding and .caring
for these insects, and it is to be cared for by those eminently qualified
for the work, both through experience and technical knowledge. We
may all rest assured that everything is being done by the State Com-
mission, and will continue to be done, to advance this line of work for
the benefit of the orchardists all over this, the greatest fruit-growing
State in the world.

In closing I want to quote a sentence that appeared in an article by
J. H. Comstock in the American Naturalist for December, 1888.

He said: ‘‘We hope that the time is near when the need of an
insectary for entomological work will be as fully appreciated as is the
necessity for a propagating house for the horticulturist or a conserva-
_ tory for the botanist.’’ I will just add ‘‘Them’s my sentiments.’’

44 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Prof. A. J. Cook, of Claremont College,
connected with the biological work, will lead the discussion.

PROF. A. J. COOK. Ladies and Gentlemen: The subject of the
red scale and yellow scale is one of very great interest. In our section
we have no red scale immediately around Claremont, but we have quite
a good many of the yellow scale. Our people feel that there is no
danger, that we have a parasite that is mentioned by Mr. Pease in his
admirable paper that will keep that in control. I was in a section a
few days ago where the orchards are seriously affected with this yellow
scale, so it seems to me we ought to know something about this scale,
so I bethought me that Mr. Bemis, our able commissioner of Los Angeles
County, would tell us something about that scale. I will call upon
Mr. Bemis, who will give us something on the yellow and red seale. I
ask him to do this in about five minutes.

MR. C. E. BEMIS. Ladies and Gentlemen: Perhaps five minutes is
all that is necessary for me to tell all I know about this, but still I
believe in my crude way of telling it perhaps I ought to have a little
more time. I want to preface what I say by the statement that my
experience with these two pests, and any other pests I have a knowledge
of, has been acquired entirely within Los Angeles County. As Mr.
Pease has said to us many times, the effects of parasites on different
seales are quite different in different localities, so that any conclusion
I may have arrived at in my knowledge of these two insects might not
apply in every case or in other localities. But I would like to say this,
that this seems to be rather a new question and always open to different
conclusions as to whether there are two scales, so-called, the red and
the yellow, or whether they are one.

My belief is that they are two decidedly different and distinct kinds
of scale, although they resemble each other almost precisely in appear-
ance. I believe I can safely say that they differ enough in appearance,
so that any of us who are careful enough in the search for them may be
able to determine which is which, whether we ought to be much alarmed
about them or little. The work of the two scales is so different that
they do not come in the same elass at all. One of them is practically a
harmless insect, and the other is the worst that is known to California.
The red scale, as Mr. Pease has said to you, does not confine itself to
the fruit or the leaf, but attacks the tree directly from its limbs, and
not only the small limbs, but the very large ones. As it grows in size,
the infection will finally destroy a considerable portion of the tree,
particularly the lower and the northern parts of the tree, so I think
the tree could become entirely destroyed by it.

You never see any such results from the attack of yellow seale—never
to my knowledge. I have heard of some cases in the northern citrus
district, where they are so much worse than they are down here, that
possibly my predictions would not be earried out if you would go up
there and look at them. Still, I find men who are familiar with them
saying that the yellow scale is almost entirely confined to the leaf and
the fruit in their attack. This bemmg the ease, your tree will suffer
simply from the drain from the fruit and leaves. The tree will not
materially suffer from the attack of the yellow scale, while the red
seale can easily kill the tree in time.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 45

Now, in the particular locality where I have been in the business of
erowing oranges for twenty-two years or more, that is, the portion of
the San Gabriel Valley this side of the river, we have had for probably
fifteen years a general infection of yellow scale. Mr. Pease has said it
came into the lower end of the valley more especially from Sierra
Madre. I ean remember when oranges grown there were entirely
worthless on account of attacks of yellow scale. Afterwards the para-
site was introduced in that particular place, and in a few years the
yellow seale ceased to be a great pest in that section of the country.
The fruit became suitable for us to market, and was all right in so far
as the yellow scale was concerned. So I am satisfied in that particular
cease the parasite succeeded in destroying that seale. Now, they grad-
ually worked across the river. I remember distinctly when the first
one was found on the east side of the river, and it alarmed us directly
because we all understood that it was the red scale, and we knew of the
attacks of the red scale in what is now Orange County. In old times
that country was terribly scourged with red scale, and we were very
much alarmed about it when we learned the red scale had come into our
orchards. We have had the yellow scale ever since that time in there, —
had it in the part of that valley, and I want to say to you that that dis-
trict furnishes the largest body of citrus orchards profitably producing
in the world, except one, and that is the one surrounding us now. So
1 think I have a good field from which to observe, and I believe I can go
farther and say that the productions from those orchards to-day are
and have been as great, if not greater, than any other equal acreage in
the world. I say this because I want to emphasize that the yellow scale
is practically harmless.

So it seems to me very important to know, if we can, the difference
between these two scales; that is to say, to be able to discover the dif-
_ ference so as to know whether we have this worst enemy, or the one that
can be most easily gotten along with. There are several distinct dif-
ferences in appearance in these scales which might interest you more
than what I can say about the results. In the first place, the yellow
scale is a much more superficial scale; it is flatter and thinner than the
other. In every case in which it is alive, especially when the female is
alive, it is translucent or almost transparent. This is never the case in
the red seale; this is always opaque or very murky in its color or appear-
ance, so you can not look through the structure of that scale and see the
form of the insect inside. You can in almost every case in the yellow
seale. This alone will guide you largely in determining in your own
orchard whether it is one or the other. Then, too, a closer examination
will reveal the fact that the red scale has a very much harder covering—
a much harder shell than the yellow one. If you break that cover or
that shell with the point of a pin or a sharp-pointed knife you can hear
a distinct crack every time; and you can’t do that in the case of the
yellow. In almost every case you will find that when you break the
shell of the red scale the juices will emerge. It won’t do so in the yel-
low; it comes out from under. There may be some cases where that is
not true, but it is so nearly true that I believe you can lay it down as a
rule, so if you should examine these scales in that way you will see a
decided difference. The red scale seems to be more deeply set in its place
en the fruit, leaf or limb. It is very much more securely attached.

46 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS” CONVENTION.

But in the case of the yellow scale, it is more easily dislodged, and espe-
cially so in the presence of the parasite spoken of by Mr. Pease. If you
have that parasite, you will find at short intervals that the seales will
have become so parasitized that they will strip off easily. You can
take your thumb and move it across the surface; and you will get the
scale off on your thumb.

Now, in the case of yellow scale of the orange, before it goes to the
packing house, this little chalcid fly has destroyed practically every one
of the yellow scales, so when it goes through any kind of a brusher in
the house they will readily leave the fruit. Brushing never removes any
of the red scale. That always stays after it goes through the brusher
or washer. It is there to stay unless you kill it in some way. ;

Lemons are picked every month or every three weeks, and it may be
that you can not always depend on the parasite removing the scale. so
In some cases it might become a serious pest on the lemon. But so far
as our district is concerned, we find very little of the yellow seale on the
lemon.

Our orchards, as I said before, are producing as much in every way
as any in the world. This shows that the yellow seale has not interfered
with the industry at all, so far as the orange is concerned. I don’t
know that I ought to say any more. Perhaps I have said too much
already.

PROFESSOR COOK. I am glad Mr. Carnes is here. I call upon
him to discuss this subject.

MR. CARNES. In the work of rearing these parasites we get
acquainted with them. This little fellow under discussion at the present
time is not the true parasite of the yellow scale. It is doing good work
on other things, yet at the same time it does not in a great many sections
thoroughly control the yellow scale, especially in the northern portion ~
cf the State, as was spoken of by Mr. Pease. These little insects have
to be assisted. You have to stock the orchards and carry the parasites
back and forth to get them thoroughly established. In that way you
may expect to get results from them. When it comes to the direct ques-
tion of depending on the parasite instead of fumigation for the yellow
scale, I would be governed largely by conditions. If your orchard is
badly infested with the yellow scale so that the trees are being injured,
I myself would not wait for the parasite. In Riverside County I under-
stand the parasite has held it in control for the past ten or twelve years,
excepting in new sections which the parasite has not reached. In those
sections they fumigate, for the reason that it is not safe to wait. The
more food you have in an orchard for a parasite, the better it works.
If I had an orchard where it was absolutely covered with yellew seale.
as bad as some of them are, it would appear to me to be foolish to wait
for the insect pest. You can’t afford to wait for the parasite.

In the past, the work of parasitism has been largely exaggerated.
They are a great help, and we must figure upon them as a help until
we can find true parasites.

In the case of the red scale parasite that we worked on last year—the
last introductions from China—I never saw any better work on red
seale. We took that to San Diego County and turned it locse.

| or al

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 47

Examinations have shown that it has not taken hold. However, there
may be conditions that cause that. The right conditions may not have
existed when we put them out. The way to do is to follow that up.
We have another shipment of the same material now at San Francisco,
and are going to restock the orchards again. We went down there
into a district where it didn’t make much difference whether’ they
fumigated or not. We tried to get them into an orchard that was
abandoned, as a test place, to give them a trial, and if they succeeded,
then it would be time to trust to that parasite. But, in the mean time,
we can’t wait for parasites until we have taken them to a place and
given them a good trial.

MR. MILLS. What success have you had with the parasites that you
have taken to San Diego?

MR. CARNES. At the last examination we were unable to find any
work to amount to anything. The parasite that came in from China
looked better than any one I had seen. Mr. Cundiff saw it, as did a
ereat many other gentlemen. I think Mr. Allen saw it. It was a big,
robust parasite, and we saw them ovipositing in the scale. Of course
they are lable to pass from tree to tree and they may show up later.
Then climatic conditions make some difference. There may be condi-
tions at the time of placing them in the orchard that they have to over-
come. The work of introducing them in the past has not been as
successful as we would like to see. It is very hard to get a sufficient
start. Instead of sending one shipment in and trusting to that to do the
work, we should follow up those shipments, and try it over and over
again.

MR. MILLS. You have some parasites for the red scale?

MR. CARNES. We have never had very many for the red scale.
This one comes from the north of China, which place seems to be the
home of the red scale. It seems to be a big, robust fellow. It is a new
thing, and we can not tell yet what it will do.

MR. MILLS. Has the shipment been sufficient to try it thoroughly?

MR..CARNES. The work has been largely experimental. At San
Francisco, in addition to our regular quarantine, and just before the
earthquake, we had considerable of this stock. The earthquake
destroyed practically all of our parasites. We have not had a fair
trial on it. The earthquake destroyed our stock, and we had to start
over again. We have never had a suitable place to propagate parasites.

MR. MILLS. Tell us about the insectary, will you, Mr. Carnes?

PROFESSOR COOK. I don’t believe, Mr. President, we had better
bring that in now. I don’t think we had better bring in another sub-
ject that is entirely different.

MR. MILLS. All right:

48 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PROFESSOR COOK. It is my pleasure to ask Mr. Cundiff to talk
further on this subject.

MR. CUNDIFF. In speaking of the yellow scale and the relation it
bears to this subject, I can do no better than to relate our experience
here in Riverside. When I first became attached to the horticultural
force of this county, something like fourteen years ago, the yellow scale
was not regarded as injurious, but the red scale was a very serious pest,
and we were fighting it as persistently as possible by fumigation. I
want to say now that we always regarded it as a much more resistant
scale to fumigation. It required a larger dose of material.

As I remember, thirteen years ago reports came to us that there was a
parasite in the San Gabriel Valley that was attacking the yellow scale
and doing good work. Mr. Havens at that time was the commissioner,
and he went down and brought up a large amount, of material. With
that kind of an internal parasite, it was necessary to bring up the
branches and the leaves. JI think, perhaps, I had the honor of putting
out the first colony that was put out in Riverside, and in orchards
where it had been costing quite a large sum of money annually to keep
the scale down. Many of them we have never fumigated since. It has
certainly been a success in the main. There are seasons when, on
account of conditions, climatic or otherwise, this chaleid fly does not
work as well as at other times. It is not as constant in its work as some
other insects. But where it loses out one year, it begins again the next.
To such an extent has it been a success that my inspectors have instruc-
tions not to take up yellow scale except in new districts—districts where
we have never found any of the red or yellow. In eases of that kind,
where we find a few trees, their instructions are to mark them up, and
then we fumigate or spray.

Now, this chaleid fly, being an internal parasite, has to go through
transformations under the scale. Take the Hulecanium, for instance,
or the brown scale, or the apricot scale, and an insect of that nature can
not escape except by eating its way out and perforating the seale. But
it is not so with the insects of the same family that attack the diaspidis
or armored seales. I have seen many cases where the parasite that
attacks the yellow scale was planted everywhere, almost covering the
leaves. You could raise the scale and find a full-fledged mature insect,
and the nature of that scale is that after death many of the diaspid
scales, as far as I know, do not adhere to the twig or leaf closely, in
_ the same way that the Hulecaniuwm does. With the Comys fusca, the

Hulecanium armeniacum will hold on for months after the eggs are
hatched. The red or yellow scale will not do that. It loosens up and
gives the parasite an opportunity to emerge through the scale.

PROFESSOR COOK. I am glad to introduce the next gentleman.
He has done us a large amount of good. Mr. Maskew is doing good
work, and he will disenss this subject as to whether we should continue
to import species.

MR. MASKEW. Ladies and Gentlemen: To give you my opinion
cf the present status of parasitism throughout the State of California
would consist simply of a résumé of Mr. Pease’s paper. He covered the

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 49

eround very clearly, and for the sake of brevity I will just make a
résumé.

In the case of the apricot and plum tree, the status of parasitism 1s
very good. The Comys fusca, in the Eulecanium armenacum, has got
the pest under commercial control. In the peach and apple sections,
where the San José scale is, parasitism is commercially complete. In
the grain fields, something that we entirely overlooked, the status of
parasitism five years out of six is complete. The status of parasitism in
the great melon fields is arriving at a stage of commercial completion.
In the vegetable gardens, in the truck patches, and in the berry fields
parasitism is approaching approximately commercial control.

Now, we get to the great citrus belt. The status of parasitism in the
citrus orchards, in my opinion, is this: ‘‘The United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Plant Industry, has proven
to you that to have your fruit carry well, and hence sell profitably, it
must come to the packing house clean. The citrus orchards of Southern
California to-day can not send the fruit to the packing house clean.
You can draw your own conclusions from that.

Now, as to the desirability of introducing more of our insect friends.
in my opinion, that should be pursued dilgently under all circum-
stanees. As Mr. Carnes told you in relation to the shipments from
China to San Diego, he and I were intimately associated in the handling
of those, and he is correct when he tells you that never did we see such
complete and thorough parasitism upon the red scale as occurred upon
the plants that came to us from China. We got the insects from those;
we propagated them; we liberated them under good conditions; actually
saw them ovipositing. All that human agency could do we did with
those small insects in San Diego County. Up to the present time we
have not found any results there. However, that is no reason that we
should stop. Compere should have been kept right where he was, and
by every steamer should have sent us such material as that. If they
ean accomplish that upon those plants in China, they can do it here;
and I say we should pursue that in every way, and continue to do it.
Gentlemen, I thank you.

PARASITIC CONTROL OF INJURIOUS INSECTS.
By PROF. A. J. COOK, OF CLAREMONT.

Since meeting with you before at Fresno I have been widely over
our own country, and over much of the finest parts of Europe, and I am
2lad to bring these truths to your ears: For beauty of scenery, salubrity
and perfection of climate, for productivity of soil and cash returns in
agriculture, for superiority of its pomology, and for the skill and intel-
ligence of its orchard management, California is not surpassed by any
other section of the world. It is, then, more than duty—it is a grateful
privilege—to do aught that we may to better our condition and pros-
pects pomologically.

It is estimated that the gross returns from our orchards alone reach
annually from sixty million dollars to seventy-five million dollars. Half
this comes from the citrus groves. The entire agriculture of the State

4—-FGC

50 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

hands over to the treasury of the nation a much larger sum. If it is
true, then, that our country receives at the hands of agriculture seven
billion dollars annually, and if, as is shown by experts, we suffer a loss
cf one fifth of this because of insect ravages, then surely the question
of insect control is a momentous one. California is to the fore front in
this enormous production; except for her intelligence and enterprise,
she would also excel in loss by her insect foes. It is also true that we
spend—wisely spend—thousands of dollars annually to hold these pests
in check. I know of a single orchard where $22,000 to $33,000 have
been expended annually to protect against these ubiquitous foes.

Mr. Ehrhorn, in his valuable address at the Marysville meeting, and
our wideawake Commissioner Pease here to-day, have shown us what
substantial aid has come to us from our insect friends—predaceous and
parasitic—and surely the astute orchardist will receive valuable sugges-
tions which should lead to more valuable action in the premises.

It is desirable that we have the correct names of such insects as filch
from our hard-earned possessions, as also of our insect friends, and so
T make no apology for appending the following tables, with the anno-
tations. I will first give the destructive insects that I have myself seen
at work, the most of which, and the most destructive of which, are the

several seale pests:

Yellow Scale

(Chrys-6m-pha-
lus) -(As-pi-di-6-
tus) ati-ran-ti-i
eit-ri-nus

Common Name. Scientific Name. Family. Plants Attacked.
Fluted, white or cot- I-cé-ry-a ptr-cha-si Céc-ci-dz Citrus, rose, grass,
tony cushion, Scale acacia, etc.
Mealy-bugs Pseu-do-c6c-cus Coéc-ci-dee Citrus, coffee, tobacco,
( Dac-ty-16-pi- ivy, ete.
us) cit-ri
Maple Scale Pul-vi-naé-ri-a_ Céc-ci-de Tobacco, ivy, apples,
in-nu-mer-adb-i-lis ete.
Soft or Soft Brown Coéc-cus (Le-cé-ni- Céc-ci-de Citrus, oleander, ivy,
Seale um) hes-pér-i- camellia, ete.
dum
Apricot Scale Eu-le-ca-ni-um Céc-ci-de Apricot, pear, plum,
( Le-ci-ni-um ) cherry, prune, ete
ar-me-ni-a-cum
Frosted Scale Eu-le-caé-ni-um Céc-ci-de English walnut, apri-
( Le-c4-ni-um ) cot, apple, pear, etc.
pru-i-né-sum :
Hemispherical Scale Sais-sé-ti-a Céc-ci-dze Orange, oleander,
hem-i-sphér-i-ca cocos, ferns, peach,
' Gre.
Black Scale Sais-sé-ti-a (Le-cé- Céc-ci-de Citrus, oleander, olive,
ni-um) 6-le-z apple, pepper, etc.
Oleander or Ivy As-pi-di-6-tus héd-e- Cdéc-ci-dz Oleander, ivy, orange,
Seale re (A. né-ri-i) acacia, apple, plum,
olive, ete.
Walnut Scale . As-pi-di-0-tus Céc-ci-dze Walnut, apple, apri-
jug-lans ré-gi-e cot, cherry, ete.
San José Scale As-pi-di-6-tus Céc-ci-de Most deciduous fruits
per-ni-ci-6-sus and many others.
Greedy Scale As-pi-di-6-tus Coéc-ci-dze Citrus, apple, cherry,
* ra-pax ivy, walnut, etc.
d Scale A-6n-i-di-él-la Céc-ci-dze Citrus, apple, rose,
ie ( Chrys-6m-pha- olive. fig, ete.
lus) (As-pi-di-6-
tus) ati-ran-ti-1
A-6n-i-di-él-la — Cée-ci-de ~ Citrus, euonymus

(eu-6n-y-mus), ete.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

dl

Common Name. Scientific Name. Family. Plants Attacked.
Purple Scale Lep-i-dés-a-phes Coéc-ci-de Citrus, oak, banksia
béck-i-i rose, ete.
Pear Slug Er-i-o-cam-pa Ten-thre- Pear, cherry.
cér-a-si din-i-de
Cabbage Butterfly Pi-e-ris ra-px ee Cabbage, rape, ete.
i-dx
Willow Butterfly Bu-va-nés-sa Nym-phal- rig GIRL
an-ti-o-pa i-dz
Variegated Cut-worm Per-id-ro-ma Noc-tti-i-dee Oranges, alfalfa, gar-
or California Army- sati-ci-a den vegetables.
worm :
Codling Moth Car-po-cap-sa Graph-o- Apple, pear, quince,
po-mo-nél-la lith-i-de ete.

Hessian Fly

Cec-i-do-my-i-a

Cec-i-do-my-i-

Wheat stem.

de-struc-tor dee
Mexican Orange Fly ‘Try-pé-ta li-dens Try-pét-i-de Orange fruit.
Apricot Beetle Sér-i-ca fim-bri-4-ta Scar-a-baé- Grub eats roots:
i-dee beetle, foliage.
Apricot Beetle Sér-i-ca mix-ta Scar-a-baé- Grub eats roots;
i i-dee beetle, foliage.
Lawn White Grub Li-gy-rus gib-bo-sus Be ener Gras& roots, foliage.
i-dze
Twelve-spotted Leaf- Di-a-brot-i-ca Chrys-o- Garden foliage,
beetle s0-ror mél-i-dze _ melons, ete.
Grape Flea-beetle Hal-ti-ca Chrys-o- Grape foliage.
cha-lyb-e-a mé]-i-dze
Fuller’s Rose-beetle A-ram-i-gus O-ti-o-rhyn- Roots of rosaceous
fail-ler-i chi-dze plants, foliage of

Bean Weevil
Pea Weevil

Wire Worms, Click
Beetles

Bigheaded Borer

Brii-chus ob-téc-tus
Brii-chus pi-si
Mel-a-n6-tus sp.

Chrys-o-both-ris
fem-o-raé-ta

Brt-chi-de
Brii-chi-dz
El-a-tér-i-dee

Bu-prés-ti-
dee

orange, ete.
Beans in pod.
Peas in pod.
Alfalfa, ete.

Apricots, apples,
pears, etc.

Plant Lice Phyl-lox-é-ra vas-té- Aph-i-di- Grape.
* trix i-dee
Plant Lice A-phis sp. Aph-i-di- Melons, peas, ete.
i-dze
White Fly Al-ey-ré-des -cit-ri Al-ey-réd- Orange, ete.
i-dee

False Chinch Bug

Nys-i-us de-strtic-
tor

Ly-gaé-i-dz

Grapes and many gar-
den vegetables.

In giving this list, I have given the pronunciation, as I have had

frequent inquiries from our numerous horticultural commissioners and
inspectors regarding the same. In the names contained in these lists,
the long English sound is to be given to vowels in accented syllables. end-
ing in a vowel, as in Le-ca-ni-um; when final, as in béck-i-1; and in final
es, as in Al-ey-ré-des; elsewhere, in general, the short sound, as in
Céc-ci-de ; ch has the sound of K, as in Chal-cid; g before e, i, y, #, or ce
has the sound of j, as in Li-gy-rus; we and & are pronounced like e, as
in ‘koéb-el-ex. .

The frequent and perplexing changes in names are necessary. There
are two reasons for such changes, both of which are conclusive: one, the
law of priority ; the other, the avoidance of duplicating names in closely
related groups. Of course the necessity of uniformity makes it 1mpera-
tive that we have some rule which shall be observed by all. Let me add
that in writing a name, the first or generic name should always be

He, THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

capitalized; the species never.

Even if we could have Vedalia roose-

velti or Vedalia powelli, the r and p would be small letters, not capitals.

The next table will give our insect friends; and let me add that these
friends belong to two distinct groups, the parasitic insects—those that
work inside their victims, like the golden chalcid of the yellow seale:
and the predaceous species—those that devour their prey, as does the
cat the mouse. The Vedalia, and indeed all the ladybird beetles, belong

in the latter group.

Of the parasitic group, we have three families: the Chalcids, Ichneu-
monids, and the Braconids; and one family of the Diptera, or two-wing
flies, the Tachinids. I give them in this order in the following table:

Common Name.
Golden Chalcid

San José Scale
Chalceid

Greedy Scale Chalcid

Greedy Scale Chalcid

Apricot Scale Chalcid

Live Oak Moth
Chaleid

Soft Scale Chalcid

Yellow Scale Chalcid

Yellow Scale Chalcid

Yellow Scale Parasite

Soft Scale Parasite
Yellow Seale Chalcid

Cabbage Butterfly
Chaleid

White Scale Chalcid

White Scale Chalcid

Scutellista

Black Scale Chalcid

Diabrotica Chalcid

Codling Moth Parasite

Oak Moth Parasite

Oak Moth Parasite

Aphid Parasite
Army-worm Ta-chi-na

Cut-worm Parasite

Scientific Name.

As-pid-i-o-toph-a-
gus cit-ri-nus
A-phél-i-nus
fus-ci-pén-nis
A-phél-i-nus
di-As-pi-dis
A-phél-i-nus
myt-il-as-pi-dis
Cé-mys ftis-ca
Chial-cis o-va-ta

Coc-coph-a-gus
le-ca-ni-i
Coc-céph-a-gus
lu-nf-tus
Coc-cé6ph-a-gus
au-ran-ti-i
A-phy-cus
mac-u-li-tus
En-cyr-tus flaé-vus
Sig-niph-o-ra
eal-i-f6r-ni-ca
Pter-6m-a-lus
pu-pa-rum
Les-t6ph-o-nus
1-cé-ry-#
O-pho-l6-si-a
craw-tord-i
Scu-tel-lis-ta
cy-a-ne-a
Yom-o-cé-ra
eal-i-f6r-ni-ca
Cel-a-t6-ri-a
craw-il-l
Cal-li-e-phi-al-tes
més-sor
He-mit-e-les
ash-méad-i-i
Pimp-la
con-qui-si-tor
A-phid-i-us sp.
Win-thé-mi-a
4-pus-tu-]a-ta
Fro-tin-i-a
frénch-i-i

Family.
Chél-ci-dee

Chal-ci-dxe
Chal-ci-dze
Chal-ci-de

Chal-ci-dze
Chal-ci-dze

Chal-ci-dze
Chal-ci-de
Chal-ci-dee
Chal-ci-dze

Chal-ci-de
ChAal-ci-dze

Chal-ci-de
Chal-ci-dee
Chal-ci-dee
Chal-ci-de
Chal-ci-dee

Chal-ci-dee

Ich-neu-mén-

i-dx

Ich-neu-mé6n-

ji-dze

Ich-neu-mé6n-

i-dze

Bra-cén-i-de

Mias-ci-de

Mis-ci-de

Insect Attacked.
Yellow Scale.

San José Seale.
Greedy Seale.
Greedy Seale, ete

Apricot Seale.
Oak Moth.

Soft Brown Scale.
Yellow Seale.
Yellow Seale.
Yellow Seale.

Soft Seale.
Yellow Seale. ‘a

Cabbage Butterfiy.

White Scale.

White Scale.

Eggs of Black Seale.

Eggs of Black Seale.

Twelve-spotted Leaf-
beetle.

Codling Moth.

Oak Moth.

Oak Moth Caterpillar.

Plant Lice.
Army-worm.

Twelve-spotted Leaf- |
beetle.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS*’ CONVENTION. 53

The Tachina flies lay their eggs on the outside of their victims, while
the others usually place them within the bodies of the insect parasitized.
Many predaceous species belong to the bee and wasp order, Hyme-
noptera, and include all the wasps; the two-winged order, Diptera, where
we find the Syrphus flies, and the robber flies, the latter of which even
kill bees; and the order of beetles, Coleoptera, which includes the army-

worm destroyer and the ladybird beetles.
bird beetles belong the well known Vedalia.
and laeewing flies, which are predaceous.

the most important ones:

Common Name.

Ncientific Name.

Fa mily.

To the family of the lady-
We also have many bugs
I give the following table of

Insect Attacked.

Army-worm Cal-o-sé-ma Ca-raéb-i-de Army-worm, Cater-
Destroyer sem-i-lie-ve pillars.
Many Ground Various species Ca-rab-i-de Caterpillars, ete.
Beetles ©
Twice-stabbed Lady- Chi-l6ch-o-rus Coc-ci-nél- Black Seale.
bird bi-vfil-ne-rus li-dze
Imported Chinese Chi-l6ch-o-rus Coc-ci-nél- San José Neale.
Ladybird sim-i-lis li-dee
California Ladybird Coc-ci-nél-la Coe-ci-nél- Plant Lice.
eal-i-f6r-ni-ca li-dze
Red Ladybird Coc-ci-nél-la Coc-ci-nél- Plant Lice.
san-guin-e-a li-dze
Mealy-bug Ladybird Cryp-to-lae-mus Coc-ci-né]- Mealy-bugs.
mon-trou-zié-ri li-dze
Pilate’s Ladybird Ex-o-ché-mus Coc-ci-nél- Black Seale.
pi-li-te-i li-dae
Mealy-bug Ladybird Hy-per-as-pis Coc-ci-nél- Mealy-bugs.
lat-er-4-lis li-de
Ambiguous Ladybird Hip-po-dé-mi-a Coc-ci-nél- Plaut Lice.
am-big-u-a li-dze
Spotted Ladybird Hip-po-daé-mi-a Coc-ci-nél- Plant Lice.
con-vér-gens li-dze
Vedalia N6-vi-us ( Ve-da- Coc-ci-nél- White Scale.
li-a) car-di-n4-lis li-dz
Koebele’s Ladybird No-vi-us koéb-e-le Coc-ci-nél- White Scale.
li-dz
Steel-blue Ladybird Or-cus cha-lyb-e-us Coc-ci-nél- ted Seale.
li-dze
Spotted Orcus Or-cus Coe-ci-nél- Black Seale.
aus-tra-la-si-2 li-dze
Rhizobius Rhi-z6-bi-us Coc-ci-nél- Black Seale.
ven-tra-lis li-dze
Purple Scale Rhizo- Rhi-z6-bi-us Coc-ci-nél- Purple Scale.
bius lo-phan-tze li-dze
Small Rhizobius Rhi-z6-bi-us Coc-ci-nél- Black Seale.
déb-i-lis li-dz
Mite Ladybird Scym-nus vaé-gans Coc-ci-nél- Bryobia Mite.
li-dze

There are numerous bugs that help to keep down our various pests.
The lacewings, also; ‘especially the Chry-sé-pa flies or green-wing
Chrysopa is of special note as an enemy of the plant lice.

Mr. Pease has called attention to the fact that most of our dreaded
pests, many of which would be terribly serious, are held in check almost
entirely by their insect enemies. The soft brown scale and the cottony
cushion scale are striking examples. Both of these scales are exception-
ally prolific; yet both are rendered harmless, and the last by an
imported species, the Vedalia. There are four species of scale insects,

54 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the red, purple, black and yellow scale, which, when present, seriously
injure and in time ruin our citrus groves. Thus, in many sections,
immunity from harm means great annual expense. Massachusetts, after
spending well toward a million dollars in combating the gipsy moth and
the brown-tail moth, has now done what California’s experience might
have suggested at the start, imported their European enemies,’ and
already substantial progress is made in overcoming these two alarming
scourges. The devastation of the cotton boll weevil of the Southern
States was so threatening that large appropriations have been made by
Congress to secure effective remedies against it. We now have the
encouraging report that native parasitic and predaceous species have
come to the rescue, and are promising to be effective in staying the evil
wrought by this snout beetle. We should remember always that these
insect friends ‘‘work for nothing and board themselves.’’ We are
erateful for the discovery of such efficient remedies as gasing with
cyanide, but how much more grateful for the introduction of such
species as the Vedalia, for we are thus saved all anxiety as well as the
great expense and labor of fighting our pests. We must gas, unless our
friends are masters of the situation. To wait for the Scutellista, or
golden chaleid, until our groves are ruined, or materially injured, by the
black or yellow scale is the height of folly. The wise course would
seem to be to fight our pests by the best method, unless their enemies are
sufficient to keep them down; and in case we do not now have efficient
parasites or predaceous species, to hunt for them with the keenest vision
that we can secure.

This brings me to the climax of the whole matter. We must listen to
the wise words of Prof. Vernon L. Kellogg spoken at the Marysville
meeting; we should have at once a STATE Entomouocist. Think of it!
Despite all the losses, our gross returns from our orchards are something
like seventy-five million dollars. If, as good authority has it, twenty
per cent of this sum, or one fifth, is sacrificed through insect ravages,
then we see that our annual loss is from twelve to fifteen million dollars.
When we add to this the immense sum expended yearly in fighting our
foes, we have data that should induce immediate action. We can not
estimate the great benefit that has come through Harris, Fitch, Walsh,
and Riley, not to mention a host of other workers in this important
field. Millions would not measure the benefit to our country derived
from Riley’s extensive researches, while State Entomologist of Missouri.
With so much at stake, we should see to it at once and insist that we have
the most competent man that we can procure, and equip him, as sug-
gested by Professor Kellogg, with assistants and means to travel and
investigate, and should pay a salary that would secure the ablest talent
to be found. This man should be free from the influenee of politics
and responsible only to the fruit growers. His whole time and energy
should be devoted to research in practical entomology. The professor
at the University has teaching that distracts, and our able entomologists,
now connected with the State Horticultural Commission, have duties in
relation to quarantine and breeding insects that disqualify them for
this huge work. It is a field that would take the entire time and tax
the energy to the utmost of the best man that can be secured. With the
right man, millions might—nay, would—be saved annually to our fruit
growers. When we consider our immense orchards, the enormous pro-

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. D5

duction, and the frightful loss from insect ravages, it seems strange
that our fruit men, usually so full of enterprise and energy, have not,
long ere this, insisted that we have a State Entomologist, who shall
give his entire time to the study of our insect foes. We learn with
ereat satisfaction that the University is to send to our part of the State
a very competent entomologist to engage in this most promising field of
research, who shall give his entire time to such investigations. It would
be wise economy if the horticulture board should add to their present
force a man to give his entire time to field work and investigations
concerning insects.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Before we adjourn, I wish to announce
the committee on the President’s address, covered by the motion of
Mr. Mills. I have selected J. H. Reed, C. E. Bemis, and George C.
Roeding. If this is acceptable to the Convention, that committee will
stand ; and if you wish to consult Mr. Mills about any idea he may have
regarding this address, I think he would be glad to help you. Remember
to-morrow is citrus day, and all be here on time.

(At this time an adjournment was taken until Wednesday, April
29th, at 9: 30 o’clock a. Mo.)

56 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PROCEEDINGS OF SECOND DAY.

Wepnespay, April 29, 1908, 9:30 o’clock A. m.

The Convention was called to order at 9:30 a. m. by the President,
and the following proceedings were had:

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are now ready to take up the pro-
eramme for to-day. The first is the paper. by Mr. Reed, and it will be
discussed by Mr. Powell and Mr. Eustis. Mr. Powell’s voice is not in
200d condition, and he has asked Mr. Eustis to read his paper. Mr.
Powell will be here, and will assist in the explanations from the charts.

THE PROPER HANDLING OF CITRUS FRUITS.
By J. H. REED, or RIveEersIpe.

The principal effort in pomology in this country, during last century,
was to secure improved varieties of fruits. The wild strawberry we
hunted in the meadows in our childhood days, however delicious to our
untrained tastes, was not altogether satisfactory. The very.thought of
the seedling apple of years ago brings a quick scowl, till the recollec-.
tion of the good times of the old-fashioned paring bee, and the long
straws thrust into the bungholes of the barrels of sweet cider at the old
cider mill, turns the scowl to a smile.

Within my own recollection the family orchards were largely com-
posed of seedlings. Here is a photograph of an apple tree which grew
' from a seed brought by my grandmother from Connecticut and planted
by the side of her little log cabin in the woods of Ohio 105 years ago.
In those early days its fruit was considered quite wonderful. But
while the apples sent me from it, with accompanying photograph, last
year were delightful to look at, because of old associations, we had no
desire to taste them. In this way those early orchards were started.
But then, as now, there were those who wanted something better than
they had, and went straight about getting it. The grafter—not the
modern sort—but with. his saw, and scions, and wax pot, began to put
in his annual spring appearance.

The old seedling fruit had good carrying qualities. We could shake
it from the trees, pile it into the ox cart, haul it to the cellar, pour it
into the big bins, use it during the long winters, and have sound fruit
to feed to the pigs in late spring. When the grafted branches began to
bring us Pippins and Pearmains, we soon found it best to pick instead
of shake them from the tree, and store them more carefully. This
improved fruit began to be called for in the cities, and commercial
orchards of budded stock were planted throughout the middle and the
then western states, and a great industry was established. This is no
place to go into its varied history, though it is of exceeding interest, and

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a7

1ot without lessons that may be profitably studied by our comparatively
little citrus industry.

It was in connection with this greater winter apple business that the
Department of Agriculture rendered one of its most important services
io American agriculture. I may be pardoned for referring to this,
because it was through the leadership of our Mr. Powell, in the scientific
investigations of a few vears ago, that the methods of handling winter
apples, especially in cold storage, were revolutionized, and thus the most '
important fruit industry of the country placed on a firmer and more
profitable basis than ever before. Mr. Powell is known and esteemed
to-day in all the winter apple-growing sections of our country, as he
will be in California orange-growing districts in years to come.

To some extent the brief history of our California citrus industry
has been similar to this. The seedlings in early days were considered
pretty good fruit. They would endure much hard usage. In Old
Mexico I saw oranges brought twenty and thirty miles in sacks on
pack mules, and piled up at railroay stations to be shipped hke potatoes,
yet they reached distant markets in fair condition. Many of our own
seedlings will stand treatment that would ruin our improved varieties.
There are two ways in which we may ward oft damage to our more
delicate modern citrus product. We may breed out these delicate
characteristics, securing varieties that would endure rough handling.
While this would be at the expense of desirable qualities, had we no
other recourse, it probably would be the wise thing to do.

Professor Hanson, that grand man of South Dakota, who is accom-
plishing such wonders for horticulture in that great empire of the
Northwest, is trying to secure a hardy apple that will endure the cold
winters of that north country by crossing delicate varieties with the
unedible fruits of that region. Judging from what he has already
accomplished, there is little doubt about his succeeding. But no one
expects him to produce anything to take the place of the California
Bellefleur, or any other variety raised under favorable conditions,
sought for by fruit lovers.

Some Southern California growers have been a little nervous over
the possible outcome of Dr. Webber’s new variety of hardy orange that
may be produced throughout the temperate regions. No doubt he has
produced a wonderful new fruit, but it will never take the place of our
California navel. Though this beautiful fruit of ours, raised perhaps
under as ideal conditions as exist, is delicate and unfitted to stand
hardship, we have now been shown how these desired qualities may be
retained, and yet have the fruit placed in the distant markets in perfect
condition.

-Instead of trying to breed into our juicy, tender fruit qualities to
enable it to endure hardship at the expense of those which give our
cranges their highest value, our propagators may now turn their atten-
tion to adding other delicate characteristics of flavor and beauty with
assurance that they need not prove a hindrance to their profitable -
marketing. This may not only be known as the Powell era in the
history of the California orange industry, because of the new money
values his investigations have given our product, but because now we
may turn our attention to adding new attractiveness to our already
popular fruit.

58 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

I don’t know how the rest of you old orange producers feel about it,
but I confess to a very shamed feeling when I think that after nearly
twenty years of experience with, and somewhat careful study of, this
fruit, and in spite of the tremendous annual loss we were sustaining
from decay all this time, I had not sense enough to find out that all we
had to do to put our fruit into the markets without decay, with an
_aggregate saving of millions to our industry, was to prevent injury in
handling. And now, for one, I feel like trying to forget the humil-
jation by adding my mite towards inducing the industry, as a whole.
to effectively use the tremendously valuable facts the Government had
to come across the continent to show us.

Here is the finest orange picked from my little home grove near a
score of years ago, and here is a Florida Russet that I eut from the
Florida tree two years ago, handling it somewhat carefully that I might
get it home safely. The framework of these fruits being uninjured, all
germs of disease were excluded, and they remained perfect till the juice
gradually evaporated after long exposure. In this little nut shell is
the whole secret of our fruit decay and its prevention.

Perhaps in no instance have so marked practical results from scien-
tific investigation been followed so quickly and generally by actual
changes in methods in any great agricultural industry as we already
tind in the handling of our California oranges since the results of Mr.
Powell’s investigations into the causes of their decay have been made.
known. The newly discovered factor in prolonging the life of an
orange, after it has been parted from the tree, has been so effectively
demonstrated as to command the attention of growers in all California
crange sections, to such extent as to have already radically changed
methods in harvesting the fruit and preparing it for market. New laws
concerning the effect of temperature have been so well determined as to
materially change methods in transportation, and more than a million
_ dollars per annum is being saved to the industry by intelligent, careful
handling. It is a wonderful achievement for scientific research, and of
the prompt application of its results in practice. I am proud of our
Washington Department of Agriculture. and the trained young men it
sends us to help us out of our serious difficulties. I am proud, too, of
the few enterprising orange growers who so promptly and efficiently
applied the new facts brought out by the scientists, and so quickly gave
us practical object lessons demonstrating their value.

But are we satisfied. even with these prompt and splendid results.
though alone sufficient to mark an era in our industry? I confess, for
one, lam not. So long as there is careless picking in so many orchards;
so long as we see so large a proportion of the oranges hauled irom
orchard to the packing house in the heat of the day, unprotected from
the broiling sun and insinuating dust. in wagons without springs, and
otherwise utterly unfit for their transportation; so long as erude or
complex machinery, through which it is impossible for fruit to pass
without mechanical injury. is found in so many of our packing houses:
so long as packing houses attempt to handle twice the amount of fruit
during the hurried part of the season their equipment is adapted for:
in short, so long as the daily reports show that one third of the sales
returned from practically the same grade of fruit average net, to the
grower, more than fifty cents per box, than the average of the lower

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a9

‘third of the aggregate, with the highest prices uniformly going to those
utilizing the careful methods most thoroughly, so long the gospel of
eareful handling of our oranges should be preached by every one
interested in the permanent welfare of our industry.

It is not worthy of any of us to say, or think unsaid, ‘‘I have learned
how my fruit may be put into the markets at a large increase of profit
over old ways, and I am seeing to it that it is done. The other fellow
must look out for himself. Whether he uses’ the improved methods,
does not interest me.’’ It should interest every generous minded man
connected with the industry, and induce him to join in every effort to
secure general adoption of better methods.

Some of you may question if this can be done. Most certainly it can
be done. The orange growers of California are an intelligent class of
agriculturists. It is true these new laws, the value of which scientists
have demonstrated, are applied with more difficulty by the small grower.
But when he is shown that ona product of but a thousand boxes there
may be an actual saving of from $250 to $500, he is going to find a way
to secure it. Besides this money view, I confess to some sentiment in
this matter. The production of oranges in California, to my mind.
offers the most inviting of all agricultural pursuits for an intelligent,
cultivated people. That the 50,000 cars of this fruit per season, to go
from California orchards in the near future, may be produced under
the management of a few great landed proprietors, because of their
keen, farsighted, prompt adoption of better methods, neglected by
smaller growers, is not a pleasing thought to me. I prefer to think of
this great product of ours, that will soon be found on the table of the
wealthy epicures of all nations, because of its qualities, and on the tables
of the intelligent laborer, in our own and other lands, because improved
methods have insured a low cost of production and safe carriage to all
countries, coming from ten thousand California proprietors, of small
holdings, with an intelligent, happy household connected with each.
This, I believe, to be quite possible, with all the advantages it would
imsure to the State, as well as to the local communities and the indi-
vidual. It is for this reason, largely, that I believe special effort, indi-
vidual and associated. should be made to induce the average grower of
to-day to promptly utilize the improved methods, not.only of pro-
duction, but of handling our great orange product, which scientific
investigations are so clearly demonstrating to us.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Reed has certainly presented this
subject in an interesting manner, and we will now hear from Mr.
Powell, whose experiments have done so much for the citrus growers

of our State. Ladies and gentlemen, I have pleasure in introducing
Mr. G. Harold Powell.

THE HANDLING OF ORANGES IN 1908.
By G. HAROLD POWELL, or Wasuineton, D. C.

The Bureau of Plant Industry since 1904 has been investigating the
decay of oranges while in transit from California. It has shown by
extensive. shipping experiments, and by tests of other kinds, that. the
decay is caused by a blue-mold fungus ‘which usually gains entrance to

‘60 ‘THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the fruit through an injury of some kind produced in handling the’
oranges in the groves and packing houses; that the decay is largely
preventable; that a sound orange shipped quickly after picking and
packing seldom develops decay; that the decay may be retarded tem-
porarily in injured oranges if they are refrigerated quickly after pick-
ing and packing in warm weather; and that the fruit that keeps the
best after it reaches the market is the fruit that is handled the most
carefully in California. “The results of the investigation have been pub-
lished each year in circulars. A more comprehensive treatment of the
subject has been issued recently in which a discussion is presented of
the work from 1904 to 1907, inclusive, and of its relation to the entire
citrus fruit industry. (‘‘The Decay of Oranges while in transit from
California,’’ Bulletin 123, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of
Agriculture. )

It is the purpose of this discussion to present some of the conditions
that have been observed in the handling of the orange crop while carry-
ing forward the experimental work of 1908.

It appears to be quite generally accepted by leading growers and
shippers that the decay of oranges can be prevented by handling the
fruit with enough care from the tree to the car to preserve the natural
resistance which the orange has when it is severed from the tree, and
by shipping the fruit quickly after picking and packing. It is probably
not overstating the facts in saying that the methods of handling the
orange in the field and packing house have been radically modified since
1904, with these ends in view. More effective progress has been made
in this direction in 1908 than in the years preceding.

THE CHANGES IN HANDLING THE ORANGE.

The changes of 1908 that have had a far-reaching effect on the indus-
try have been (1) an effort to harvest the fruit by labor controlled by
associations, in order to avoid the uneven physical condition that for-
merly characterized the fruit when harvested by the growers; (2) the
more careful handling of the fruit by growers and shippers not belong-
ing to associations; (3) the substitution of day-paid labor under com-
petent supervision for box-paid labor, especially in the field; (4) the
construction and remodeling of packing houses with machinery that
handles the fruit carefully; (5) the cleaner condition of packing houses.
with special reference to decayed oranges; (6) the quick shipment of
fruit after picking and packing; and (7) the adoption of better methods
of grading and packing by a number of individual shippers and asso-
ciations. There has probably been less decay in the oranges from
California in 1908 as a result of these changes than ever before, not-
withstanding the fact that many prominent shippers were convineed at
the beginning of the season that there would be excessive decay in the
shipments of 1908 on account of the advanced maturity of the fruit.

EXAMPLES OF REFORMS.

It has been shown in 1908 by a large number of associations and
shippers that it is practical to eliminate the decay from the commercial —
shipments by better methods of handling the fruit, and to elevate a
section that has acquired the reputation of producing poor shipping

a

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS * CONVENTION. 61

fruit to a higher class. This has not been accomplished by the elimina-
tion of the mechanical injury of the fruit alone, but by the adoption of
better methods of labor handling, of picking, of hauling the fruit to
the packing house, of packing-house equipment and management, and of
vrading and packing the fruit. It may be worth while to illustrate a
specific reform of this kind that was brought about in 1908.

For several years the representatives of the Bureau of Plant Industry
have observed a large amount of decay in the fruit of an association
within 40 miles of the coast. This community, like several others,
acquired the reputation of producing fruit of poor shipping quality.
The growers themselves, and the marketing agency, were convinced that
the trouble lay in the conditions under which the fruit was produced.
Tt was thought that the soil was too rich; that the oranges were too
“‘fat.’? Ten, twenty, or thirty per cent of decay was not unusual in the
ears of oranges from this association in 1907. The conditions surround-
ing the association were investigated by representatives of the Bureau
of Plant Industry in 1907. The fruit was picked by the box by the
erowers. It varied in condition, showing from five to thirty per cent of
mechanical injury. The hauling was badly done. The packing house
was complicated with overhead sizers, a steep gravity grading-table,
deep: bins, a steep narrow hopper, and a poor arrangement in general.
The house was littered with rotten oranges. They were under the hopper
and the bins, and could be found in many out-of-the-way places. The
eulls were dumped near the house, and the wind blowing on them
kept it filled with myriads of blue-mold spores. <A large proportion of
the fruit had to be washed. The shortage of cars kept the house filled
with fruit both packed and unpacked. While the commercially handled
fruit of this house was decaying in transit, the carefully handled
eranges in the experiments of the Bureau of Plant Industry showed
no more decay in 1907 than well-handled fruit from other sections of
the State.

This association was reorganized in 1908. A new manager was
secured. The fruit has been picked by the day, by labor controlled by
the association. The packing house has been remodeled, and is in fair
condition. An effort has been made to handle the fruit carefully in the
packing house, and it has been shipped quickly after picking. As a
result, the fruit has arrived in market practically free from decay
during 1908. In fact, there has been less decay in the fruit of this
house than in the oranges in a few associations located in sections that
are generally thought to produce the best carrying fruit in the State.
but which have made no special effort to handle the fruit carefully. The
experience of this association has been paralleled by several others in
the coast region in 1908. It is another demonstration that there is not
so much inherent difference in the carrying quality of oranges of dif-
ferent sections, but that the character of the business management and
the care with which the fruit is handled are large factors in determining
the sort of reputation the oranges of a community shall acquire.

CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO GROWERS EQUALLY WELL LOCATED.

There are some growers or shippers in California who have either
given the matter little consideration, or who prefer to doubt either the
necessity or practicability of handling the orange crop economically on

62 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

a large commercial scale without injuring the fruit considerably. An
example of this kind recently came to our attention, and is presented to
show that such a point of view is an unwise business policy.

A grower who has a large investment in the orange business, and
whose fruit was found to contain over fifty per cent of injury from
clipper cuts, stem punctures, and other types of abrasions, recently said
that the injury could not be eliminated without too much expense and
without complétely disorganizing the labor methods employed on his
ranch. The superintendent of the ranch maintained also that the fruit
could not be handled more carefully or economically. It is packed in a
house of fairly good type and in which no special effort is made to grade
or pack the fruit with more than usual care. |

Let us draw a contrast between this point of view and that of a neigh-
bor whose interests are equally large. The groves are on similar soil,
and the fruit of both is similar. The second neighbor maintains that
it is a poor business policy to invest a large amount of money in groves,
and in their annual care, unless the fruit is picked and packed with at
least enough care to preserve its natural keeping quality. He has an
efficient field foreman; the labor is paid by the day; the work of each
picker is checked up by an inspector in the packing house; the fruit is
hauled to the packing house with great care. The packing house -is of
simple arrangement and installation. Every effort is made in picking
and packing to keep the fruit in as good condition as it was when
it was severed from the tree. The grading is* done carefully, and his
packing is well paid for and is done well. It probably costs the latter
erower not less than ten cents a box more than his neighbor to pick and
pack the fruit.

Has it paid the second neighbor to do this extra, careful work, except
in the satisfaction that comes from work well done? The fruit of both
growers was often sold in the New York auction market during the
month of March under conditions that are fairly comparable. The
fruit of the first grower is packed in a fancy brand, which includes from
20 to 30 per cent of his oranges. The second grower packs an ‘‘orechard
run’’ brand, in which from 75 to 85 per cent of his fruit is graded.
Yet the fancy brand of the first grower, containing from 20 to 30 per
eent of his fruit, brought twenty-seven cents per box less than the
‘‘orchard run’’ of the second grower, which contained from 75 to 85 per
cent of his fruit. If further evidence is needed to show that it is a
sound. business policy to exercise the greatest care in handling the
orange crop, it-may be said that there is not a grower or an association
in California that ships oranges or lemons, and which has made a repu-
tation for high-priced fruit, that has not built his success on a founda-
tion with careful handling methods as the corner stone.

The careful handling of oranges 1s a matter of business method and
organization. Several growers began to exercise more than the average
care in 1906. More followed it in 1907, and a much greater number
have fallen into line in 1908. Several examples, taken from different
parts of the State, will show the character of the handling of the fruit
in 1908.

EXAMPLES OF ORANGE HANDLING.

One large corporation, which began to exercise great care in 1906,

and which has maintamed a distinguished place in the markets, has

' THIRTY-FOURTH’ FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 63

shown the following amount of mechanical injury at different imspec-
tions. The injuries are very slight in nature, and are usually caused
by gravel punctures and body bruises of various kinds: 4.3, 1.9, 1.6, 2.4,
6.1, 4.0, 2.3, 9.6 per cent. This fruit is picked by a gang of thirty to
forty Mexicans, under the direction of one foreman. It is interesting
to note that the injury of 9.6 per cent was due to pushing the labor
beyond the capacity for careful work durmg warm weather, when the
fruit was dropping badly. This corporation has not had a serious
amount of decay in a car of oranges since the careful handling methods
were adopted in 1906, though previous to that time a decay of 10 to 20
per cent was not unusual. |

The fruit of another shipper, which was rotting badly, and which
aequired a famous reputation during the middle of the season of 1907,
following a reorganization of the methods of picking and packing, has
shown the following amount of injury in 1908: 4.0, 3.9, 5.9, 5.2, 14.0
per cent. The injury in the last inspection was largely body bruises,
resulting from nails in the picking boxes, and from a lack of temporary
supervision of the labor. The fruit of this shipper has shown practi-
cally no decay since the better handling methods were adopted in 1907.

The fruit of another grower, who adopted the most rigid system of
careful handling in 1908, paying the labor by the day, checking the
work of each picker by an inspector in the packing house, and using
care in every operation, has been practically sound throughout the
season. In many of the inspections there has been less than 1 per
cent of mechanically injured oranges, and seldom over 2 per cent. The
fruit of this grower has been packed with great care. Jt has a com-
manding place in the markets, and has arrived practically sound
throughout the season. .

As an indication of the work that can be done by an association, the
following injury data are taken from several inspections during 1908.
There are one hundred members in this association. The fruit is picked
by two gangs of labor, under the control of the packing house: 3.3, 5.9,
3.2, 6.6 per cent.

The injury data following are taken from several inspections of the
fruit of an association having several hundred members. The fruit of
this association, when picked by the growers, often showed 30 per cent
of mechanical injury. In 1908 it has been picked under the direction
of the association: 8.6, 8.5, 3.6, 7.6 per cent.

The injury data following are taken from several inspections in 1908
vf fruit of a large association in which the growers have picked some of
the fruit. The rest of it has been picked by the association: 4.0, 10.7,

10.0, 12.4 9.0, 16.3, 16.5, 15.6, 16.5 per cent.

The injury data following are taken at random from inspections in
1908 of fruit of individuals and associations that apparently have made
no special effort to have the fruit picked carefully: 46.7, 28.1, 15.2, 59.0,
aa.0, 04.1, 16.5 per cent. |

THE SHIPPING EXPERIMENTS.
The results of the shipping tests of 1908 have borne out the results of
the previous years, except that the decay has been less in commercially

handled fruit, especially in washed oranges. This is due to the cleaner
condition of the washing tanks and water, and the quicker drying and

(4 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

shipment of the fruit. The following data are taken from a large
number of shipments, under ventilation, from houses on the coast and
in the midvalley region, in which efforts have been made to handle the
fruit carefully. The shipments were made in cool weather. They
imeluded apparently sound brushed and washed fruit, commercially
packed, brushed and washed fruit, dnd mechanically injured oranges.
Duplicate lots have been shipped to New York as soon as packed, and
two and four days later. The decay has been determined on the arrival
of the fruit in the market

DELAY IN SHIPMENT.

CHARACTER OF ORANGES. na |

0. | 2 days. | 4 days. | Average.
Per cent. | Pér cent. | Per cent. aS —
Brushed, apparently sound___.____-_-2 "2-0 |
Washed, apparently sound _____- ya eyegnaee Bs mn 0.1 | 0.6 0.7 eee
Brushed; commercially packed © oe. ss 2 2) 2oe | O.7 | 0 S0RS ae eee | el
Washed, commercially packed ________ Be deh | 0.8 | 14 3.6 | 1.9
Mechanically injured_-----_____- sate] 6 | ee ee
PAIVCTAE I. Sg |The eee ee eee ; oa

The decay in all of the shipments in the preceding table is of little
commercial importance, but lke the results of previous years, it shows
(1) the oranges that are handled the most simply develop the least
decay, while the fruit that is most injured develops the most decay ;
(2) the oranges shipped out quickly after packing develop little decay.
while the fruit that was delayed develop considerable decay, espe-
ally the injured fruit.

THE MARKET HOLDING TESTS.

In ine market holding tests of 1908, the fruit has been handled in dif-
ferent ways in California, and the decay has been determined on the
arrival of the fruit in New York, and at the end of each succeeding
week after being stored at a temperature varying from 50 to 70 degrees.
The decay 1s invariably least in the carefully handled fruit, and greatest
in the fruit that is more or less mechanically injured.

An example taken from a typical lot of fruit will suffice to illustrate
this phase of the work. The data show the decay of oranges packed
from the same bins, one lot representing the regular commercial pack
of the house, and another lot having the visible mechanically injured
oranges eliminated :

TIME OF INSPECTION. .

CHARACTER OF ORANGES. On
Arrival.

After
2 weeks.

After
3 weeks.

After
1 week.

Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent.
Appareil sand) 2 Tee Nhe ee eee eee 0.0 2.8 6.6 10.4

Gommiercintly packed: .0.iuu (ih ce nD naa iooe as 1.0 4.6 113 4 as

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 65

THE KEEPING QUALITY OF FLORIDA ORANGES.

The most striking effect of the method of handling the orange, in rela-
{ion to its keeping quality, has been brought out in the investigation of
Florida oranges by the Bureau of Plant Industry in 1908. The Florida
‘orange has a thin skin and is easily bruised. The climate is warm and
moist, making ideal conditions for the growth of the decay fungus.
The labor conditions and the conditions surrounding the culture and
- marketing of Florida oranges are such that the fruit is subjected to
rough handling. The packing house equipment is of the crudest type,
and is one of the principal causes of the mechanical injury of the fruit.

Many of the growers and shippers of Florida, in common with those
of California, have been convinced that it is natural for oranges to rot;
that the decay is apparently one of the penalties that is inflicted on
those who engage in the citrus fruit business. Many of them, in com-
mon with growers and shippers in California, have attributed the decay
to the infiuence of the soil, of the fertilizer, of the location of the groves,
or the section of the State in which the fruit is grown, while most of
them believed that the conditions surrounding the fruit while in transit
to market contributed largely to the decay.

It would not be safe to say that some weight should not be given to
these explanations, as the investigation of the Bureau of Plant Industry
has not extended beyond two seasons. The Florida orange, however, is
acting in a manner similar to the California orange when it is handled
in a similar manner. The following data show the average decay in a
large number of shipments from different parts of the State to Wash-
ington, D. C., and after the fruit had been held in the market for
different lengths of time. There were included in the shipment
(1) oranges that were picked with great care, and were packed without
being run through the packing-house machinery; (2) similar oranges
that were run through the packing-house machinery; (3) oranges
handled under regular commercial conditions from the same groves;
and (4) oranges containing clipper cuts, stem punctures, and other
types of injury:

TIME OF INSPECTION.

CHARACTER OF ORANGES SHIPPED.
oes After
2 weeks.

After
1 week.

On arrival
in market.

Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent.
Carefully handled, not packed through machinery-- 0.4 ig 4.5

Carefully handled, packed through machinery_--___- 1.5 5.4 12.4

Oranges picked and packed under commercial con-
DUD TSR eset te Sy oo 8 A Se 3.9 10.6 18.1

ate," Es OoIe Ss area tlnnon 38.0 52.4

These data from another orange-producing region indicate that the
natural keeping quality of the fruit must not be injured in handling, if
the orange is to have good shipping and keeping quality. An orange

5 FGC

66 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

that is handled in this manner brings the highest satisfaction to the
producer, the shipper, and to the consumer. An orange that is made
susceptible to decay by poor picking or packing is unsatisfactory to the
producer or the shipper, as it may rot while in transit to market. Or,
if it reaches the market in apparently sound condition, and is likely
to rot afterwards, the dealer has to charge an excessive price as a pro-
tection against the loss of the orange that may rot before the fruit can
be sold. It is a fraud on the consumer to sell him oranges that are
apparently sound, but which, as a result of the handling the fruit
received in the groves and packing houses, are likely to rot before they
can be used.

There are few fruits that are naturally capable of entering more
widely into commerce than the citrus fruits of California. It is a wise
policy, and in the broadest interest of the permanent prosperity of the
industry, that every effort be made by growers and shippers and by
their associations, and by -the transportation companies, to handle the
fruit with enough care so that it may be distributed to the most distant
markets of the world. It has been the aim of the Bureau of Plant
Industry to cooperate W ith the various interests connected with the
citrus fruit industry in working out the principles by which the prod-
ucts of the groves and orchards may be distributed in sound, whole-
some condition over the widest geographical areas.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are now ready for the next paper.
Tt is by Mr. Rumsey, on ‘‘ Packing House Equipment,’’ and will be
discussed by Mr. Dreher. Both gentlemen are here, and will give you
a lively three quarters of an hour. I now take pleasure in introducing
Mr. C. E. Rumsey of Riverside.

MR. C. E. RUMSEY. I would lke to preface my paper by saying
that if my own selfish profit was considered only when I took a packing
house, I would not be here to tell my competitors anything about it.
It was my interest in this trade as a whole, this magnificent industry,
the unnecessary losses that were occurring in it, that made me desire to
enter this work and find out for myself, and to prove what I believed
could be proved.

PACKING HOUSE EQUIPMENT.
By C. BE. RUMSEY, or RIVERSIDE.

Having been drafted by the State Commission of Horticulture to
speak on ‘‘Packing House Equipment’’ at this Convention, I have
accepted the duty under protest. My experience as a packing house
manager does not qualify me to tell men of long experience; and in
entirely different situations from my own. what they do or do not
need. I can, at least, open the subject and give some details from my
own experience.

The most important item of equipment is not machinery, nor any
contrivance or device to hurry our perishable fruit from wagon to ear.
i would place absolutely, first, a body of growers who would demand
from the packing house management that the fruit they had labored

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 67

nearly a year to bring to perfection should be so handled as to prevent
its decay while on the way and after its delivery to the buyer.

While packing house managers have been open to blame (mainly for
consenting to handle fruit improperly), it would be very hard to find
a manager who would resist an effort made by his growers to insure
greater care in handling. In my experience, the grower is to blame—
not the manager. Some growers will help the manager by picking and
delivering fruit in the most careful manner. Other growers will do
neither, and their neglect, when their fruit is pooled, makes the care of
other growers of no effect. I am discussing this matter from the asso-
ciation standpoint, having no experience with any other. I think in any
association packing house, with the light we now have, a body of growers
ean be grouped who will agree to have their fruit picked by a crew,
under the control of the manager, hauled in the most careful manner,
and packed under strict rules, asking only that this be done at as little
eost as the best work requires and demanding that the fruit so packed
shall be sold under specified brands. If there is a group who do not
believe in care, and who will not take it, or pay for it, I would let
them have the brands they have always had, and adopt new ones for
those who have the work done carefully. The past two years have shown
that new brands, well handled, have displaced some of the old favorites,
and good work is quickly appreciated by the trade. Such a body of
growers will either gladden a manager’s heart, or break his back
if he does not respond. This is the first and best item in “‘packing house
equipment. ’’

The second item is the picking crew, and the main force in that is
the foreman. I do not believe the best work can be done by any man-
ager, unless he controls the fruit from the tree to the car. In no other
way can you fix responsibility. The grower should do nothing but
watch and help the foreman, unless he will work in the crew with the
uther pickers and under the foreman. The grower must expect to pay
more for picking when clipper cutting and long stems are not tolerated.
No picker can pick as many boxes of perfect work—fifty boxes is about
the limit, and where fruit is small, it may drop to thirty-five boxes.
In my own experience, constant inspection at the packing house is neces-
sary to insure perfect work. Several times, when fruit was small, the
men would pick faster than before, and we had to warn them we wanted
perfect work rather than quantity. In our crew every man keeps tally
of his boxes as he fills them, and also numbers them on the end in pencil,
so the inspector can examine a certain number of each man’s pick daily.
i prefer clipper cuts to long stems. Some clipper cuts heal over, but the
_ possibilities of the long stem to cause Injury and decay are about five
times as great. We cut all stems twice, and we have no leaves or twigs
im the boxes. Throwing the picking sack to the left hip has cut out that
source of decay. We fight the pickers all the time to keep the work
right, and find it is necessary. Full boxes are ordered kept in the shade
of the tree, and we have pieces of canvas that cover two and three boxes
to keep off sun and dew or rain. . .

We haul to packing house in wagons two feet from the ground; the
end gate, six feet long, drops to the ground and serves as a bridge,
up which the boxes are carried and gently put in place. The wagon

68 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

holds 120 boxes, two rows wide and six high. Front wheels 48 inches
diameter, hind wheels 54 inches. We use three horses abreast. Every
sixth box has cleats under it, and is stenciled in black, so it can be seen
anywhere, to enable the men to put these on the bottom of each tier,
SO we can use a truck with a twelve-inch nose to convey six boxes at a
time from the wagon across the end gate (now used as a bridge) from
load to packing house floor.

The elevator, the clamp truck, and the rustler, were all undesirable
features in equipment. We have cut out the elevator, by dropping the
floor of the house below the grading table twenty inches, so we feed on
to the sizer almost horizontally. When necessary to weigh, we empty the
bins and use small platform scales. All our culls are carried to a bin
and reinspected by the foreman. I think I pay his wages out of the
cull Moi. /,

We use no brusher. If fruit is dirty, we grade it out and clean it.
Tf one child is sick, it is better to dose it, and not give medicine to the
entire family. We use Stebler’s automatic dumper and sizer, which
eliminates the desire of the human dumper to shove the fruit down
with the edge of the box. We have a piece of canvas with a board
attached, so that it meets the box as it comes up and covers enough
of it to make the oranges crumble down inside the box, instead of
flying out. They fall on rubber hose, spaced apart, to let buttons, sticks,
ete., fall.through at once; but clean picking has almost cut them out.
The hopper below the hose grating is smooth, hardwood board, as the
fruit does not fall on it.

We use Praed canvas bins. When packed, the boxes are placed on
Alvey Ferguson ball-bearing roller conveyors, twenty-six inches high,
the height of the press. The most perfect press I know of is made by
Mr. Covey of Riverside. The fruit is clamped sideways—away from the
edge of the box before it is pressed down, and it seems to prevent injury
when carefully handled. When nailed, the boxes are shoved on the
conveyor, and run by gravity into the end of the car if needed, or off
to the side of the house to be stacked.

Not all of the work in our house is adapted to all other houses, but
the determined growers, the intelligent manager, the picking crew, the
careful hauling and handling, are, after all, the best equipment for any
house, and when you have these, no device that can possibly injure fruit
will be tolerated.

Let us pick and pack our fruit to save ourselves loss now that the
Department of Agriculture has spent $36,000 to show us how to min-
imize decay, knowing that the trade will pay us well if we save them
loss. When dealers find-out that most decay is preventable, it will be
hard to sell fruit that has been carelessly handled.

I presume ‘‘ Packing House Equipment’’ was. assigned to me because
the Commissioner thought there was something unusual in my house
in the way of ‘‘equipment.’’ There is little in it that is original; it is
only the adaptation of other men’s ideas, picked up here and there,
but always with the purpose of simplifying the work, and handling
fruit with care. We have coddled the lemon and abused the orange.
Having no lemons, we coddled what we had, and the oranges got the
easy handling. They have responded, as Mr. Powell predicted they

THIRTY-FOURTH. FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 69

would, and the market seems to have appreciated the care. I think
the packing house equipment has been a small factor only. It is eare,
not equipment, that has done most to lessen decay. No equipment will
take the place of anxious, systematic care from the tree to the car.
IT am foreed to this conclusion by finding houses which have a less
careful equipment than ours, but whose field care and hauling is of
the best. I would rather take any packing house and pick, haul, and
pack for it with care, than take the costliest equipment designed for
eareful handling and rush fruit through it so care could not be
given.

It was a mystery to me how Mr. Chapman could sell oranges for such
_ high prices. Then it became a mystery how the National Orange
Company could get such figures. Then L. V. W. Brown put me in a
brown study. I began to remember that Mr. Powell had said nearly
four years ago that Mr. Chapman was the most careful packer in Cali-
fornia. As I knew the National Orange Company and Mr. Brown
were following Mr. Powell’s suggestion, the proof seemed positive
that there was something in it.

Later, I knew of a packer saying, ‘‘Mr. Powell is a humbug.’’ I
looked in the market report and saw this packer’s fruit sold at $2.40
for extra fancy, when three orchard runs sold for over $3.00. That
proved it negatively, and I built a house with an oak shield on the
corner, on which in gold letters is inscribed: .

‘In gratitude to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Bureau
of Plant Industry, G. Harold Powell and his Staff, this building is
dedicated to the careful handling of Citrus Fruit.’’

It is not dedicated to ‘‘Equipment.’’

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I owe this audience no apology for
having forced Mr. Rumsey to read this paper. I now have pleasure
in introducing Mr. P. J. Dreher, manager of the San Antonio Fruit
Exchange, who will discuss this matter for ten minutes. If you have
any questions, write them out and hand them in, and they will be
considered.

MR. DREHER. This is rather unexpected that I should speak
before you on this subject of packing house equipment, because I am
not a packing house man. When I was asked to allow my name to go
on this programme, I wrote Mr. Isaac that I didn’t think that I was
the party, and begged to be excused. Mr. Isaac said, since I had not
positively declined to serve, that he would put my name on, and I
suppose I might consider myself pressed into the service, and will
make my remarks brief.

The best equipment for a packing house is a good, level-headed,
sensible foreman. When you have that, the other is all easy. The less
machinery that you put into a packing house, the better equipment
you will have. It has certainly been demonstrated by the results of
Mr. Powell’s investigations, that the more you handle fruit the more
you are likely to injure it, and the less you handle it the better will
be the results. awe |

I think that some of the troubles which have probably been the
greatest in the packing house have been machinery that was put in

2

1U THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ .CONVENTION.

there, because the manufacturer had something to sell. It looked nice.
It was a nice equipment to talk about, and the party to whom it was
offered thought it was good to put it in. Primitive ways were the best.
A few years ago—I don’t know just how long—some shipments were
made of fruit that was packed by growers in the fields up north, from
near Auburn, I believe. It was packed in a crude way. It was shipped
East in poorly loaded cars; and yet, all that fruit arrived without
decay. It was all sound. It was a surprise to the Eastern agent of
the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange at that time, and he com-
mented upon it. Now, the reason was that it went back to the primi-
tive way. The men who did this were the owners of the fruit; they
clipped it carefully; they handled it carefully; it was not bruised or
brushed or hurt, and it went to the market sound.

There are some things that you can not dispense with in a packing
house. A box-making machine should be in every well-equipped packing
house. We, who live near the coast, need brushes. Some think you
do not need them. That is a matter for each section to decide for
itself, but when you do brush, I don’t think the fruit should be brushed
with hard bristle brushes, or, rather, with stubble or wood brushes.
and it should not be brushed under heavy pressure. I think dusting
the fruit, such as can be done and is now done with some of the better
equipped and later brushes, will not hurt it. And I do not think that
weight should be heavy. Wherever fruit is more than dusty, wherever
the gathering on it be of dirt or smut and is heavy, I believe it will
be well to wash it if it can be safely handled—better than by brushing
it hard dry.

Now, in regard to the hopper, you have got to have that for your
sizer. The hopper that Mr. Rumsey mentioned I think is the best
that has been adopted. Have a soft rubber tube if you can, but, in
the absence of that, your hopper should be of smooth garden hose, so
you will have some give-way in dropping through. Care should be
used in handling. Do not chuck the fruit in on the edges of the boxes.
I think it would be better to have a very light springy substance to drop
your fruit on. When it gets through the hopper, and runs over the

‘brushes, there is only one thing to do, and that is to carry it on belts.

Don’t roll your fruit. Any kind of chute we have is likely to injure
it. Fruit can be carried on belts a long way without injury.

The model packing house, in my judgment, should be built with a
drop of a foot, two and a half feet, or three feet, just as is most desir-
able; and your receiving floor is on a higher basis. You carry your
fruit from the brusher on belts, along your sorters, and bring it down
to the level, where it goes over to the roller. You can hardly dispense
with a roller or with a sizer of some kind. You must have something
beyond the hand for sizing the fruit. I believe a sizer is now being

- made that handles the fruit quite carefully, dropping it upon spongy

or loose canvas—not upon a hard surface. And this is an advantage.
When that is done, you get it down to the packers, and there, you all
know who have been in a packing house, that care is required. No
packer can reach into a box of fruit and take it out indiscriminately
with long finger nails without injuring the fruit. I think every one
should wear gloves in a packing house.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Ge

The processes of packing fruit have been improved upon. The
erader has been improved upon; and I think it should be so. constructed
that the fruit be brought together in a compass or place not larger
than the box, and the pressure on the box in packing should not be
enough to spring the box. ,

Now, take the brush, the sizer, the boxes and the press, and I
think you have all the machinery that the packing house ought to
have. I think everything else is waste. If I had a packing house, I
would not have a place where the fruit could roll a foot. I would
earry it on belts, and I believe it can be done.

You have got to have arrangements in your packing house for cool-
ing your fruit. That is absolutely necessary. Whether you ship
fruit under ventilation, or under refrigeration, I do ngt believe that
the ear is the proper place to cool it. I think you should have blowers.
In your wash room have a blower to take the moisture off and cool
vour fruit. If you expect to ship it under refrigeration, have it in
use. That is not a machine, and yet it is a part of the machinery.
Fruit should be carried from the nailers into the pre-cooling rooms
and into the car in the most careful manner. We have a packing house
equipped at Pomona on the same style that Mr. Rumsey speaks of,
with patent rollers. I think we have a good many hundred feet of .
them. All fruit is taken right from the press, and goes on- to the
eravity roller, and passes through the different spaces down under the
floor, and goes into the pre-cooling room under the floor. In loading
it out again, the reverse is the rule. We put fruit in the pre-cooling
room and it goes down into the hallway, and it is there loaded into the
vestibule of the car. When such an arrangement is made, it 1s an
economy of labor. It is cheaper to run it over these patent ways than
any other way, and less injury is done.

Now, in summing up, as I said before, you want a good, level-headed,
common sense foreman, who will see these things and have them
carried out. You want no machinery that you can dispense with. I
believe, Mr. President, that is all I can say on this subject. (Applause. )

THE CITRUS PROTECTIVE LEAGUE.
By E. M. LYON, or RIVERSIDE.

I don’t think there has been any organization formed since fruit
packing was first started that is of more importance to the citrus
industry than the Protective League. We have different organizations
for packing and handling fruit, but each has its own particular ax to
erind. The Protective League was organized, not for any one organiza-
tion, not for any one packing house or for any one district, but for the
entire industry.

When we were first organized, the first question that came up was
that of freight. I speak of that to show what the league has accom-
plished already with a very crude organization, so to speak, and sup-
ported itself by only a small part of the industry; and if it was not for
the exchange, which came en masse and has supported it most enthu-
siastically, we would not have had the proportion we have had of the
imdustry, and we ought to have every one in the organization. (Ap-

ey THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

plause.) The first question that came up was the question of freights.
Of course we all wanted to get our fruit to market as cheaply as we
could, and I don’t think there are many of the packers who have not,
at one time or another, approached the railroad with that end in view;
and we never accomplished a single thing. We did at times get the
promise of better service, but we didn’t get the service. As far as the
rates were concerned, we were simply pushed to one side. It was a
question that they would hardly discuss with us. When we came to
them and said we represented about eighty per cent of the citrus
industry of Southern California we commanded attention, and you
know the result.

A little over a year after the organization was formed, we obtained
from the railroads a reduction of ten cents a hundred, which amounts to
7.2 cents for every box of oranges shipped out of Southern California,
or any part of the State. That alone was worth more than the expenses
of the league will probably be for'a number of years—even what we
have saved in a sjngle year. The expenses have been very light. I
think that about twenty cents a car a year has been all the assessment
that has been levied so far for the expenses of the league.

The Executive Board, as they are called, have given their time for
‘nothing. They have met their own expenses in attending the meetings,
_and they have done considerable work for the industry, and never have
asked any compensation whatever.

Now, that is only one thing, and in connection with the reduction in
freight, we obtained a positive promise from the heads of the railroads
that we should have better time, better service, better equipment; and
this year I think every packer will agree with me that we have had
better service and better time than we have had for years. I am sure
that we could not ask better treatment than we have had this year from
the railroad companies.

Another thing that I think it has accomplished is to bring the growers
or the packers and the railroad companies more in harmony. Now
when, for instance, a number of different men went to the railroads,
they kept taking up the time, and one man thought one thing and
another another. Through the Protective League we went with a
definite object in view, and we worked directly on that line, and that
only; and that is one reason why I think we accomplished what we have
mm part.

Now, what is the aim of the league in the future? We are shipping
now from Southern California alone nearly 30,000 cars of citrus fruit,
bringing into the State over $15,000,000. Now, does not that represent
enough value to stimulate all to work in harmony to accomplish
something for the industry? Why, any business enterprise representing
even a small proportion of that would be glad to spend a great deal of
money to have everything pertaining to it looked after carefully. Just
what will come before the league in the future is a question. We have
cot to feel our way in regard to the things that are important; but we do —
know that there are some things that we have to be in line on, so as
to take care of them when they come up. One of these is the question
of tariff. You all know how there has been a great deal of agitation in
the papers in regard to revision of the tariff. When that time comes

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 13

there is no question but what there will be some who will want the tariff
on citrus fruits. They will say that they want the fruits delivered
cheaper, and if they throw open the markets of the world so that they
ean bring in J amaica fruit, Mexiean fruit, and fruit from other sec-
tions, without paying si pay the taxes for the sup-
port of our Beeenmont, . but if they ean come in for nothing, why that
will bring down the price of oranges. :

Do we want the price of our citrus fruit brought down? Do we want
these outsiders to come in and compete with us? We can’t accomplish
anything if we don’t have organization. We are now trying not only
to have the data for our own use, as to what the citrus industry really
should have in the way of protection, but we are trying to get in line
with all similar organizations—vegetable organizations, orange associa-
tions in the South, and, in fact, every organization that is agricultural
in any way that needs protection, so that they will work in -harmony
with us, and help us to obtain what we think we should have.

Now, that requires a great deal of work, and the league has employed ,
a secretary who is devoting a great deal of his time to that very thing
to-day, and he can give you a great deal of data as to the response he is
meeting from all over the country in this line. It has been a revelation
to me to see how many associations there are throughout the country |
who are interested right in this line; and when the time comes, if there
is some one to take the lead, they will fall in line and help us accom-
plish what we want.

Now, the question comes up naturally, How are we going to get every
orange grower represented in this league? It costs some money to run
it. We have run it very economically so far, and we intend to in the
future. There is no money wasted; our entire expense to-day consists
simply in the hire of a small office which we have in Los Angeles, the
secretary, and a stenographer. Then, of course, there is the stationery
and incidentals, but the entire expenses of the league to date have been
very small—in fact, infinitesimal in ares to what we have already
accomplished.

Now, the only way we can get every one represented is by the packers
coming into the association. We can’t go to every single grower and
ask him to join and pledge so much, because we want the thing exact
so that every one.will pay simply his share of the expenses; and we
have thought the proper way, and the only way, te do that is by making
an assessment of so much per ear. Our assessments have been ten
cents a car each time we have made them, and, as I said before, about
_ two assessments in a year, and we may have to have three. What we
want to ask of every one is to see that the organization that is shipping
his fruit is a member of the league, that they will every one come in,
so that we can have every one represented. The expense of carrying
on this work will be very light. No one will feel it, and at the same
time we will be in shape to accomplish a great deal of good for the citrus
industry. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY.. I now have the great pleasure of intro-
ducing Mr. C. C. Chapman, who will address the Convention further
upon this subject.

74 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ADDRESS OF MR. C. C. CHAPMAN.

Mr. Chairman: First, I want to thank Mr. Jeffrey for the thoughtful-
ness in giving a place on the programme to this part of our industry.
I think it was very wise that the grower should be well informed on all
branches of our very great industry. Mr. Lyon has told you something
about the greatness of it, but I want to tell you it has grown so enor-
mously, it has got so very big, that we must look to not only the hortieul-
tural end of it, but the business end as well. These very growers are
too wise and long-headed to point their head always to the ground and
look into the fertile soil, possibly to raise them up to admire their beau-
tiful trees, without thinking of the marketing of this great product
which they are growing. And therefore this Protective League comes
in and attends to a large amount of absolutely important business which
can not be done by the growers separately.

We remember how we used to meet before this organization was
formed—some great question would come up, and the growers would be
called together in an indiscriminate sort of way. We would meet and
have a scrap over the question, and go away and accomplish nothing.
You smile about it, because you know it is true. Some of the newcomers -
to California don’t understand that. But we were going through a
process of evolution, and I think we havé crystallized a system by which
the industry, as a whole, will be guarded as it could not possibly. have
been done under the old method.

Now, this league, we might say, is a non-partisan proposition. It
does not belong to the exchange; it does not belong to the shippers; it
just belongs to all of us. And right here I want to emphasize what Mr.
Lyon said with reference to everybody being interested in it. If you
are not a shipper, you can insist on the man who handles your fruit being
interested in this league for your own protection, because, just as Mr.
Lyon said, and we all realize, this tariff revision is going to be opened.
A lot of fellows will never be satisfied until it is; and when it is, we
have got to be right on the spot, well fortified to protect our citrus
industry. (Applause.) And it is precisely like it was when we went
to the presidents of the railroads.

Now, I make the assertion that this reduction which was obtained by
this league could never have been obtained in the old-fashioned way.
TI know a great many of the growers said, ‘‘Why don’t you fellows do
something? Why did we elect you? You ain’t doimg anything.’’
All the time we were working, and we got this reduction without ten ©
people in Southern California knowing anything about it. But we
were working. You had confidence in the men, and they were working,
and they got it. But I want to tell you why. We had a secretary who
eompiled, collated, all the information. He brought it before the presi-
dent. JI remember Mr. Ripley said he didn’t understand a good deal of
this information, and if certain things were true. he would be very glad
to look into it. Now, the league knew all about it, collated the informa-
tion, selected the men to go to the president, did it all quietly, and the
railroad didn’t want to fight at all—although I do remember the remark
Mr. Ripley made when we went in to interview him first. He sat back
in his chair and said, ‘‘ Well, I guess you gentlemen are in for another
fight. We have just whipped you to a finish.’’ That is just when he

‘

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15D

had got the decision. ‘‘We have just whipped you to a finish, and I
guess we can do it again, but if you want us to spend a lot of money we
ean do it.’’ We didn’ t go there to fight, and in a little while he was
bending over the table firuring and looking into the matter. Both he
and Harriman gave careful consideration to it, which they would not
have done by the old method. The railroad companies are recognizmg
this league, and they like to deal with*the grower through it, and they
will, and we will get more for the grower “than you can ever get any
other way.

I have a lot of information here which I will not attempt to read.
It is very interesting, and it shows what our secretary is doing in com-
ing in touch with the ereat agricultural products of the whole country.
It is being done in self- defense. I refer to the uniform bill of lading.
We must have such a thing as that, and we will never get it in any other
way. We are going to get it now, however. Here is information which
he has collated showing the enormous quantity of products which are
imported into this country. It would amaze’ you if you had this, and
this is being distributed by our secretary. We are trying to educate
the people along those lines.

Without any further discussion, I am going to have the pleasure—
and it is going to be mine, if you will pardon me—of introducing our
secretary. Mr. Kendall, let me have the pleasure of introducing you
to this audience—Mr. Kendall, our secretary. —

ADDRESS OF MR. A. G. KENDALL.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I think Mr. Chapman made a serious mistake
that he didn’t continue what he intended to say, for I am sure he
could say it much better than I can. It is rather hard to follow men
like Messrs. Lyon and Chapman on matters of the Citrus Protective
League, even if you are secretary and manager, because while I have
been with them for about a year, they have been from its very inception,
and either of them might say, like a historian of old, ‘‘All of which
they saw and much of which they were.’’

I want to call attention to one thing in particular. It has been said
that we are non-political. That is true. And yet, in entering into the
citrus industry, there are some political features. We can say truth-
fully that it is immaterial to us whether we build two battleships or

- four, but we will all agree upon this proposition, that the people of this

great country are standing with the President upon one of the other
questions, and that is the control of railway companies through the
Interstate Commerce Commission. Upon that there is no division.

_(Applause.) So it can be said truthfully that the Citrus Protective

League, while non-political, generally stands for the principle that
United States Senators should be chosen by the people, and that the
Interstate Commerce Commission should have a general supervision
over the rate question with the railroads of this country. So much that
may be considered political.

Another question that came up a few months ago was our white fly
scare. I want to refer to it briefly, because it arose soon after I became

connected with the league. And this I do know, that through an organ-

76 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ization which could truthfully say, as it could at that time, that it rep-
resented sixty-nine per cent of the citrus industry of the State, we
did create an interest that enforced or assisted in the enforcement of
a law by bringing public opinion to that end. The league has grown
since then. We can now say that eighty per cent of the industry is
represented by the Citrus Protective League, and that we are doing
some good. (Applause.) I thirik the other twenty per cent ought to
come in. (Applause.) Now, in connection with this white fly matter,
t want to say further that they found this State without any available
appropriation to eradicate that fly and control that territory. The
State did the best it could with what moneys it had. It could whip
around the stump and pay its bills for awhile; and finally, Mr. Jeffrey
came down and he said: ‘‘I have got to stop. We have no money to
pay our men who are watching the fields in Oroville and Marysville

and Bakersfield, and we must keep up that control for a year at least.’’
It was the greatest pleasure in my life to turn to the Executive Com-
mittee and agree that the Citrus Protective League would take up the
vouchers. It is doing some good.

Now, a word about the tariff. We are not shouting tariff revision
on the coast very much, although some of our newspapers are getting
away on that subject, but it is possible that a little later they will have
to consider that they are representing the people and the fruit growers
of the coast. A few years ago we hoisted a free silver banner, and we
found out afterwards we meant gold; and it is possible some of the news-
papers in the State who are asking for tariff revision now would be
puzzled to point out upon what product from California they want it
revised.

In the past ten years or more, the manufactured products over the
country have been centralizing, consolidating—trusts, if you please;
but they limit their output, they cheapen their production, they are
protected by patents and one thing and another. Possibly they can
stand tariff revision. The Spanish war has been settled, Cuba has been
made fit to live in, and Porto Rico has become ours. Millions and.
millions of dollars have gone into Cuba, Porto Rico, Bermuda, and the
Islands, and these are to-day in direct competition with the American
fruit grower, and twenty-four to forty-eight hours across the bay is
their haul, while ours is 2,000 to 3,500 miles to get into our markets
by railway.

Now, when you come to talk tariff revision to me, I am willing you
should revise, but I say the fruit grower needs a revision with an
upward tendency to meet those conditions, directly opposite from the
manufactured product of the East. (Applause.) We ean not con-
solidate, we can not limit the output; every grower of oranges here is
in competition with his neighbor, whether he lives here or anywhere
else. We have no patents to protect us. Here is the government of the
United States, through its representatives, spending thousands of dol-
jars every year for better methods, but you can not limit your output;
you are all the time increasing it, and the only thing you can do is to_
protect yourself from the fellow who takes his money abroad to the
Islands, Cuba, Porto Rico, or elsewhere—not Porto Rico particularly—
and with labor conditions entirely different from ours, he comes in direct

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 17

competition with us. We must meet him with a tariff, and let the
revision be upward.

Something has been said about the uniform bill of lading. Now,
it is a fact that some four years ago the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission took up the matter of a uniform bill of lading, appointed a
conimission composed of railway men and manufacturers from the
East, and they made a report on a uniform bill of lading which in no
way recognizes the perishable product; and realizing that there must
be some good result from a uniform bill of lading, the International
Apple Shippers, through Mr. Scholand and others, took up the matter
and have filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission now, and it
is pending there, a uniform bill of lading perishable. And I had infor-
mation within the past two weeks to send out mailing matter to my
mailing list—and I will tell you all about that in a moment, and I
won’t be but a moment about it—and I urged them to write the
Interstate Commerce Commission in favor of the uniform bill of
lading perishable, because it contains features as to claims filed, as to

icing charges, and other matters that no provision whatever is made -

for in the bill of lading provided by the commission which I have spoken
of. And I wish that every one whose attention has been ealled to it
would show the Interstate Commerce Commission that he is interested
in that bill, for the idea has gone out that possibly the people in the
West don’t care anything about it, because they have not been heard
from. I think they will hear from some of them, because I am’ getting
letters every day from Texas and Louisiana and Washington people
who have written the Interstate Commerce Commission in favor of
the uniform bill of lading perishable.

- Now, just one more word about the tariff. The citrus industry is
located largely in California, next in Florida, and is gradually creeping
out through Texas and Arizona. As an industry itself it may be said
to be represented by only three or four states. We have been receiving
very favorable prices for the last two or three years. Other things have
brought the question up to me as to how we could best get before the
revision committee with our orange industry, and it occurred to me that
we could take the produce growers—and let me tell yoy there are hun-
dreds and hundreds of trucking associations all through the South and
the Southwest; Texas has a hundred or more of them; Florida, Loui-
siana, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, they are all growing

truck, not fruit particularly, but fruit and truck—and I started out ©

then to get a mailing list of those people who ought to be interested; and
let me tell you, above all of them, the produce growers should be
interested; more, in fact, than the citrus fruit grower, because the
produce growers have no tariff that amounts to anything as against
Bermuda and the Islands. The result is that I have located a large
number of fruit and trucking associations and prominent growers
seattered in the places where I thought they would do the most good—
that is, in the South and Southwest. Those people down there, many
of them, are living on a tradition. That tradition was cotton and corn
and free trade years ago, but they are getting that out of their heads,
and you would be surprised, ladies and gentlemen, to see how many
letters I am receiving from all over the South and Southwest saying,
““We are in sympathy with you; tell us what we ean do.’’ So I think

78 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

that when the next election comes around and the political fellow comes
along asking for votes, he will be asked a whole lot of questions down
there. I know how the people of California stand—there is no question
about that; but down in that section, where they have been bred and
raised under a different theory, you have got to show them their own
interest. I have been trying to do it. I have told them that in five

years over $105,000,000 worth of fruit had been brought in, over .

$50,000,000 of it free of any duty, and in five years $26,000,000 worth
of vegetables brought in. Cuba, Bermuda, and other places beat our
own people out in the markets of the East.

Now, that is work that we are engaged in. That is the work that
is taking ten cents a carload for your citrus fruit twice a year—possibly
three times. At an expense of a little over $4,000 a year we have been
running the league. Mr. Lyon said the saving on the orange rate would
pay the expenses a good many years. It would for a hundred years,
if you stop to think—over $700,000 saving in freight by the ten-cent
reduction. Did you ever think of it? It doesn’t amount to a ‘good
cigar, the assessment you pay on your carload of oranges, and I think
we are doing you some good. I thank you.

(At this time an adjournment was taken until 1:45 o’clock P. m.)

AFTERNOON SESSION—SECOND DAY. .

WEDNESDAY, April 29, 1908.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Teague, who is first on the pro-
eramme, does not seem to be here, and if there is any other business
that vou desire to take up now, it will be in order.

A MEMBER. Mr. Chairman, some of us can not be at the lecture
to-morrow night, and we would like to ask something about the white
fiy and its extermination. I would like to ask a question, Do you think
it is possible to exterminate the white fly in any given locality?

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will just tell you in a minute or a
minute and a half, while we are waiting, that at Bakersfield where there
were about 100 or 125 trees infected, where we use fumigation, we are
now unable to find any trace whatever of the fy. At Oroville, which
will be described to-morrow night in very graphie terms, we are unable
to find a single evidence of larva or eggs or any other form of the white
fiy. At Marysville, where the campaign was begun at the most unaus-
picious time, we have three men at work, and every two or three days,
on an average, they find a larva. No one could find a larva there in a
week, if not thoroughly acquainted with the ground. When there are
three men putting in eight hours a day systematically on a block of
trees, which have only small tops, you may know that it is very nearly

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 12.

exterminated there. Possibly it is exterminated. We are going to watch
those places for a whole year without any let-up at all. We are not
afraid of its breaking out at Oroville or Bakersfield. At Marysville
we may have to treat it again. The only trouble about the white fly
is in the cities. There is where the devastation occurs. If it should
break out in Redlands or Riverside or Los Angeles, you would lose half
the adernment of your yards and gardens, just as you will see to-
morrow night from those pictures. I am very sorry you ean’t be here
to-morrow night and hear the lecture.

Mr. Teague has not come yet, and we will now listen to Prof. Ralph E.
Smith on “‘ Health and Disease in the Citrus Tree.’’ .

HEALTH AND DISEASE IN THE CITRUS TREE.
By PROF. RALPH E. SMITH, oF WHITTIER.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Being asked to speak on the subject of citrus
tree diseases, I have chosen the topic as put on the programme somewhat
purposely in a rather indefinite manner, making the subject ‘‘ Health
and Disease in the Citrus Tree,’’ and not wording it ‘‘ Citrus Diseases,
or Disease of Citrus Trees,’’ or anything of that nature. My idea in
that was this, that the subject of citrus tree diseases is one of peculiar
indefiniteness or complexity; in other words, it is impossible to give a
satisfactory and a complete expression on the subject of citrus tree
diseases and classify those diseases, and describe each one minutely,
and in a clear way tell how to remedy it. ‘That would be impossible
under California conditions, and under the conditions of the California
citrus business. If I was speaking in New York state or other regions
in the Hast, perhaps on apple tree diseases or. diseases of the peach,
or something of that sort, it would be a very simple matter to take up
almost all the serious troubles of a tree of that sort and classify them
and describe them, and tell what they were and what the cause was,
and the remedy so far as known, and present the subject in a satis-
factory manner so that each one who listened, if I was competent to
speak on the subject, would feel that I had described conditions as he
had seen them, and that I covered the case in his particular instance,
and that the subject had been thoroughly presented. But the subject
of citrus tree diseases in California is very different from one of that
nature. The subject is, in its very nature, complicated and indefinite.
It is indefinite, because it is complicated on account of the conditions
under which citrus trees grow here, and the nature of the tree itself.
So I will make that preface to what I have to say, that the subject is
of this nature, as I will treat it, and I will not attempt to give a cut
and dried classification of the cause, nature, and effect and remedy of

the diseases or troubles of the citrus tree.
' To define health and disease, particularly as applied to cultivated
plants, is by no means easy. While we all have a general idea of the
conditions indicated by these terms, and conceive of the two as opposed
to one another, one being that which the other is not, yet a definition
of each and a sharp drawing of the line between them is quite difficult.
In the case of commercial crops, and even more especially with citrus
fruits, it is often true that the condition of the plant, or the nature of

80 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

its product most desired for commercial ends, may not be synonymous
at all with the normal, natural development which we ordinarily regard
as health. On the other hand, an unproductive condition or the develop-
ment of undesirable qualities, may be most disastrous commercially,
and yet not indicate a condition of disease or anything abnormal
in the natural development of the plant. In other words, the perfection
of desirable commercial qualities is by no means the same as perfect,
normal, natural development or natural health. The fact is, that
the work of the plant pathologist in California, particularly in the
case of citrus fruits, is not limited to the study of actual disease,
and the means of avoiding it. He is rather called upon to advance
commercial perfection, and learn how to overcome conditions which
are undesirable from this standpoint, whether they be ones of actual
disease or not.

Disease in the ordinary sense is the effect of some cause or condition
which interferes seriously with the normal functions of organic life.
We commonly understand such a condition as one of a somewhat more
complicated. nature than that resulting from a simple injury. The
causes of plant disease are many. Most important, ordinarily, or at
any rate most easily accounted for, are those which are caused by the
action of what we call parasites. Parasites are living organisms, either
of an animal or vegetable nature, which live at the expense of other
individuals, usually growing closely associated with their tissues and
drawing nourishment from them. The plant pathologist does not
ordinarily undertake to investigate cases of parasitic injury caused
by insects, as the subject of entomology has become a large and im-
portant one. Plant pathology is, in the usual sense, the study of all
diseases or troubles with plants other than those caused by insects.
The parasites with which the plant pathologist has to deal are mostly
of a vegetable nature, and are largely of the class known as fungi.
The fungi are real plants of a low order of development, many of which
are parasites to a greater or less extent upon other plants. A great
majority of our best known plant diseases are caused by fungi, such
as the rusts, smuts, mildews, and many blights, rots, ete., from which
very few of our commercial crops are free. A number of other plant
diseases are caused by bacteria, organisms of a still lower class, forms
of which are responsible for most of the serious animal diseases. but
of which only a comparative few affect plants. Some of the most
distinct bacterial plant diseases are the pear blight and walnut blight,
both well known in California. |

Aside from the troubles caused by parasites it is well known that
plants are affected in most various manners by influences resulting
‘from the conditions under which they grow. Vegetable life is
dependent upon certain indispensable factors. which, acting in the
proper degree, contribute to the normal development of plants. These
factors may also vary to a considerable extent without seriously affect-
ing the life or condition of the plant, but beyond certain hmits their
influence results in injury, or may go still farther and bring about a
condition which may be classed as a disease. The factors to which
we refer are those upon which all plant life depends, namely, moisture.
temperature, light, chemical food elements, and freedom from other
influences which might cause injury. In regard to these different

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Sl

factors, their general influence upon plant life is well known. We are
all aware, for instance, that water is indispensable, but that either
too much or too little is injurious. Also that the same is true in
regard to sunlight, heat, cold, and chemical food elements. While an
excess of any of these factors may produce a very evident injurious
effect on the plant, scarcely different from a mechanical injury, yet,
when relative conditions in regard to these essential factors become
complicated, we may and often do get results upon plants which are
strictly of the nature of disease w ith definite symptoms, in which it is
very difficult to establish definitely a simple succession of cause and
effect.

We must further consider the fact brought out at the beginning of
this paper, that simply a condition of natural health is not sufficient
to satisfy commercial requirements, but that certain definite standards
are set up of quality and quantity of the product, some of which may
be radically different from those which Nature, so to speak, intended.
From this standpoint, the control of the effect of natural conditions
upon cultivated plants may be of even greater importance in relation
to these more or less artificial qualities than as simply affecting ordinary
health. Horticultural conditions in California are of such a nature
as to make this phase of the subject of particular importance. Our
crops are grown largely under conditions which are entirely artificial,
the plants themselves being natives of other eae of the world,
and grown here in places where the conditions w ee Nature ordinarily
supplies are largely under the control of man. Two factors particu-
larly, those of irrigation and fertilization, are of the greatest impor-
tance in this connection. In the citrus industry we plant a tree in a
place where it would perish almost immediately without constant
attention, and have at our disposal to withhold or supply, in any desired
amount, two of the most important factors in plant growth, water and
soil food. The amount to be supplied, the time of application,
frequency, and many other most important considerations are very
largely in the hands of the grower, and the growth of the tree, its
health, life, and development, as well as the quality and quantity of
its fruit, depend almost entirely upon the manner in which the grower
handles ‘these controllable factors.

It is further to be said that there is no tree more sensitive or easily
affected by conditions of this sort than the orange or lemon.

To come more directly to the subject which we are expected to discuss,
we may say, in general, that in our investigations of the diseases of
citrus trees in California we have found almost nothing which may
be ascribed to the effects of any parasite; that is to say, we know of
no important citrus disease which is caused by any fungus or bacterial
organism, or anything of that nature. If we except decay of the fruit
and a very few exceptional cases of disease of the tree, the above state-
ment may be made an absolute one. It is true beyond all question that
our most serious troubles with citrus trees in California are the effects
upon the tree of unfavorable natural conditions, and not those of active
parasites. Some of these effects, it must be confessed, are at present
most obscure and difficult or impossible to account for in any satis-
factory manner. Yet the study of the various diseases, and of the
nature of the tree itself, has been sufficient to show that this is true.

6—FGC

82 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In connection with the effect of natural conditions, such as tempera-
ture, moisture, food elements, etc., upon the growth of plants, two
peculiarities of the citrus tree may be mentioned here. The first relates
to its manner of growth. Most of our ordinary fruit trees are
deciduous. Their life each year is marked by a period of growth during
the summer and a period of rest during the winter. In their woody
stems and branches the substance formed each year takes the form of
an annual ring, the number of which corresponds very closely to the
uge of the tree. These rings are visible on account of a difference in
the structure of the wood formed in the spring and during the summer.
At the beginning of each growing season, large amounts of sap circulate
im the tree, and the first wood which forms at this time has a very coarse,
porous structure, being composed of comparatively large open vessels,
which are mechanically adapted to conducting the large amounts’ of
sap which are flowing at this time. As the season advances the woody
erowth in thickness becomes less, the amount of sap diminishes, and
the wood. now formed has a closer, denser structure with much smaller
vessels, until finally, toward the end of the summer, growth ceases
altogether. The next spring another porous coarse layer is formed
cutside the fine-grained wood of the previous fall, and from this differ-
ence in structure the annual rings are visible to the eye. The difference
is also of importance, as just pointed out, from physiological reasons,
the coarse-grained spring wood allowing the. passage of the large
amounts of sap which are flowing in the tree at that season.

In the citrus tree a number, of growths take place each year. Each
of these is marked by a definite ring of wood in the stem and branches,
so that if the tree makes five growths during the season, five rings
-will be found in the wood for that year. The fact pointed out above,
that the structure of the wood is of great importance as. permitting
or obstructing the flow of sap, is the vital one in this connection.
Citrus growth, while having a certain normal regularity under uniform
conditions, responds in a very marked degree to the treatment which is
given the tree, particularly that in respect to moisture. Growth
naturally follows an abundant water supply and vice versa. If, then,
the water supply should be extremely irregular, disastrous results may
follow from this peculiarity in. the growth of the tree. During a
period of dryness, the woody tissue which serves as a channel for
conducting the sap becomes dense, fine-grained, and of poor conducting
quality. If the tree is then suddenly suppled with a large amount
ef water, its trunk and branches are not able to conduct that which is
sent up from the roots, and complications may result. Further than
this, the citrus tree is one in which the flow of sap from the roots is
extremely free and abundant. One needs but to cut off the top of a
vigorous orange or lemon tree, and then supply the root abundantly
with water, to discover the remarkable freedom and promptness- with
which the excessive amount of water is sent up by the root into the
ar anlkes,

The second peculiarity of the citrus tree alluded to above is one
which it shares with the cherry, peach, apricot, and other stone fruits,
and a few other plants. This is a tendency to form and exude masses
of 2 gummy substance as the result of injury, or even from unfavorable
natural conditions. The gumming is due to complecated physiological

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 83

process in the tree, and occurs in the trees mentioned, often very
profusely, from a great variety of causes. It may be due to mechanical
injury, to the effects of fungi, as seen for instance in the peach blight,
or simply to physiological derangements in the tree. The gumming
disease may be likened to a form of indigestion, or in some degree to the
abnormal activity of the mucous membranes seen in a person suffering
from a cold.

In taking up now in detail some of the more prominent diseases to
which citrus trees are subject in California, we would not be under-
stood as maintaining that they may be all easily explained as due to
easily seen effects or evident causes, or that they may be easily remedied
by simple rules of irrigation, cultivation, or fertilization. We mean
rather to simply express a belief that these troubles are of the nature
deseribed, even though complicated and obscure and difficult of treat-
ment in many Cases.

Under the ‘general term of gum disease are included several troubles
of a more or less distinct nature. Of these may be mentioned partic-
ularly the gum disease of the lemon, the scaly bark of the orange, and
the true gummosis, or Mal di Goma of Europe and Florida. The last
mentioned disease is quite distinct from the most common forms of
gum disease which occur in California. It is characteristically. a disease
of the root rather than of the trunk, and may be described as a root rot,
more than a simple gumming. We have seen this trouble only in a very
few instances in California. It affects the tree mostly from the surface
of the ground downward, and shows itself, as a softening and decay
of the bark, finally affecting the whole root. So far as seen here, it
appears to be due to an excessive amount of moisture about the trunk,
particularly when accompanied by banking of the earth closely around
the tree above the normal height.

The gum disease of the lemon manifests itself as a breaking out of
gum on the trunk, usually between the point of budding and the main
forks of the tree. This disease has been much discussed of late in the
horticultural press and elsewhere, and the conditions which produce it
are quite generally understood. It is without question entirely physio-
logical, and not brought about or concerned in any manner with any
fungi, bacteria, or other parasites. It occurs almost always in heavy
ground, in places where moisture is too abundant, and particularly
where the soil has become compact about the trunk above the point
of budding. Instances are practically unknown of lemon trees. being
affected, save under conditions of this sort. The lemon gum disease may
be avoided in no other manner than by avoiding these conditions which
bring it about, or when once started may be remedied in no other
manner than by improving said conditions. This may be done very
largely by cultural means, consisting -of loosening the soil thoroughly
about the trees, uncovering roots which are too deeply buried, avoiding
saturation of the soil close about the tree, and, if feasible, replacing the
heavy soil with sand or gravel in a circle about the tree. If planting
in soil which is manifestly liable to the disease, two things are strongly
advisable. First, the use of the bitter orange or so- ealled: Florida sour
stock for a root; the second, the practice of high budding, working the
tree about fifteen inches from the ground. In the case of ‘trees already
atrected, it is often advisable to remove thé bark which has become

E4 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

separated from the wood and killed by the exudation of gum, in
order to give an opportunity for new bark to form, and the wound
to heal over. This treatment is in no sense a remedy for the disease,
but simply a method of wound treatment, as might be applied in the
case of any injury. All bark which is badly affected should be stripped
cleanly from the tree, trimming neatly about the edges of the sound
bark, and the exposed wood should then be covered with some material
for which a wax, composed of four parts resin, one part beeswax, and
one part raw linseed oil, boiled together and applied as a liquid with
a brush, is as good as anything. It is also advised to slit the bark of
affected trees up and down the trunk in several places. Orange trees
are sometimes affected in very wet ground.

The sealy bark of the orange is of a nature much less easily explained.
The manner of its occurrence, affecting the trees here and there about
the orchard, makes it difficult to understand how it can result from con-
ditions which seem practically alike all over the orchard. The disease
is limited to the sweet orange, not affecting the lemon, grape fruit, or
other species, and 1s much more common on seedlings and navels than
on the Valencia. It manifests itself as a scabby, gummy breaking out
at any point on the trunk or branches, and usually keeps spreading
about the trunk or along the branch from year to year. We can only
say, in regard to the nature of this disease, that the condition of the
affected tissues when studied with the miscroscope is similar to that in
the lemon gum disease. There is the same breaking out of gum through
the bark, with the difference that in this case it is less abundant and
active, and takes the form of a mild irritation, which keeps the affected
area continually spreading at a limited rate. In our opinion, the disease
is connected with an irregularity in the fiow of sap up into the tree,
starting primarily in an irregular water supply to the roots, the trouble
resulting from interference with the flow of sap on account of the
structure of the wood, as has been previously mentioned. We feel
quite well satisfied that the disease starts as a result of an abnormal
relation between the flow of sap and the structure of the wood, which
should conduct it, however obscure may be the cause which first brings
this about. We have seen cases of successful treatment of scaly bark
areas on orange trees, when not too large, by cutting out all the affected
part and covering the wound with the wax described above. In doing
this, it is necessary to cut away all bark which shows discoloration
between it and the wood, beyond the portion where the surface shows
the sealy condition. This is found particularly just above the visibly
affected portions. The practice of covering portions of trees affected
with sealy bark with a thick paste composed of lime and sulphur is
sometimes resorted to. We have not been able to observe any very
decided or permanent benefit from this treatment.

Florida die-back, or exanthema, is another disease which may be

included in this class, and occurs to some extent in Southern California.
This is a disease of very pronounced symptoms, both on the fruit and
twigs. It affects particularly the orange. The affected oranges show

dark brown discolored patches on the side, and from these places the

fruit often splits. The oranges have a characteristic pale yellowish-

ereen color, and are quite sweet when not more than half grown. The
branches die back from the tips, send out clusters of small shoots from.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION, 85

the twigs, and the bark of the latter breaks out in corky protuberances
or pustules. More or less gumming is associated with the latter. This
‘disease is described in Florida as being due to an excess of organic
nitrogen in the soil. That this is not entirely the case, but rather that
its cause is more complicated than this, is shown by the appearance
of the trouble in this State, where it is limited almost entirely to a
certain type of soil. This is the coarse, granitic, very porous soil, which
is found particularly along the base of the mountains in various places
between Highlands and Pasadena. On such soils the Florida die-back
is of quite frequent occurrence.. There have been a very few cases of
the disease on heavier soils where the Florida experience seems to hold
true, all the instances on such soils of which we are aware having been
associated with very heavy applications of fertilizers rich in organic
nitrogen. In the case of the type of soil mentioned, however, the
disease occurs very severely in many instances where only moderate
amounts of fertilizers have been applied. The most pronounced quality
of this soil is the free passage which it affords to water. It becomes
very wet during irrigation, but unless water is applied very thoroughly
and carefully and quite frequently, the upper soil becomes absolutely
- dry between irrigations. This soil also takes up water very poorly
in a lateral direction, so that the space between the trees and much
of the whole body of soil becomes extremely dry in many orchards.
The disease appears to be brought about in some manner through an
irregular food supply, resulting from the irregular water supply which
trees get in this soil, unless irrigation is particularly well carried out.
With trees which are not well fertilized, the effect is simply one of
ordinary die-back. True exanthema seems to result where the soil is
of the type deseribed, and a fair amount of fertilizing material has
been applied. It is apparently a sort of indigestion in the tree, more
food being taken up during irrigation than the tree can take care of
after it gets into the condition of dryness which follows. On heavier
soils the same thing occurs only where very excessive amounts of
nitrogen have been applied.

Cases of ordinary die-back, failure to grow, poor development,
mottled leaf, poor production, barrenness, ete., are of very frequent
occurrence, but can not be ascribed to any one cause or considered as
representing any special form of disease. These conditions result in
a great majority of cases from failure of good cultural methods or
unfavorable conditions in the location of the orchard.

With the orange, the fruit itself is affected by two very characteristic
_ troubles, both apparently due to irregularities or abnormal conditions
in the development of the fruit, from causes which can not be fully
explained. We refer to the puffing and splitting of the fruit. We can
give no information of definite value as to the exact nature or means
of control of these troubles. .

In regard to the treatment or means of avoiding the various diseases
which have thus far been mentioned we can give no absolute rules to
fit all cases; but, in this connection, the following remarks by My. C. C.
Chapman, at the Citrus Convention held in Riverside in January, 1907,
are very suggestive: ‘“‘There are certain general conditions which I
believe are applicable to all of Southern California. First, I think it
is an essential requirement that you should keep your grove absolutely

&6 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

in an even condition ; never have it call for anything ; never have it need
irrigation; never have it need fertilization; never have it need any-
thing, so far as indications are concerned. That is, you don’t want a
grove to show you that it needs anything. You don’t want it to arrive
at that condition where it will show this.’’ We can give no better advice
than to emphasize what Mr. Chapman has said as to the importance of
maintaining a uniform, even condition and growth of the citrus tree.
avoiding all extremes and sudden changes w hich would tend to produce
irregular development. Whatever may be the exact nature and cause
of these obscure troubles, it is certain that they all have their origin
in irregularities of growth, or functions as influenced by natural con-
ditions, or the treatment which the tree receives. The peculiar sen-
sitiveness of citrus trees to the effects of such conditions makes it
particularly important that their vital processes be kept in a uniform
condition, free from violent shocks. So far as climatic influences are
concerned, this can not be entirely accomplished, but in his manner of
soil treatment as related to irrigation, cultivation, and fertilization, the
grower should study each peculiar type of soil most carefully, endeavor-
ing to maintain the most uniform possible condition as to water and
food supply.

These troubles being of a physiological or autogenous nature, rather
than the effects of parasitic organisms, any application to the tree of
the nature of a fungicide or insecticide is ordinarily out of the question.
In the ease of the Florida die-back, beneficial results have been claimed
from spraying with the Bordeaux mixture, in which ease it is possible
that the application of this substance to the foliage has had some
physiological effect.

Brown spot, which has been so much in evidence during the past
season, 18 another trouble affecting the orange fruit. In regard to
this we can only say that it consists in a dying of the rind of-the
orange in certain spots, drying out and turning brown. What causes
the rind to die in this manner can not at present be explained. Troubles
of a somewhat similar sort are found in the lemon, though fortunately
they are not of extensive occurrence. Of the fungous and parasite
troubles which affect our citrus fruits we have, as has already been
stated, very few, except those which cause the decay of the fruit.
Apparently the one fungous disease affecting the citrus tree at all in
California is a root rot, which occasionally occurs in citrus orchards,
though more commonly in those of deciduous fruits. This disease is
commonly found on land which has been cleared from a growth of
oak trees, a situation which is not common in the citrus districts. The
trouble consists in a rotting of the roots of the tree caused by toadstool
fungi, which propagate on the decaying oak roots in the soil. We have
known of one instance of this trouble occurring on orange’ trees. Of
fungi causing decay of the fruit, we have a considerable variety.

The blue-mould fungus causes the ordinary form of citrus decay.
There are two different species of this mould quite common in Cali-
fornia, the more usual of which, the olive green form, is Penicillium
oilaceum, while the bright blue form, which is less common, is Peni-
cillium italicum.

The brown rot of the lemon, one of the most active forms of citrus

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 87

decay, is caused by a fungus which has been named Pythiacystis
citrophthora.

Another very virulent form of lemon decay, which fortunately is not
of very common occurrence, is that caused by a species of Sclerotinia.
This fungus produces an abundant growth of white mould resembling
amass of cotton, which grows over the lemons in storage very rapidly.

During the past season a large amount of decay of navel oranges has
been caused by the so-called ‘‘black rot’’ or navel end rot. This is
not a new occurrence, but was more abundant than usual early in
the past season. It is caused by a black mould fungus (alternaria)
which is not an active parasite, but infects navel oranges to some extent
when moisture is abundant.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The subject will now be discussed by
Mr. V. V. Leroy, of Claremont.

MR. LEROY. As Professor Smith has well said, one of our great
troubles in the diseases that affect the orange or lemon, or citrus trees,
is the vast difference in the conditions which we are confronting. All
over this part of the country there are so many different kinds of soil,
different conditions of climate, that it does make a vast difference in
our treatment of things as to what kind of soil we have or. as to the
climatic conditions. For that reason, when I was asked to take this
subject, I thought right away that the best way to get at some practical
points was to get a few of the most intelligent men I could from the
different sections representing this part of the world, and for that
reason I have written or spoken to a number of people seattered all over
Southern California, who will in turn take up some phase of this sub-
+ ject of disease of the orange tree, and there are some remedies, of course,
that they may propose; and after that, if there is any more time, I might
say a word or two as to the experience I have had. I will first call on
Mr. Koethen, of Riverside, who, in some respects, I think, has had as
much experience as any one on this trouble.

MR. KOETHEN. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. Leroy
asked me to express my convictions concerning the characteristic
features of sealy bark disease. I am fully convinced that there is a very
strong distinction between the scaly bark disease and any other disease
that affects our orange trees. The characteristics are marked, and the
very fact that most of the others can be cured, and the scaly bark
disease can not be cured, as far as we know, places it in an entirely
different class. If you will cross-section a limb affected with scaly bark
eum disease, you will find that the disease enters clear through the
wood—clear through the hard wood.’ I don’t believe that is the case
with these other more superficial diseases, and although I rather hesitate
te differ from the opinion of so distinguished a man as Mr. Smith, I
would call it a much more virulent form of disease than that of the
lemon—much more virulent for the reason that we can not cure it;
and I do hope Mr. Smith will take up this question from the standpoint
of a scientist and study it, as we have been compelled to do, practically,
in our orchards. I don’t think it is safe for us to assume that it is not
contagious. It may not be, but I do believe that we ought to treat.it at
present as though it were contagious.

&8 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. LEROY. I knew Mr. Koethen had some ideas a little different
from Professor Smith on the subject of the contagiousness of this dis-
ease, and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to have him express
himself. There seems to be some reason to judge that it is contagious.
In my own case, I never thought it was, because of the conditions in my
own grove; but, as he said, it may be. We had better study along both
lines. We have also with us Mr. Kennard of Glendora, who has an
entirely different class of soil from that which Mr. Koethen deals with,
and I would like to hear from him on both the remedies and his experi-
ence along these lines.

MR. KENNARD. My experience with the gum disease is confined
almost exclusively to this foot-rot. I have only one or two trees that.
are troubled to amount to anything with the scaly bark disease. Some
years ago I found one orchard in particular that was badly infested
with this gum disease at the root. I treated it with carbolic acid, and in
my case, with very marked success. Across the road, in another orchard,
i found gum disease in one row, and in about six trees in another
‘row. The strange part of it is, on all of those trees where I found the
gum disease, I found it was on a lime root. I don’t know that I have
found on my soil a case of gum disease on anything but a lime root, so
that the root, I think, is a very important matter in regard to fighting
this gum disease. I have seen this gum disease treated on lighter soil.
and also on heavier soil, very effectively by the earbolic acid treatment.

MR. LEROY. We have also with us Professor Paine, from Crafton
or Redlands district, and he has another kind of soil up there, and has
had probably as much experience or longer experience than any other
citrus grower on the whole, and he will give us his experience along the
line of diseases of the lemon.

PROFESSOR PAINE. Ladies and Gentlemen: I want to confess
that my experience has not given me much that I can give to you. IL
have been making some observations of what gum disease is, but I think
1 have done more experimenting how to cure it than I have in studying
what it is. Originally, I conceived it to be an infectious disease, and
i treated it with carbolic acid; and then, because I found a hardening
of the bark there, and because I thought that the bark had its office in
respiration, and that that was hindered by the hardening of the bark, I
gave it a chance to make new bark, and after applying the earbolie acid
I used a thing that probably is not at all proper to use on a tree—I used
neat’s-foot oil, because I knew it used to soften my shoe leather, and I
thought it might soften the bark. But the tree to-day that I applied
those things on is vastly improved from its original condition. One
limb was in an almost dead condition. Its oranges were hardly larger
than the large marbles children sometimes play with, and they were
. very inferior in quality. The leaves were scarcely larger than the
little finger, and very small in number. I concluded to keep on experi-
menting with that particular tree because it was nearly dead, and
because I would not lose much by its loss. That is the tree to which I
applied the carbolic acid and the neat’s-foot oil. In the earlier days I
used common beeswax. I think that the Scotch wax, which is prepared

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 89

by Dr. Woodbridge, makes a very good covering. Any grafting wax
will do the same. Now, the condition of that tree is this, that the
oranges have become as good as any on the neighboring trees. I really
wish I knew what caused it. I told you I would tell about my experi-
ments more than my knowledge. The bark was removed on account of
the covering of wax which I gave it. As the cambium came down and
reformed, it was renewed along, and it seemed to improve from that
time on. I have almost cured that, but not quite, because there are
exudations and stains from that bark in the outside of the wound, as
if the disease were going on. Those are the conditions that Professor
Smith speaks of. I agree with him that the conditions should be uni-
form, but where you and I and all of us water our trees quite regularly,
cultivate them in about the same way year after year and month after
month, and fertilize them in a regular way, we hardly know what change
to make. This year I made a change in some work that I did to my
trees. There were a great many weeds under the trees, and I hired a
gang of men not to cut weeds, but to loosen the earth close to every tree
I had in my orchard. I don’t know whether any good is coming from
it, but I don’t think any harm is coming. I hada boss man to see that
they didn’t dig the tree more than they did the earth. I have had very
little of that gum disease at the base of the tree, but I had the idea that
possibly the respiration of that tree was affected by the crowding of the
bark against the tree, and that that possibly comes from the growing
cutward of the tree against the soil. And although my soil is not a
hard soil—it is a gravelly loam—lI have trees that have been in there for
thirty-one years, and I think the soil should be stirred up sometimes.
I am going to clean the trunk of that part of the tree where that
oummy exudation is and where the scale is. I don’t think I am going
to take the care I used to in removing the bark and anything that might
be infectious. I used to spread a piece of gunny sack close around the
tree, and everything I scraped off I would put in a tin box and carry
it away and burn it. I have not studied it as Professor Smith has, with
his apparatus, to determine the infection. I just guessed it might be
so, and did that.

I have also done another thing. <A tree doctor applied to two of my
trees a preparation that he said would cure this disease, and if he
didn’t he would not ask for any pay. I thought I would take at the
same time some of the coal tar we get at the gas works. I took some of
that and covered the exposed part, not putting wax on that. This man
'¢ame afterwards and saw his tree had exudations in it. He said, “‘I
forgot to slit that tree up,’’ and he did so, and since then I have not
seen any exudations on his tree, nor on the tree that I treated with that
coal tar. So, you see, while I have had some experience, I don’t know
much. I thank you for listening to me.

MR. LEROY. I would like to say I have had the same experience in
my orchard as Professor Paine has had on the slitting process, which I
obtained first from Mr. C. C. Teague. I don’t know whether he was the
originator of it or not, but I have used four or five of the different
preparations like beeswax, carbolic acid, and tar. I have used all of
_ those with practically the same results until I came to the slitting of the

G0 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

bark. When I heard two years ago that that was what Mr. Teague did,
I thought he was a good one to follow, so I slit the bark of the next
trees I tried to doctor. It is about twenty months since then. I used
beeswax to cover up the wound and keep the air out; and I have not
seen a particle of gum exude from those trees since. I have come to the
conclusion that the slitting was of very-much more account than I at
first considered it. I simply put the beeswax over to keep out the air.

We have also with us to-day Mr. J. W. Mills, who has been in
experimental work for some fifteen years right around in our sections.
I am sorry to say that he is going to leave us in a few months. I would
like to hear from him on the subject of his experience in splits and
drops, or anything he wishes to say in a few minutes on the subject of
citrus diseases.

MR. J. W. MILLS. Mr. Chairman: When I talk about splits and
drops, I wish I would get: stage-struck so I could not talk. I don’t
think I will talk about that at all. There is a disease that has been
spoken of that.is quite common in certain sections, especially near the
range of hills to the north of the valleys, and that is what they call the
Florida die-back. I have brought a few samples of it here that come
from an orchard of ten or twelve acres. This is a growth that was made
last June. The tree was not affected until it came to a height of twelve
or fifteen feet. These leaves will start to turn yellow or get erisp, and
the touch of a finger will cause them to drop off. They will dry up, and
the wind will shake them off. There is an exudation of gum clear down
to the green wood. Some people claim that it is due to infertility, and
a good fertilizer will correct it. There was a case over in Pomona where
there were about seven acres that were affected in the center of a
hundred-acre orchard. The trees became badly affected in the second
year. Occasionally an orange would be found on them that would be
exuding the sweat that would have this peculiar brown gum on it, and
would crack at those places. The trees in that orchard were planted
east and west from the nursery. We came to a cértain point in the
orchard where it stopped almost like a wall. The trees of the orchard
were normal size, and produced good crops. In the. other direction :t
kept getting less and less until it died out. This orchard was bounded
on the north by a lemon orchard which was affected in the same way.
The owners of this grove fertilized heavily with barnyard manure on
that seven acres and worked it in. They had their own water system, |
and irrigated it whenever they thought the trees needed it. Still, after
the spring growth had passed, they would die back in that way. So they
tried commercial fertilizers in connection with barnyard manure. They
tried nitrate of soda, and the same results were obtained. There is a
man over at Highlands who claims to have found a remedy for this, and
claims to have gotten it from the authorities at Washington. He claims
he sprayed his trees (some that he didn’t know whether he would dig
out or not) with a weak solution of Bordeaux mixture when the fruit
was about the size of peas, and again about six weeks later, and his trees
are now as fine as any he has. That is what he tells and his neighbors
tell about it. There is an orchard adjoining where they will spray this
year about 100 acres that are affected the same way. He used Bor-

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Oe

deaux mixture, but instead of using 4-4-40, used 4-4-80. What virtue
there is in that remains to be seen from future developments.

The man who is doing that is going out into orchards that are
affected, and he agrees to do the work for nothing if you will give him
half the increase of the crop. He has taken a few orchards that way,
and I visited one of the owners the other day, and he said his crop had
doubled since the treatment commenced. He is using, in conjunction
with barnyard manure, commercial fertilizer, and the increase he gets
may be due to that, so that is no sure evidence.

Mr. Leroy wants me to tell about an orchard that had a very bad
ease of puffing in it over at Pomona. A man has thirty acres of
orchard, and right through the center of it has a gravel streak with
cobblestones mostly, and his trees in that part of the orchard dry out
in about two weeks after irrigation. He only irrigates once in thirty
days. J have seen those trees with the leaves all curled. They looked as
though they never would recover. However, they held the fruit, and
when picking time came there were about sixty per cent of the oranges
on those trees that were puffed and cracked—some cracked lengthwise
and at all sorts of angles. That looked like a good evidence of irregular
conditions.

MR. LEROY. I will not take up much more of your time. We only
have one more gentleman to speak. . He needs no introduction to you.
You all know Mr. Bishop, of Orange.

MR. BISHOP. The orchard with which I have had experience was
planted or budded in 1876—that is, the orange trees. The lemon trees
are of a later date. I have considered for a:long time myself that the
eum disease was a constitutional condition, and not an infectious dis-
ease. I can show you scaly bark on the orange tree on all kinds of soil
from black adobe to light sand. I can show the gum disease of the
lemon on all kinds of soil, without an exception. If you find the disease
in a lemon tree before it has advanced very far you can cure it, or stop it
for a considerable time by cutting it out, as you would an ulcer. You
ean do the same with scaly bark if you find it early enough. In a big
seedling orchard where a tree is badly affected with scaly bark, you take
the tree up and plant a new one, and the young tree will have a hard
time to get a start. So we are trying these experiments after having
dug up some trees and having found a magnificent root system with a
hole nearly large enough to bury a horse. By sawing that tree off with

a erosscut saw low enough down so that there was no dark center, the

new sprouts from that would make a good tree, it would make a good
budded tree. We are trying that experiment now upon about fifteen
trees. But if the disease is old enough so that the wood is dark at the
erain, you might as well take it out and start anew. I have dug up a
ten-acre lemon orchard in the last two years that was absolutely ruined
by gum disease before we had sense enough to do anything for it. Now,
IT am planting it anew. I don’t know that it would be of any advantage

to say I am planting it with bitter Seville orange trees, budded twelve
to twenty inches above the surface of the ground. That is the condition.

in which the orchard is being planted.

a2 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. LEROY. As I obtained my information from Mr. Teague, I
am going to ask him a question as to splitting the bark. Can you state
how long ago it was you commenced that method, and what results you
have had?

MR. TEAGUE. First, I would like to disclaim any credit of being
the originator of that method. JI am not. I don’t know who I got it
from. I got it at one of the horticultural meetings. Some one told me
he had gotten the best results by splitting the bark, cleaning away all
the wood, doing nothing, digging around the crown, and applying noth-
ing whatever. That is the method we have followed ever since with very
good results. In our case it has been very effective. We began that
treatment, I think, about five or six years ago.

MR. LEROY. What are the results?

MR. TEAGUE. The results have been excellent wherever we have
taken in time. We have cured hundreds and hundreds of lemons.

MR. LEROY. Mine was entirely on oranges, but Mr. Koethen thinks
it is not curable. I am waiting with a little impatience to see how
mine is coming out.

MR. TEAGUE. There has been gum disease in a good many of those
that have been treated, but they are now apparently healthy.

MR. LEROY. What is your soil, Mr. Teague?

MR. TEAGUE. It varies. It is of a loamy character. It varies
from sandy soil to heavy ground. Our trouble has been entirely upon
that portion of the ground where the grade of the land was so slight
that the trees didn’t receive proper drainage; and as soon as we found
that out we removed the cause, and we had no trouble after that.

MR. LEROY. I think you will all realize from this discussion that
we ought to be very grateful that we have a pathological station that we
can send these questions to that we know nothing,about, and have them
study it up. We have not a chance or the time, and I am very glad that
Professor Smith has that work in charge. The great problem is that
we have these troubles right in the center of our groves that receive
exactly the same care that perfectly healthy trees have. My trouble is
right in the cénter of the grove, and the trees get exactly the same treat-
ment; and as near as we can make out, all the conditions are alike, and
yet this condition exists. That is the great trouble. If Professor Smith
ean find out those things for us, I think we will all be very glad of it.
T am very much obliged to you for your attention. I thank you.

MR. HOLMES. I think Professor Smith is on the right line. I have
found whitewash was just as good as anything else, and the best thing

‘to apply is to take the soil away from the trees. It is the improper con-

a ae

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 93

dition of the soil that causes the trouble. There are two trees with us
which have been diseased for twenty years, and they are no worse than
they were then. There are orchards in our neighborhood that have
twenty per cent disease. I think it is a treatment of the soil, especially
the application of plenty of manure.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Address on the ‘*California Lemon,’’ by
C. C. Teague, and discussion by R. C. Allen.

THE CALIFORNIA LEMON.
By C. C. TEAGUE, or SANTA PAULA.

Perhaps no horticultural business in the State has made such
advances during the past few years as has the lemon business. Only a
few years ago the California lemon was in bad repute in the markets
of the country on account of its poor keeping quality. This was largely
due to ignorance on the part of the grower and shipper as to methods
of growing, handling, curing, and packing, but as greater knowledge
has come, the reputation of California lemons has steadily grown, until
now the established brands are sought after in the markets where they
are known, at prices considerably better than the best grades of foreigns.
As the supply of good California lemons has increased, the Mediter-
ranean lemon has been forced out of the West and Middle West markets,
and its market is gradually narrowing in the Eastern and Atlantic
States. .

The question that many growers are asking themselves is, ‘‘Is there
danger of overproduction on account of the stimulus given to planting
eaused by the high prices of 1905, 1906, and 1907?’’ I think not.
Why? Because the foreign lemon is the controlling factor in the lemon
business. California produced about forty per cent of the lemons
consumed in the United States during 1907. The balance came from
Mediterranean countries. I am of the opinion that the larger the
percentage of lemons produced in the United States is to the lemons
consumed in the United States, the steadier will be the market and the
better will be the average price. I believe that if ninety per cent of the
lemons consumed in the United States came from California, instead
of forty per cent or fifty per cent, that the average price to the average
crower would be better. This conviction is based on the fact that Medi-
terranean countries always seem to have plenty of lemons to supply
our markets, and New York always has had speculators ready to gamble
on the chance of high prices, and always will have, so long as California
ean supply so little of the demand. But it seems to me obvious that
if California produced nearly enough lemons to supply the market,
that it would be evident to the importer and speculator that the lemons
produced here would have to be sold here, and he would see that any
lemons that he brought here that would cause an oversupply would
mean a loss to him. :

Under present conditions, all of the foreigns, representing sixty per.
cent of the consumption, are sold at auction at seaboard points, prin-
cipally New York. This means that these auction sales absolutely
regulate the price of lemons in the United States, as California lemons

G4 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

can only be sold in interior markets for the New York price of foreigns,
plus the freight from New York to these interior markets, and plus the
premium the buyer is willing to pay for the superior quality, honest
packing and grading of the California lemons, which in the latter case,
I am glad to say, is often from fifty cents to one dollar a box. On the
cther hand, the great bulk of California lemons are sold at private
sales by our different marketing agencies to legitimate dealers, and not
‘speculators, the tendency being more and more for the shippers to build
up regular trade with dealers who will look to them for a supply, and
who will order the lemons shipped, instead of depending for their
‘ supply on tramp cars. This means a more even distribution and less
likelihood of glutted markets, and the effect is higher prices. Do not
imagine, however, that the foreigner can be displaced without a fight.

It costs money: to make markets, and if we have a rapidly increasing
production, we shall see some low prices during that time. This, per-
haps, is well illustrated by the market conditions this winter and spring.
The shipments from California, on account of the heavy crop, have
been much heavier than usual, whereas the foreign shipments have been
fully as heavy as usual. This means that lemons have been offered
te the trade faster than they wanted them, and as the foreigner was
here with his usual supply, it meant low prices; but when we shall
have reached the point where we are supplying the greatest part of the
markets of the country, I am confident that it will be better for the
California lemon grower.

If, then, there is room for a greater lemon production, what are the
requisites of success? Careful selection of location is very important.
Jt should be as nearly frostless as possible. I believe that the sections
ranging from twenty to twenty-five miles from the ocean are best
_ adapted to lemon growing, just as the warm inland sections are best for
the orange. These coast sections grow a much higher percentage of
summer lemons, and the fruit is harder and firmer, although the inland
section probably grows smoother fruit. The business, however, is being
successfully engaged in in the inland districts.

Care should be taken in the selection of the soil. It should be loamy
end well drained. Adobe soil is not suitable on account of thé lability
of the tree to gum disease.

A good supply of pure water, comparatively free from alkali. is
necessary.

The selection of the stock for planting is important. If the soil is
loamy and well drained, trees budded on sweet stock will do very well;
but if it is very heavy, or the grade of the land so slight that good
drainage can not be had, by all means plant sour stock, as trees budded
on the latter will be much more resistant to gum disease under unfavor-
able conditions. The buds should come from prolifie trees, producing
good fruit. The Eureka and Lisbon have stood the test of time, as
being the best suited to California conditions. The Eureka begins
bearing earlier, produces more summer fruit, gets its fruit to size
greener, and perhaps is the favorite with the average grower. The
Lisbon, on the other hand, is a fine variety. It grows much larger,
is hardier, more resistant to frost, the fruit smoother-and produces well
as it grows older. .

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 95

The tendency of the lemon tree is to grow sprawly. It should be
pruned so as to grow compact and full of fruit wood, and able to bear
the tremendous load of fruit which it has to carry almost throughout
the year.

The grove must be kept well irrigated, and in an even state of
growth. This insures a smoother, better quality of fruit.

Thorough, deep cultivation is important throughout the summer .
months. If deep cultivation is practiced when the tree is young,
there is no danger of injuring it by deep plowing or cultivating as it
gets older.

Cover cropping should be practiced as the cheapest way of keeping
up the humus content and good mechanical condition of the soil and
of supplying nitrogen. As the tree gets older, it must also be fer-
tilized, as it is impossible to gather from fifteen to twenty-five tons
cf fruit to the acre per year, and continue doing so without returning
something to the soil.

Improper picking and handling fruit is perhaps responsible for more
bad results than any other factor. If time and experience have proven
anything in the lemon business, it is that the fruit must be carefully
handled. It should be picked in as green a state as possible, and still
get the size demanded by the trade. Advanced maturity—in other
words, ripe lemons—means weak fruit and decay. Decay means red
ink. |

The grove must be kept free from insect pests, in order that it,may be
vigorous and thrifty. This can only be done by vigilance; thorough
study of the habits of the numerous insect pests put here for the
entertainment of the citrus grower, and the best methods of keeping
them in subjection.

The same care must be observed in the. packing or curing house
in handling. Lemons should be held in the curing house at least a
month before shipment, so as to eliminate by decay the weak and injured
fruit. During their stay in the house, they must be properly ventilated.
Excessive moisture should be eliminated, and shriveled fruit avoided.
This means careful attention. If held in the house any great length
of time, decays must be removed before getting too soft. Before
shipment, the fruit must be carefully graded, and honestly, and neatly
packed.

I know of nothing that will respond to good care better than a lemon
orchard. About a year and a half ago I purchased a property on
which was a ten-acre lemon grove that had been very badly neglected.
The grove had never been irrigated during the summer months since
planting; the trees had never been pruned or fertilized; neither had any-
thing ever been done for insect pests; neither had it ever had a good eul-
tivation. There was a gopher under almost every tree. You can imagine
the state it was in. I debated in my own mind whether or not it would
not be better to grub the grove out, but decided to give it.a trial, and see
what good care would do for it. I immediately gave it a heavy pruning
and thorough fertilization, cleaned up the insect pests and have kept
it well cultivated and irrigated since. During the first year, the place
netted $1,500 above all expenses of putting it in good condition.
_ It is now full of lemons and bids fair to make a very good grove.

96 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

The trouble with some growers (of course there are none of them
here) is that they are too penurious or too shortsighted to spend enough
inoney to properly care for their groves. Perhaps you will be interested
in the following expense account of my twenty-acre lemon grove, which
produced 18,932 fifty-pound picking boxes during the year of 1907:

Tools and implements, 20 per cent charged off............. $68 54
Prost. plant; labora. Sei eiste pews gon eee eee eee 11 04
Harness, 20 per cent. charged oft... ...2.0.22.. .5eee ee 11 38
Expense, bookkeeping, telephone, office supplies, etc., eee
$25 per month charged to orchard for my management. 662 77
Horse .feed, cost: of ‘same. ui... ¢.2.s a sles os Sis 2 or Peet Deed |
Cultivation ok 2s 5 he bias ole ole ewlane eteiete ae sen 276 38
Picking’ lemons 2:3). 28h Pied. SS SR) er 2,307 66
PMs 9h ss ioe) ed bo meen e be) wo heed ge ais a om 164 45
Trrigating 7.6. h:5 +6, bo eispvie G's Fels wiches aee & oo! alee 363 65
Fertilizing \océ ce os oe Pee Sue he i aie ee 0, eee 545 28
Ota. 3 oe wise ie ns. astescorlcloun'sy io tate ene aeueiie ake Suan $4,662 44

Or $233 per acre.

I have mentioned a few of the most important things. There are
others necessary to success, but if the average grower will follow the
blazed trail, and give the same watchful care and attention to detail
that is given by the average successful business man to his business.
he will succeed.

MR. TEAGUE. Since I wrote that portion in regard to the foreign
lemon, I received a couple of circular letters, which were sent out by
the foreign fruit brokers in New York to the trade throughout the
country, knocking California lemons. These cireulars were sent to
me by one of the dealers handling our lemons, but who has only been
handling them a short time. I would lke to read a short extract which
illustrates the sort of competition we have from the foreigners, and
how much better it would be if we could supply these markets ourselves
and could regulate better :

It is true that California lemons are selling very low, which is due largely to the
condition in which they are arriving, being so bad in a great many cases that they
are not bringing freight charges. In view of the fact that California oranges are
bringing so much more money than the lemons, and the market is steadily advancing
on oranges, it does not seem probable that they would monopolize the time of the help
on lemons, when they can obtain so much more money for the oranges. Therefore, it
would seem most probable that they would divert their attention to the latter. Also
bear in mind that the general condition of the majority of California lemons to be
shipped, being overripe, as advised you before, one can imagine the condition that
they ,will be arriving in a little later on with warm w eather, as it is reasonable to
question that they are not getting any better by remaining on the trees or in store
houses in California.

That is one. Now, here is another:

The past ten days has brought out a considerable change in the Jemon situation.
The buyers generally seem to have little faith in the keeping qualities of the Cali-
fornia product. In fact, the shippers themselves seem to feel the necessity of selling
at any price in order to move them, and many large operators are of the opinion
that when the trade are wise to the situation, that heavy purchases of imported
lemons will cause an immediate and considerable advance in price.

This was sent with this note attached: ‘‘Mr. Teague—Why don’t
vou kill him? The California stock is now killing the Dago. We
bought one car of imported lemons last year, and don’t expect to buy
any this.’’ (Applause.)

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 97

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will now have the pleasure of intro-
during Mr. R. C. Allen.

MR. ALLEN. Mr. Teague has covered this subject so fully that there
is really hardly anything that any one else can say. I will say that last
night, in speaking to Professor Powell, and asking him if he were
likely to continue the same work which he has done for the orange to
the lemon business, he said he thought not, that he thought it didn’t
need it, that it was quite evident that the chief thing needed in the
lemon business is care. Doubtless that is true. But I disagree with him
to this extent, that I think the same thing was realized by people in the
orange business, but the work he forced on them ealled the people’s
attention to it, and they commenced to do something. I think the same
thing is needed in,the lemon business.

GROWING INTEREST IN LEMON CULTURE.
By R. C. ALLEN, or SAN DIEGO.

The lemon industry of California seems, with the present season, to
have entered on-a new phase of its career. First, we had the period,
in common with most of the important fruit crops of this State, when
production was small, and the only competition, that of the imported
fruit, selling at very high prices. This was the time when Mr. Blanchard
of Santa Paula and Mr. Johnson of Santa Barbara organized the lemon
business and made good profits. After this, we had the boom of the
early nineties and large plantings. When these plantings came into
bearing and we had to invade the Eastern markets in order to find
an outlet for the increasing product, methods which had served for
the industry on a small scale had to be modified. There was much
complaint at the poor keeping quality of the California lemon as
compared with the Sicilian.

The general result was little profit to the grower, in many cases
heavy loss, and-soon there was a pretty general budding of lemon to
orange trees. Though some few careful packers succeeded in building
up a good name for their product, in general California lemons had a
bad name. However, improved methods all along the line, in orchard
handling and in the packing house, were putting the better packers and
associations on to the high road to success, when some three or four
years ago a severe frost in Sicily cut off imports to a low figure. Since
then, and up to the present season, the general markets, both summer
and winter, have been so good that there has been no chance of loss,
even for the most careless and inexperienced, though the shrewd and
skillful reaped the largest rewards. Obviously this was a state of
affairs that could not last. but a great and permanent good was
accomplished during the shortage of imports in the introduction of our
California lemon into many new markets, where it has become strongly
intrenched and will not easily be driven out.

Nevertheless, we have plainly reached a’ point where competition is
again to be keen, and where there will be profit only to those who turn
out a good article and build up an established reputation. Nuts, dried
fruit, and, in fact, many of our products sell for what they are—on

7—FGC

95 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

sample—and one man’s is as good as another’s. Not so with the lemon.
It often happens that we see a considerable difference in the price that
a given market will pay for. two cars of practically the same value,
because one has the reputation to sustain it and the other has not.
Therefore, the moral of the present situation is, unremitting effort in
building up and holding such a reputation, for the man who wins
it has something of which he can not be deprived so long as he does
his part.

Of all the important factors that go to build up a reputation, perhaps
the most important is the assurance to the trade of a uniformly good
keeping quality. Mr. Powell’s researches have called attention to the
importance of care in the handling of oranges, and, above all, he has
demonstrated that with it the fruit from districts formerly supposed
tc produce only weak stock can be shipped so as to stand up well. If
the lack of keeping quality is a serious matter with oranges, it is far
more so with lemons, and moreover greater watchfulness and system are
required to insure soundness in them. Not only must the lemon stand
up in transit, but the purchaser may very probably be expecting to
hold his fruit for, several weeks, during the process of distribution. He
naturally buys those brands, even at a considerable premium, which
experience has taught him are reliable, in this matter of keeping after
arrival. |

From another standpoint, soundness in lemons is even more important
than with oranges. Practically our only competitor is Sicily. To win
our markets, we must drive her out. Now Sicily’s stronghold in her
lemons is their excellent keeping quality. While the best brands from
California equal hers in this respect, it is still doubtless true that the
average of the imported fruit excels the average of our California
product in standing up. The weakness of our fruit is the one criticism
which we have to meet from the Eastern trade, and it is the one serious
problem which must be solved if we may expect permanent success.
As I said, this question of decay, important. as it is, is not of such a vital
matter with oranges as with lemons. Our chief competitors there are
Florida, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Jamaica.

The oranges from these districts are poorer keepers than California’s
were, even before the reform of the last two years had cut out so much
cf the decay which we formerly had. The buyer of a California orange
is well satisfied if it arrives sound and holds up long enough for dis--
tribution.

In so far as poor work on the part of the individual packer affects
injuriously the general reputation of California lemons, it is a matter
of concern to all engaged in the industry, whether as packers or growers.
Such work plays directly into the hands of the importers, and we are
all interested in seeing it stop. : |

In spite of some low prices received for our lemons this winter, the
outlook is full of encouragement. We are hardly yet producing one
half of the consumption of the country. Although we are not likely
ever to shut out imports entirely, we ought to supply a far larger
proportion of our home market than we now do. This year’s crop has
shown a sharp increase on any previous one, but it is not likely that
this inerease will: be kept up, for there is no particular enlargement
of acreage, and the larger crop is due to the remarkably favorable con-

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 99

ditions of the last two seasons, an abundance of moisture with no
damaging frosts. Also, the good prices realized have stimulated growers
to take better care of their orchards than formerly. New piantings
are not large in proportion to the total acreage, and before they can
come into bearing it is reasonable to expect that markets will have
grown sufficiently to need all that will be produced.

The lemon business requires an expensive equipment properly to store
and eare for the product during periods of dull markets. Considerable
loss is occasioned each season, and especially the present season, owing
to the increased crop and dull markets, because of failure to supply
this equipment. The large grower, who ships his own fruit, has a
great advantage over the small grower. The circumstances of the case
force him to realize the need for taking care of his product. In fact,
unless the small growers can unite in forming associations, they can
liardly expect to succeed. This. of course, has been done for years in
many localities, and with excellent results, yet in other places the
growers are still groping in the dark, and in such seasons as the present
they become seriously discouraged. In lemons, as in all else, in union
there is strength.

MR. WILLITTS. The reputation of the lemons that Mr. Allen
refers to as having driven foreigners out of the market, was not built
upon the fruit that was taken from the tree while it was yellow. The
practice is now general among the best packers to pack this yellow
fruit under entirely separate brands. Any knowledge that can be
given to the growing of fruit that will mature while it is still green
will do more to advance the reputation of California than anything
else that can be done—even careful handling. It does not matter how
carefully you handle yellow lemons, you can’t make them keep very
Jong. Mr. Rumsey said we had been neglecting oranges for lemons,
but large concerns have oranges and lemons both; and in the winter,
when lemons are growing fastest, we get a rain, and people can’t get
snto the orchards to pick for a few days. Then, instead of picking the
lemons that are getting yellow, they pick the oranges, and the lemons
are neglected, and by and by they come in yellow and go on to the
market, and those are the ones that come up against the foreign lemons,
in the circular that Mr. Teague read. It is not the fault of the lemons;
it is the fault of the growers. We grow lemons here that will keep
as well as any lemons grown on earth. Mr. Powell has called the
ettention of the growers to such things, as well as careful handling,
and it will probably be as well received as has been his work in the
eranges.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now. Prof. E. J. Wickson will talk to
you upon the ‘‘University Farm School.”’

LOO THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

THE UNIVERSITY FARM SCHOOL.
By PROF. EH. J. WICKSON, or BERKELEY.

I can not say how much I regret that Judge Shields is not here with
his address, because I was trusting to him to give the philosophy of
the undertaking and to make the exhortation for its support. He
has been in this undertaking from the beginning; he has been a
promoter of it; he has very clear ideas of the service that it can
render ; and I was trusting wholly to him to present that very important
phase of the matter, the discussion simply to consist of some very easily
stated information, which might follow the impressive statement which
I expected him to ‘make, How ever, we have to take this simply with
the information—the philosophy is out of it.

It is obvious to any one who attends meetings of agriculturists in
California, how keen the demand among all lines of agricultural pro-
ducers in California is for two things: first, research, and second.
instruction. The demand for research in agricultural lines is broader
and sharper than it ever was before in California, and it is producing
some most gratifying results, such, for instance, as the result of the
studies of Mr. Powell and his associates, which came about, as we were
told this morning, on the initiative of the fruit producers of this district
and the strong appeals they made to the Washington department for
such studies as Mr. Powell can make.

About the same demand for research resulted in the establishment of
the laboratory for plant diseases at Whittier, and the special citrus
experiment station at Riverside, both of which are parts of the agri-
eultural department of the University.

In addition to these demands for research, there are demands for
instruction—the very clear demand that the Agricultural Department
of the University be outfitted for more satisfactory instruction in
practical agriculture. They conceded to us, largely on the basis of
Professor Hilgard’s excellent work for a generation, a certain standing
and leadership in research, and certain discoveries in agricultural
science which were of great value to the State; but they very wisely said
your outfit for practical instruction in agriculture is not worth talking
about, and they didn’t talk about it much, except to say how bad it was,
but went directly to the State, and made this first great provision for
the improvement of the facilities for practical instruction in agriculture
for the Agricultural College at Berkeley, by the passage of a law pro-
viding for the purchase of a University Farm, and for the equipment
of that farm for demonstration purposes, and equipment also for
instructional purposes. That is how it all came about, and it is only
the beginning as yet.

The State appropriated something like a quarter of a million to buy
a farm and to outfit it with buildings and equipment of different kinds.
Then M. Theodore Kearney gave the University property valued at
perhaps three quarters of a million—perhaps a million—for the same
general purpose, that is, better provision for research and experiment,
and, above all, a better provision for instruction in practical agriculture.

Now, I shall simply say a few things about the outfit which the
State bought for us, and which is situated practically at the town

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 101

of Davisville, in Yolo County, thirteen miles from the Capitol at
Sacramento. The farm is right near the railroad, and any one can get
off at the depot and walk over to it. The farm comprises 780 acres,
and the ground is practically flat. Sites have been chosen for the
instructional buildings, the livestock pavilion, which will seat about
four hundred people and admit of the showing of animals, and the
ereamery building. The creamery building is a regular commercial
creamery, capable of handling the milk of several hundred cows. It
is to be run as a commercial creamery on commercial principles, and
at the same time serve for instructional purposes. It will be very
complete; will be equipped for the handling of both butter and cheese
in aecordance with the latest approved commercial methods. Of course,
we don’t expect to keep on the farm enough cows to produce milk for
that creamery, but will buy milk from the surrounding farmers, and
will run it on a large scale as a producing creamery.

We have a water supply from a deep well, with a water tower holding
a 25,000-gallon tank, about sixty feet in the air. This gives pressure
in these different buildings, and also gives us an opportunity for out-
look. The farm is so depressingly flat that the only place we could
get any point of view was by the construction of a tower of that sort,
which serves for a water tower and is necessary. There will be car-
penter shops and blacksmith shops, which are for farm use and
instruction also. There will be a modern dairy farm, capable of holding
about one hundred animals, old and young. There are four dormitories
of fifty rooms each, with a dining-room and kitchen. Ultimately, we
expect to have accommodations for not less than two hundred pupils.

There are ditches to irrigate the orchard and vineyard, and also
about 100 acres of alfalfa in one body and 30 acres or so in another
piece. The farm is very large, and the view is imposing. The creek
carries water, and a portion of it is nicely timbered with a fine growth
of native trees. The country is so flat and no drainage provided
naturally, that we have been. obliged to put in a thoroughly modern
system of drainage, consisting of proper conveyances to septic tanks
and pumps from the septic tanks into the valley. This sewage is said
to be perfectly harmless after going through the septic tanks, and we
propose to make experiments on sewage irrigation for the purpose of
testing out different kinds of eucalyptus trees and to determine how far
eucalyptus growth can be used for the disposal of purified sewage in
connection with a great many of the drainage problems of the valley.

There is an old vineyard, part of which we are retaining. In all
probability this will ultimately be planted as a park, and some educa-

‘tional buildings erected there as they are needed.

We are putting up now structures that we consider to be practicable
for the farm. They are the sort of thing that ought to be on every large
farm. If the State requires ultimately that more pretentious educa-
tional buildings be placed there, we are saving the more prominent
places for them.

We have been delayed in the ae of the structures on this farm.
This has been more disappointing to us than to any one else. There
were great difficulties about building. This thing came upon us right
after the earthquake. One time, when bids were advertised for, there
was only one bidder, so we have had some difficulty about the designing

102 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

and construction of the building. But now nearly everything that
we expect to be able to build with the present appropriation is under
way. We are planning for the opening of instruction in September.
and expect to have things ready by that time. Instruction will
begin on October 5th, with the dairy course, running from October 5th
to November 25th—the dairy school and irrigation; cereals and soil,
October 12th to October 31st; poultry husbandry, October 12th to
October 20th; animal husbandry and veterinary practice, October 21st
to November 18th; horticulture and viticulture, November 4th to
November 25th. That is the course as laid down at present. The
school will be open to any one who wishes to take instruction in those
lines or any one of them. One can stay the whole time, or stay for a
single course—any one over seventeen years of age, without examina-
tion. We intend it to be a practical course for any one who is interested
in agriculture.

Of course this is only a beginning. As soon as the dormitory is com-
pleted we will have accommodations for receiving pupils as they come
from the grammar schools. ‘The idea is to take those who wish agri-
cultural instruction at the end of the grammar school course, so that
it will be a substitute for the regular high school course. Also, there
will be an opportunity for those who are taking the regular course in
Berkeley, the four-year course, to spend one half year, or possibly one
year, on the farm, taking the practical work, after having gone through
the laboratory and lecture work at Berkeley. So, you see, we plan
to open this instruction to every one from the one who has finished
the grammar school to the one who wants to substitute it for his high
school work, and to the University regular graduate who wishes to put
one quarter of his time in practical instruction, and then beyond that,
we will have postgraduate study and research, and we expect to furnish
ample opportunity for such things. I thank you.

(At this time an adjournment was taken until Thursday, April 30,
1908, at 9: 80 o’clock A. Mo.)

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 103

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRD DAY.

Tuurspay, April 30, 1908, 9:30 o’clock A. M.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We have a little business to transact this
morning. As you know, it is customary to have a committee on resolu-
tions, and that committee will be composed of active men willing to
work. Sometimes the President appoints that committee without any
authority, but I would like to have your authority this morning, if you
choose, to provide for the appointment of the committee on resolutions.
I would like a motion to that effect.

MR. CUTTER. I move that a committee of three on resolutions be
appointed by the Chair.
Motion carried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will appoint A. V. Stubenrauch, C. B.
Messenger, and H. ©. Rowley. Mr. Geo. H. Cutter and Mr. C. C.
Chapman will advise with that committee. All resolutions will, be
referred to the committee, unless some member desires to bring a
ian before the house. We will now hear from Mr. R. 8. Woglum

‘Investigations of Hydrocyanie Acid Gas.’’ I will say that Mr.
psa represents the Department of Agriculture. An appropriation
of $10,000 was made nearly two years ago for investigating the use of
remedies for orchard pests. Mr. Woglum was selected by the depart-
ment for this work. He has been at work nearly a year, and about
the first of January Mr. Maskew was taken away from me by the
department—a very common thing, by the way—and given work jointly
with Mr. Woglum, the latter being in charge, and Mr. Maskew his
local assistant. I secured the privilege from the Department of Agri-
culture to have these young men make some advance statements to you
in regard to what they may have discovered. I take pleasure in
introducing Mr. Woglum.

INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF HYDROCYANIC ACID GAS
IN FUMIGATING CITRUS TREES.

By R. S. WOGLUM, or THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

In July, 1907, the speaker was detailed by the Assistant Chief of
the United States Bureau of Entomology to proceed to Southern Cali-
fornia for the purpose of commencing a scientific investigation of the
use of hydrocyanic acid gas in the destruction of injurious scale pests
of the citrus. Arriving in Los Angeles during the last days of that
month, consultation was held with the Hon. J. W. Jeffrey, the president
of this meeting, who, it is well known, assisted materially in bringing
about this investigation, and whose interest in the subject was naturally
great. :

104 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In order to secure a comprehensive and at the same time thorough
knowledge of the distribution of the different citrus pests in this great
Southern California citrus belt, as well as to determine the extent to
which fumigation is practiced, and its efficacy in different districts, the
months of August, September, and October were spent in examining
citrus groves from Santa Barbara to Chula Vista, including the counties
of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside,
Orange, and San Diego.

Much information of value relative to our subject was secured during
these travels, and the hearty codperation advanced, as well as services
rendered by the various county horticultural commissioners, county
inspectors, and fruit growers with whom I came in contact, made my
travels indeed a path of pleasure as well as of duty. The earnestness
of these men in their duties, together with their broad knowledge of
their profession, easily explains why the horticulture of Southern Cali-
fornia has reached its present high degree of perfection.

The prevalence of noxious seale pests throughout this southern citrus
belt (with few exceptions, notably that of interior San Bernardino
County), and their subsequent effect on the tree and fruit, demand the
attention of the fruit grower who would make his crop a most success-
ful one. The recent researches in fruit transportation, conducted by Mr.
G. H. Powell, of the United States Bureau of Plant Industry, inform
us that the percentage of decay in shipment is greater in washed than
unwashed fruit, all other factors being equal. To obviate the necessity
of washing leads to the introduction of fruit into the packing honse in
a clean condition. This can be accomplished largely through the control
of those scale pests which cause the dirty fruit.

There are three methods most commonly resorted to in this State for
the control of the scale pests of the citrus. These are fumigation, spray-
ing, and beneficial insects. It is unnecessary for us to mention the
efficacy of each of these different practices—suffice to say, that fumi-
cation has come to be relied upon far more generally in Southern
California than any other one practice. Since its discovery in 1887,
fumigation with hydrocyanie acid gas has grown so greatly in fayor
that to-day it is generally practiced in all the more important seale-
infested districts of Southern California, as well as in other parts of
the world. Hand in hand with the widespread use of this gas, an
evolution of fumigation methods and equipment has taken place. The
cumbersome apparatus of the earlier days has dropped into disuse, and
been replaced by simplified forms.

In the first dosage system published, that of Morse. in 1887, dosage
was estimated in proportion to the height of the tree, being based
apparently on the contents or space represented when the tree was
enclosed by a tent. For a tree 6 feet high Morse gave the equivalent
of -1 ounce of cyanide; for a tree 20 feet high the equivalent of 36
ounces. His dosage throughout for trees from 6 feet in height to those
20 feet in height averaged practically 34 of an ounce of cyanide per
hundred cubic feet space enclosed.

In 1888 Coquillett gave forth his dosage system, which also applied
to trees from 6 to 20 feet in height. The dosage throughout this table,
as has been determined by computation, was so calculated as to pro-
duce a gas of practically the same strength for large trees as for small.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 105

In this respect he agreed with Morse. His dosage, however, was some-
what greater than Morse’s, being at the rate of practically 1 ounce of
cyanide per hundred cubic feet enclosed space.

In 1891 Alexander Craw proposed a dosage system. Trees 6 feet
high were given 1 ounce of cyanide, 8 feet high 2 ounces, 10 feet high
3 ounees, and so on, the largest trees mentioned, 30 feet high, receiving
14 ounces. This dosage table was probably scheduled without regard
as to what the volumetric measurement of trees of the dimensions given
actually was. From a computation of the volumetric values of trees
from 6 to 30 feet in height, and a comparison of these volumes with
the dosage scheduled, we find that for trees 6 feet high the dosage
was at the rate of 114 ounces of cyanide per hundred cubic feet.
As the trees became larger the rate decreased, until for trees 30 feet
high the rate was but slightly more than 14 of an ounce per hundred
cubic feet. Hence, from this schedule, the gas would be six times as
concentrated or strong for the 6-foot tree as in case of the 30-foot.

A dosage table in the ‘‘ Rural Californian,’’ which was considered so
excellent as to be placed in Professor Johnson’s book, ‘‘ Fumigation
Methods,’’ the most extensive practical treatise on fumigation in print,
was carefully examined. In this table a tree 6 feet high is given 14
of an ounce of cyanide; one 30 feet high 814 ounces; with trees of
intermediate size receiving a dosage between these limits. A normal
shaped orange tree 6 feet high enclosed in a tent represents about
70 eubie feet: one 30 feet high represents practically 8,375 cubic feet.
From this fact we see that in this particular table the tree 6 feet high
would be receiving practically seven tenths of an ounce of cyanide per
hundred eubie feet. whereas the tree 30 feet high would be receiving
but one tenth of an ounce of cyanide per hundred cubic feet. This
results that the gas for the 6-foot tree would be seven times as strong
as for the 30-foot tree.

Analyses of other dosage tables, with a single exception, show a
non-proportionate variation of dosage usually as great as in those
already mentioned, and in some cases even greater. In brief, a com-
parative analysis of the dosage systems proposed by fumigation experts
in the past reveals that no two are in exact accord as to what amount
of cyanide should be used for a tree of given size.. The range of this
amount with different authorities is indeed great, some using for a
certain sized tree as much as ten times the dosage that others use. And
this is not all, for not only do these authorities disagree with each other,
but many of them have displayed lack of uniformity in their individual
tables.

Can we wonder, then, that to this chaotic condition of fumigation
_ dosage the practical fumigator fails to resort? What satisfaction would
he receive were he to turn to it for assistance? None, but rather per-
plexity. The problem has resolved itself into the fumigator’s de-
termining his own dosage from practical experience and results secured.
Tf he fail to destroy the scale on a 6-foot tree in using one ounce of
cyanide, he increased his dosage for the next 6-foot tree, and so on.
He has also gradually learned that the dosage required to destroy
some scales must be stronger than that for others.

Most fumigators have worked out their own dosage individually,
and consequently the dosage used -by some fumigators differs notice-

stay eon oe ee

i) Wie a ee

:
(

106 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ably from that in practice with others. The estimation of dosage in
use to-day is entirely guesswork. Measurements of trees are made
by the eye, consequently successful results depend largely upon the uni-
formity of the estimator’s eyesight, supported by his experience in
fumigation. Under this system of guesswork, however, the results
secured by some fumigators has been most excellent; by others, not
as satisfactory as could be desired.

Having grasped the exact situation of the present system, it was
realized that one of the very first problems before this investigation
was the establishment of a basis upon which to build up a fumigation
dosage with accuracy and definiteness. The only way in which to
obtain this end is through the determination of the cubical contents
of the space enclosed by the fumigating tent, and dosing the tree in
proportion tq the contents. In our work, measurements are made
over the top of the tent and around the bottom. With these measure-
ments we are able to determine immediately, and with some degree
of accuracy, the cubical contents enclosed by the tent, using therefor
caleulation tables which we have invented.

For the generation of hydrocyanic acid gas, as used in fumigation,
potassium cyanide, sulphuric acid and water are used. The hydrocyanic
acid gas is derived from the action of the sulphuric acid on the eyanide
of potassium. The water does not enter into the reaction, but is present
merely to assist it.

A brand of cyanide manufactured by the Roessler & Haaslacher
Company, which is used quite universally in Southern California,
has been employed in our work. The cyanide has so far proven
entirely satisfactory.

In the production of hydrocyanic acid gas we have been using the
required chemicals at the rate of cyanide of potassium 1 part, sul-
phurie acid 1 part, water 3 parts. The water is first measured, then
poured into the generator, which is placed beneath the tented tree.
The acid is then introduced, followed immediately by the dry, lumps
of eyanide. Chemical combinations take place with definiteness; that
is, when one chemical reacts on another in the production of a third
substance, the proportion of these first two chemicals which enter
into the reaction is always the same. Such is the résult in the action
of sulphuric acid on potassium cyanide. A quotation from a letter
received from Mr. J. K. Haywood, of the United States Bureau of
Chemistry, serves well to illustrate this pomt: ‘“‘In the reaction of
commercial sulphuric acid on potassium cyanide, for every part of
potassium cyanide 34 part of sulphuric acid is used up. According
to this, 34 part of sulphuric acid is all that is theoretically needed to
convert 1 part of potassium cyanide to hydrocyanic acid. Since it
is always best to have some excess of the acid to carry the reaction to
completion, the ratio of 1 part of acid to 1 part of cyanide is about
correct. In using 114 parts of acid to 1 part of cyanide there is an
entire waste of 14 part of acid. It does no good and should not be
used.’ :

As a further illustration of this point, allow me to mention the
result of some tests made along this line. It was desired to determine
by experiment if equal parts of acid to cyanide were sufficient to carry

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 107

the reaction to completion in the liberation of hydrocyanie acid gas.
For this test two series of generators were placed in line. In one
series equal parts of acid and cyanide were used; in the other series

114 parts of acid to one of cyanide were used. Three parts of water

were used in all cases. The amounts of cyanide used ranged from 1
to 10 ounces; that is, in one generator was placed 1 ounce of cyanide,
1 ounce of sulphuric acid and 3 ounces of water; in another of the
same series, 2 ounces of cyanide, 2 of acid and 6 of water, and so on
in the same proportion up to 10 ounces. The second series was identical

with the first, except for the use of 14 more acid than cyanide. After

generation had taken place for about an hour and a half an examination
was made of the residue. In the first series, in which equal parts of
acid and cyanide were used, the residue was in the form of a lquid.
In the second series, in which 114, times as much acid as cyanide was
used, the residue in several plots had collected in a mushlike mass.

Puzzled at first over this phenomenon, and in order to ascertam if

eyanide still remains unchanged in the residue, sulphuric acid was
added, but without further evolution of gas. This at once dem-
onstrated that all the available cyanide had been digested. Residue
from some of these vessels was sent to Washington for analysis. The
analysis showed that the reaction was as complete where equal
parts of acid and cyanide were used as where 114 parts of acid to
1 of cyanide were used, and in all cases the reactions were as satis-
factory as could be desired. Of all the samples of residue analyzed,
in no case did the amount of cyanide lost exceed 2 per cent. In sub-
mitting the result of this analysis, Dr. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau
of Chemistry wrote: ‘‘The amount of cyanide present in these samples
is so small that it does not indicate to us incompleteness of reaction,
but rather indicates the amount of hydrocyanic acid dissolved in the
water. This view of the case is strengthened by the fact that increas-
ing the amount of sulphuric acid in the cases above has not decreased
the amount of cyanogen present in the residue. From our work, there-
fore, we are of the opinion that the same amount of sulphuri¢ acid as
potassium cyanide is a plenty to carry the reaction to completion.’’
Thus, we have determined that equal parts of sulphuric acid to
potassium cyanide is sufficient for a complete reaction. The adoption of
three parts of water was entirely arbitrary. In all our work no injury

to the tree has resulted in the use of three parts of water, therefore we

see no reason for increasing the amount. Whether the amount can be
decreased or not with safety we hope to determine during our future
work.

But why in the experiment just mentioned did the residue of gener-
ators in which 114 parts of acid were used congeal, while that of those
generators in which equal parts of acid and cyanide were used remain
entirely in liquid form? Let me explain. When sulphuric acid acts on
potassium cyanide, hydrocyanic acid, a gas, and potassium sulphate, a
solid, are formed. If enough water is present, the potassium sulphate

dissolves so that no residue is left. This is what happened when equal .

parts of acid and cyanide were used. When, however, 44 more acid
than cyanide is used there is an excess of acid. The potassium sulphate

is not as soluble in water containing this excess acid as it is in water

alone, hence it partly crystallizes out.

108 THIRTY-FOURTH\ FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

The congealing of pots is commonly spoken of by fumigators as
freezing. This freezing is, I believe, usually attributed by them to be
due to the presence of an insufficient amount of acid to transform all
the cyanide of potassium which was placed in the generator. Such.
however, is not the ease. |

I have just explained how excess of acid in the residue will precip-
itate potassium sulphate. Now, let me take up another and very im-
portant consideration, the reason for using water in the generation of
hydrocyanie acid gas. I previously mentioned that water did not
enter in the chemical reaction. Then, why is it used? In the first place,
water is used to dissolve the potassium cyanide, as the reaction is more
complete when the cyanide is in solution than when it is in the solid
condition. A piece of cyanide thrown into a mixture of acid and water
directly gives up some of its mass in solution. Seareely has the cyanide
passed into solution when it is transformed partly into gas. The heat
hberated during this process assists in causing more to hastily pass into
solution which is also immediately transformed. This continues until
the reaction stops. In addition to this, water dissolves the potassium
sulphate formed and so prevents it from coating the potassium eyanide.
In the presence of an insufficient amount of water the potassium sul-
phate forms a coating around the pieces of eyanide, which retards, or
even in part prevents, the reaction. In such cases this undissolved sul-
phate usually congeals and causes the freezing of the pots. Hence it
is desirable to add water enough to dissolve the sulphate of potassium.
Experiment has demonstrated to us that the chemistry of the reaction
will not allow us to use less than two parts of water if we wish to avoid
frozen generators within the time of exposure in common practice.
The water also acts with the acid to furnish the degree of heat neces-
sary to bring about a rapid liberation of the hydrocyanie acid gas.

During the month of November experiments were undertaken at
Orange, California, to determine the dosage required for the destruction
of the purple scale in all its stages, as well as to determine the effect
of different lengths of exposure on results secured. dn the first experi-
ment the length of exposure was 30 minutes. .In this experiment a
series of tests was employed to determine the effect of different strengths
cf dosage. These tests were accomplished in the following manner:
One series of trees were dosed at the rate of 34 of an ounce of cyanide
per hundred cubic feet of space enclosed by the tent: a second series
was dosed at the rate of 1 ounce per hundred eubie feet; a third series
at the rate of 114 ounces per hundred cubic feet, and so on, inereas-
ing the dosage of each succeeding series at the rate of 14 of an ounce
per hundred eubic feet. The highest dosage used was 214 ounees per
hundred eubie feet. A second experiment was performed which was
the exact counterpart of the first in all respects, except that the time
of exposure was 60 minutes instead of 30. A third experiment was
performed agreeing in all respects with the first two, except in length
of exposure, which was 114 hours. |
. From the data secured from each of these experiments one would
expect to be able to determine the killing dosage of the purple seale,
provided the killing dosage ranged between the different strengths of
dosage employed... To insure that the dosage sought would fall within
the scope of our schedule the limits were made very broad. From the

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 109

difference in strength of killing dosage between these three experiments
we would be able to determine the effect of length of exposure on the
results secured.

To obviate as much as possible the factor of leakage of tents which
would vary in covering trees of different sizes, trees of as uniform size
as we could obtain were used. For the first two experiments the con-
tents of the trees were of no great variation, the tree running between
11 and 14 feet in height. Our first two experiments, however, consumed
most of the larger trees, so that for the third experiment we were com-
pelled to utilize what remained. The trees of this third experiment
were consequently somewhat variable in size, and noticeably smaller
for the most part than those of the first two experiments. The infesta-
tion of scale was severe on many of the trees.

During the latter part of January, an examination of the results of
these experiments was made. Fully two weeks were devoted to this
examination during which thousands of purple scales were examined.
The method was a very careful one. In all cases. the scales were over-
turned and examined with a powerful hand lens. In those instances in
which the entire contents of the scale were not at once revealed, the
delicate ventral scale was ruptured, and the contents scraped out.
Through this way not a single egg could escape observation. Examin-
ing the results of the experiment of 30 minutes’ exposure we found
live adult females on the branches, leaves, and fruit at the dosage of
84 of an ounce per hundred cubic feet. Above that dosage all insects
were killed on the leaves and the branches. On the fruit, however, some
still survived at 1 ounce per hundred cubic feet, but were killed at all
streneths above. The immature insects were all destroyed by the
smallest dosage used. Healthy eggs were found on the leaves, and on
the branches up to the rate of 134 ounces, but were destroyed by all
heavier dosages. On the fruit, however, only the dosage rate of 21%
ounces proved a complete success. This experiment would lead to the
conclusion that for normal shaped orange trees from 11 to 14 feet high
and above, exposed to gasing for 30 minutes, a dosage at the rate of
2 ounces per hundred cubic feet will destroy the purple scale in all its
stages on the leaves and on the branches. If the tree contain fruit
infested with scale, it is necessary to increase the dosage rate to 214
ounces to accomplish the same result.

The second experiment, which had an exposure of 60 minutes,
showed that all insects on the leaves and the branches were destroyed
by the dosage rate of 34 of an ounce. No live insects were found on
the fruit examined, but inasmuch as a very small amount of sealy fruit
was available throughout this experiment, we are inclined to leave the
effect on the fruit incomplete until further experimentation has been
done. A dosage of 11% ounces and above destroyed all eggs on the
leaves and the branches. In the small amount of fruit examined, many
instances of healthy eggs were found in the 34 and 1-ounce tests. In
the 114 and 134-ouncee tests a single case of healthy eggs was observed
in each instance. In the 2-ounce test all eggs were destroyed on the
fruit. This experiment would lead to the conclusion that for normal
shaped orange trees. from 11 to 14 feet in height and above, exposed
te gasing for one hour, a dosage at the rate of 114 ounces per hundred

110 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

eubie feet will destroy the purple scale in all its stages on the leaves
and wood. If the tree to be fumigated contain fruit infested with
seale, it will be necessary to increase the dosage somewhat. The extent
of this increase can not be stated with definiteness from this one experi-
ment, due to the small amount of material available from which to
secure data. This point will be determined in future investigations.
From a comparison of the destroying dosage of the purple seale in all
its forms on the leaves of trees exposed 30 minutes with those of trees
exposed 60 minutes, we find that in using the longer length of exposure
the dosage can be decreased markedly.

In the third experiment, the 90-minute exposure, a very small amount
of fruit was available in the majority of the tests, so we will confine
our attention entirely to the effect on the leaves and branches, which
were more or less infested on every tree. At the 34-ounce dosage rate
we found a few live insects. ‘Healthy eggs were present in all cases up
to the 2-ounce dosage rate. At this and above, all eggs were destroyed.
In experiment two we found that a 114-ounce dosage rate destroyed
all eggs on the leaves. How do we account for the fact that on these
trees which were exposed 30 minutes longer than those-.of experiment
two it requires 14 of an ounce more cyanide per hundred cubic feet to’
accomplish complete destruction of the insect in all its stages? The
conditions under which the trees were fumigated were practically the
same in both experiments. The chemicals used were the same. The
difference was this: The trees of the 90-minute experiment were much
smaller than those of the 60-minute one. There was more leakage sur-
face of tent per cubic foot space enclosed in the smaller trees of the
90-minute tests than in the larger trees of the 60-minute tests. We
know that a leakage of gas takes place through the tent. How much we
do not know, and this is one of the points we hope to work out in the
future. As the proportion of leakage must be greater in the small than
in the large tents, necessarily the gas will become weakened sooner in
the smaller tented space than in the larger. We attribute the difference
of results as secured in the 60 and 90-minute experiments due to the
factor leakage.

Let me give a practical demonstration and I think you will agree with
me. <A tree 5 feet high by 4 feet in diameter, when covered by a tent,
represents, approximately, 54 cubic feet of space. The exposed surface
of the tent is, approximately, 63 square feet. A tree 20 feet high by 16
feet in diameter represents practically 3,484 cubic feet. The exposed sur-
face area of a tent covering this 20-foot tree is practically 1,005 square
feet. In the 5-foot tree there are 1.16 square feet of leakage surface to
each cubic foot of space enclosed. In the 20-foot tree there is but .20 of
a square foot of leakage surface to each cubic foot of space enclosed.
The layer of gas in contact with the tent is naturally the first to escape.
Suppose that after the hydrocyaniec acid gas had become uniformly dis-
tributed throughout each of the tents covering these two trees that a
layer of this gas in contact with the tents an inch deep was to escape in
30 minutes. In the 5-foot tree this layer would represent 5.2 cubic feet;
in the 20-foot tree 8334 eubie’ feet. This 5.2 cubic feet of the smaller
tree would mean that 9 per cent of the total gas within had escaped,
whereas in the larger tree the 8334 cubic feet would mean that only
2 per cent of its gas had been lost. In other words, this would signify

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 111

that the leakage per unit volume would be more than four times as
great for the small tree as for the large.
- Summing up these experiments against purple scale we find:

1. That the scale is as easily destroyed on the branches as on the
leaves; at least where the scales are not so thickly clustered as to
overlap.

2. That it is more difficult to destroy the scale on the fruit than on
the leaves and branches.

3. That an exposure for 60 minutes gives decidedly better results

than for 30 minutes.

’ 4. That a dosage of 114 ounces per hundred cubic feet at 60 minutes’
exposure will destroy all purple scale life on the leaves and wood of
normal shaped orange trees, from 11 to 14 feet high and upwards.

5. That the leakage of gas for small trees is greater than for large,
and they consequently require a dosage somewhat greater in proportion
to their contents.

Other experiments relative to this investigation have been com-
pleted. The results of these experiments, however, are so closely con-
nected, and in part dependable on more elaborate determination, that
they could not be given at present with the degree of definiteness
desired; in fact, conclusions drawn from the paucity of material at
hand might lead to error, therefore we will refrain.

During our future work we hope to bring to a state of perfection,
not only the dosage system for the purple scale, but also for the red and
black scales. This question of leakage of tents we hope to settle. The
possible difference of dosage required near to and remote from the
ocean will be looked into, as well as many other points too numerous to
mention.

In our work, we have had at hand all the necessary apparatus. The
one thing that we do ask of the fruit growers is the privilege of experi-
menting in their orchards. Although scale insects are broadly dis-
tributed in Southern California, it is not always an easy matter to find
immediately trees in a condition best suited to our experimental desires.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Woglum was State Entomologist of
Georgia, and Mr. Maskew has been here so long that we call him a
native, and he will introduce some further facts upon fumigation.

MR. MASKEW. The programme states that I am to conduct the
discussion of the paper that has just been read, and I am going to try
te adhere to the text of the programme. This is an entirely new
departure in conventions, originated by our honorable Chairman for the
purpose of reviewing the papers that have been read, bringing out the
salient points in order, making the most of them in the time allowed for
them, and also answering any questions that you may see fit to bring
up. Therefore I shall not attempt to discuss the question myself, but
shall call upon gentlemen who are known to be experts.

One of the first points in the paper that you have just heard read
is that the speaker called attention to the fact that he had been in-
structed to proceed from Washington to California. There must have
been a very strong reason to cause the department to send this expert

12 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

to California, and I am going to ask a gentleman who was intimately
associated with the reasons which brought about that cause to tell you
just why it happened. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to present
to you Mr. Strong, for many years horticultural commissioner of Los
Angeles County. This gentleman was the first, to my knowledge, who
had _ sufficient moral courage to break away from the old orthodox
traditions of fumigation, and it is a pleasure to me to think that I was
associated with him. Incidentally. I might tell you the result of that
experiment was a complete success.

MR. STRONG. About three years ago, Mr. Jeffrey and I were on
the horticultural commission of Los Angeles County. We were having
a good deal of trouble with fumigators and with fumigation. I had
studied it, so had Mr. Jeffrey. We had got to a point where we came to
the conclusion that neither one of us knew anything about it. So we
knew of no better method of finding out something about hydrocyanic
acid gas than to ask the Department of Agriculture to take it up and
make a thorough investigation. So Mr. Jeffrey wrote to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, asking them to send men out here and take up the
scientific part of the work. We could kill the seale all right, but we
didn’t know why we killed it. We didn’t know what dosage was
required; we didn’t know whether we were wasting the cyanide, or
what we were doing; we didn’t know whether there was too much leak-
age in the tent, or whether there was any; we didn’t know the desired
time, the amount, or the length of time that a tree should be covered.
So we got the Department of Agriculture to take it up. We got Senator
Flint, also Congressman McLachlan, to work to that end, and they did.
The result was that a year ago last winter they secured an appropriation
to carry on the work, and Mr. Woglum was sent out here to take it up.
I am glad that he has progressed as well as he has. but still there is
plenty of room for him to go ahead. I am very much in sympathy with
the work, and hope it will be successful all the way through.

MR. MASKEW. Now. we will come to the next point in the paper.
and that is the question of dosage. There are fumigators who are
gifted with the ability to estimate accurately the dimensions of a tree.
and they have achieved almost marvelous results. But they are very
few, and you will all agree with me that it is absolutely impossible for
those few gentlemen to fumigate all the trees in Southern California.
What is still more important, this gift is not knowledge, and they ean
not transmit it to others. Therefore, we set ourselves to work to give
vou a dosage based on scientific principles. And now I am gomg to
ask Mr. Goodrich, the horticultural inspector of Ontario, to tell you
something about the vagaries of dosage. I had the pleasure of going
through the orchards in his district, and the splendid condition in
which they are convinces me that he must have had quite an experience
in fumigating in the past.

MR. GOODRICH. It seems strange to me that I should be called
upon to speak upon dosage here, when Mr. Woglum, who has the scien-
tific principles worked out, is unable to give you a dosage that he can
guarantee will kill your scale. I have had experience in fumigating

ae

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. pels

only during the last five years. I have found with small doses I could ©

not kill the scale, so I kept increasing the doses until we have had some
degree of success. In killing red scale, we used double the amount of
eyanide and acid that we do on the black seale. On a tree eleven to
fourteen feet high, for the black scale dose, I should use in the neighbor-
hood of nine ounces of cyanide, and for a red scale tree I would put on
eighteen ounces of cyanide. But, of course, we don’t know to an exact
nicety the number of cubic feet. We never have measured our trees.
We have been working under the county’s supervision, and the county
dosage runs from one and a half to double the amount of the ordinary
dosage used by contractors, and I think that is the reason why we have
gotten better results.

MR. MASKEW. Ladies and Gentlemen: There has been great diffi-
culty in the past in accomplishing satisfactory results in Orange County.
Mr. Camfield has been associated with that work, and he ean bring out
the difficulties they have met there.

MR. CAMFIELD. The dosage that has been applhed in Orange
County is as heavy as has been appled anywhere in exterminating or
trying to exterminate the purple and red scale. We first tried a double
dose, gave them all they would stand in one charge, and then in 30 min-
utes put another charge in. We found we were not getting results in
that way. We found that the one heavy dosage would do the same work
by leaving the tents on an hour; and I also found where the work was
done under my supervision by the county tents, applying a big dosage,
we were getting better results than from private fumigators. On in-
vestigating the private fumigator’s work, I found that where there was
more than one private fumigator in the district, they had to compete
with the others, and in order to get the work, had to do it cheaper and
buy less material and put less on. In some eases, the grower could buy
the material, but he didn’t know whether it was put on or whether it
was stolen in the night. That was the trouble years ago in Orange
County, I am sorry to say, where they were competing for the work so
closely and keenly. They had to do it for almost nothing in order to get
the work, consequently there was no good work done.

In resurrecting the fumigation question three years ago—it was all
spraying up to that time—we had the worst name in the State, and it
eame right from Sacrament6. Complaints went to Sacramento that
Orange County was the hardest county in the State, the ‘‘buggiest”’
county. This was a hard one on us. I went immediately to work to
resurrect the fumigators, but they were dead. They said they were out
of business. They couldn’t compete with the spray pumps. The only
salvation for the commissioners then was to go around and buy up the
tents, if we could, and put in good fumigators and start anew. The
consequence is, that in two vears’ time we have got the spray pumps
practically out of the way—all sold or hid in the barns, or run off and
‘dumped into the sloughs down there. And this year there has been
over 250,000 trees fumigated. We are getting clean fruit and good
prices. I think that the heaviest doses we have given are the only ones

' 8—Fec

——

114 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

that will do for the red and purple scale. They are there all the time.
All you want are conditions favorable to hatch them out. (Applause. )

MR. MASKEW. Ladies and Gentlemen: I don’t quite get the point
that I wished to make. Our experiments so far have led us to believe
that uniformly satisfactory work will never be obtained until this
method of guessing at things is supplanted by a rational one of knowing
the cubic contents of the tent, and further, the system of so much
cyanide must be supplanted by the system of a certain per cent of
cyanide to the hundred cubic feet. We are striving along these lines all
the time. Mr. Goodrich called your attention to the fact that we
measured trees over and above the earth. We realized promptly to make
these investigations of permanent value to the citrus srowers, we must
give you something practicable. A simple narration of the method
employed would be. of no value to you. Therefore, one of the greatest
problems has been to take the methods employed by us in these experi-
ments and reduce them to a practical basis, so practical as to make
them available in commercial operations, and so simplified that they
would be within the comprehension of the most illiterate of fumigators,
so that they will get good results. That is, it would be futile for us to
give you dosage corrected for leakage, and then have this depend
entirely on guesswork.

J am afraid I am anticipating the report, but I will tell you that the
United States Department of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Ento-
mology, has originated a device that at the cost of just a few cents can
be permanently apphed to every fumigating tent, and will make each
and every tent to which it is applied practically self-measuring the
moment it is thrown over the tree. This will give you the area, and
supplemented by the calculation tables invented by Professor Woglum,
will, as near as we can say at the present time, make these operations
easy and exact.

The next point in the paper was the question of chemicals. I think
that Mr. Woglum went into that so thoroughly in the paper that a
general discussion of the chemicals, in so far as we have used them up
to this date, would be consuming time that might be devoted to better
purpose. However, provided there are any questions that you wish
to ask on the matter of chemicals, we will try to answer them.

MR. CAMFIELD. Can you give us any light on the dosage of the
acid used, or the strength of the acid?

MR. MASKEW. Mr. Woglum mentioned the amount of acid to
the amount of cyanide that seemed to be satisfactory. As to the dif-
ference in the acid, we have made no tests in this matter up to this
time to determine if there is any difference or not. However, we
have diligently pursued this subject, and we have gathered up quite
a fund of information to serve as a foundation when the opportunity
occurs to make these tests. ;

MR. N. W. BLANCHARD. What is the result when an excess of
water is used?

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 115

MR. MASKEW. The result of an excess of water would be probably
to lower the amount of gas available, for the simple reason that the
presence of the body of water would probably take up some of the gas.

MR. BLANCHARD. Then, what is the best material for tents?

MR. MASKEW. The kind of tenting material is a question that we
intend to ‘take up as soon as the opportunity occurs in its entirety. We
have many experiments going on at the present time, and we are allow-
ing many of those to take the lead, and we expect to get benefit from
them. We expect to pursue this question of tent material and the
best material to overcome the leak of the gas.

MR. BLANCHARD. What is generally used?

MR. MASKEW. In our experiments we use an eight and six-odunce
duck. If you went to ask a chemist if there is any difference in sul-
phurie acid, beyond all question he would say that sulphuric acid was
sulphuric acid the world over. He would probably not eall it sulphuric
acid, but would eall it H.SO,; that is. two parts of hydrogen, one part
of sulphur, and four parts of oxygen. When sulphuric acid is drawn
from the chamber at 52, it is H,SO,. When it comes from the still at
66, it is H,SO,. At 66 Baume, and at 84 specific gravity, 96 per cent
pure, speaking of strictly commercial acid, taken at the temperature
of 60, those terms are synonymous. We find on the Pacific coast that
sulphurie acid is derived from two sources, one from sulphur and one
from pyrites of copper and iron. In the manufacture of sulphuric
acid from copper, brimstone is used. It is simply burned, and to that
is added nitric acid. The nitric acid, which is an expensive item in
the manufacture of sulphuric acid, is reclaimed and recovered by a
a very simple mechanical process, and is available for future use at
practically no cost whatever. Sulphuric acid at 66 is beyond question
the best and the proper acid to be used. In the manufacture of sul-
phuric acid from iron and copper pyrites, these things are residue. and
we have our other chemicals which pass over with the other gases,
leaving the acid in the chamber of the still, and they can be refined out.
and whether they are or not will always be a question on an analysis
of each shipment. It is quite an expense to eliminate the zine. the
nitric acid, and probably the arsenic from sulphuric acid derived from
pyrites, and it is a great saving to the manufacturer of sulphurie acid
from sulphur to get back the nitric acid which can be recovered without
eost. As a business proposition, I think it would appeal to you promptly
that the acid furnished is the sulphuric acid derived from a sulphur
basis, for the reason that these men, if they can get the nitric acid back
without cost, are going to do it, and with the pyrites it is refined to get
it back. .

MR. CUNDIFF. Have you determined the relative length of time
that it requires for the gas to escape? In seven to ten minutes it is
supposed to generate or fill a tent with the gas. Have you experiments

116 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

extending along the line of finding out how rapidly, with the ordinary
tents we use—usually from six to ten-ounce goods—how rapidly does
it evaporate or leave the tent?

MR. MASKEW. We are not prepared at this time to answer that
question. We wish to be definite and positive in these statements we
make; and as to the time which must elapse for a portion or the entire
amount of gas to escape from a tent of any material, we are not pre-
pared to say at this time. Your chairman informs me that we have
almost consumed our time limit. Is there any other question?

MR. 8S. T. MASON. How are the equivalents determined, that is,
by the ordinary operator in making out his dose?

MR. MASKEW. It is one part of cyanide of potassium by weight,
and one part of sulphuric acid by measure.

MR. BREMNER. I think that when chemicals are used and a
chemical action occurs, there is an important point which should be
explained. I would like to have some explanation as to the action of
water. If they can put the water and the acid together, is there not a
chemical action, and what effect does it have upon the introduction of
the cyanide? What will be the effect if the water was lacking, and
what would be the effect if there was no water at all, and what gas
would be made, supposing water was added?

MR. MASKEW. When the acid is introduced into the water, it
increases the temperature. I will say from memory, for the sake of
illustration, take water at the temperature of 70, using our formula,
three parts to one, and introduce this one part of acid and you will
promptly raise the temperature 100 degrees, that is, to 170. This is
in round numbers, because I am stating this to you from memory. We
have a whole lot of data on this from which we hope to be able to
derive some conclusions. The chemical action of the acid, in that case,
is to raise the temperature. The temperature is raised a great deal
higher—the highest temperature is brought about by the admission of
equal parts of acid and water. , It is a little lower with two parts of
water to one, still a little lower if three to one, still lower again four
to one; but it is less marked from four, five, and six than from one, two,
and three. I don’t care to be positive in this case. We need a great
deal more data before we are sure where we are.

MR. BREMNER. Would gas be generated if we use no water. what-
ever?

MR. MASKEW. You can take 96 per cent pure acid with a base of
evyanide, and you can generate hydrocyanic gas without the presence
of water at all.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Ly

MR. STRONG. Would you consider with the test that you have
made, the dosage you have been using per hundred cubic feet—would
you consider that practical through the fumigating season?

MR. MASKEW. Mr. Woglum made it very clear to you, and the
conclusions arrived at in our experiments apply only to conditions as
they occur at Orange. I will say for normal trees eleven to fourteen
feet high, we are simply going to take this as a basis and duplicate it in
different localities under different conditions and at different times of
the year. What he set forth this morning, and he made it very clear
in his paper, applies only to the conditions as we found them at Orange,
and with the sized tree upon which we experimented. There are 132
different experiments performed there against the purple scale on
the normal commercial trees. From them we expect to derive a base
on which to conduct our future operations and eliminate a great many
. useless operations. We believe we have got that, and we have simply
given to you the conclusions as we found them under those conditions.

MR. PEASE. I want to ask one question. Is it practicable, in a
tree thirty feet high, to make the gas as dense at the bottom of the tree
as it is at the top?

MR. MASKEW. We are not prepared to make that statement.
We want these statements to be accurate when we make them. That
will take a series of many experiments to prove. It is one of the things
we hope to work out with the tenting material, with the equilibrium
of the gas, the adulteration of cyanide, and a hundred other problems.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will next introduce Mr. Briggs. Mr.
Briggs has just returned from Washington City, where he has been
making a fight for the rights of California to sulphur fruit. He is
president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. I now have the
pleasure of introducing Mr. Arthur R. Briggs, of San Francisco and
California.

MR. BRIGGS. It is a disappointment to me that Dr. Wiley is not
with us to-day. When I was first asked to prepare a paper on the sul-
phuring of fruit, it was with the understanding that I was to follow
Dr. Wiley in a paper he would present, showing why it was not
advisable to stop sulphuring fruit. I make this explanation, because it
is a disappointment to you all. The question of the use of sulphur, or
its nonuse, is not as interesting to the people of this part of the State as
it is to those engaged in other branches of fruit growing in other parts
of the State; but it is a rule which we must all recognize, that whatever
affects the fruit interest in one part of the State, or one branch of that
business, affects the whole. We never know where lightning is going to
strike. I have reduced what I have to say to manuscript, and will
therefore confine myself to it.

118 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

SULPHURED FRUIT AND ITS RELATION TO THE NATIONAL
PURE FOOD LAW.

By ARTHUR R. BRIGGS, PRESIDENT OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF TRADE.

The people of no state in the Union were more zealous advocates of a
National Pure Food Law than were the people of California. Adultera-
tion of food products in other states, suggested the need of statutory
regulation in the interest of life and health and as a protection to manu-
facturers of pure food products. Therefore, gratification and general
approval were expressed on the part of producers in this State, when
Congress on June 30, 1906, passed the ‘‘ National Food and Drugs Act.”’
One of the principal features of the Act was to prevent the manufac-
ture, or sale, of adulterated or deleterious food products, and it pre-
scribed the method under which adulterated foods and drugs might
be sold.

How comprehensively the term ‘‘deleterious foods’’ was to be inter-
preted, how a determination was to be made in respect to them, and the
status of manufacturers and producers pending a determination, were
matters too remote for immediate consideration and excited little
interest. Later, as the law was put in operation and its scope was
brought to their attention, manufacturers and distributors of food
products were much exercised over the particular features of the law
which affected their business.

Under the Act three cabinet officers were charged with the duty of
making rules and regulations for carrying out its provisions, the specific
terms being set forth as follows:

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury. the Secretary of Agriculture, and the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor. shall make uniform rules and regulations for
carrying out the provisions of this Act, including the collection and examination of
specimens of foods and drugs manufactured or offered for sale in the District of
Columbia, or in any Territory of the United States. or which shall be offered for sale -
in unbroken packages in any State other than that in which they shall have been
respectively manufactured or produced, or which shall be received from any foreign
country. or intended for shipment to any foreign country, or which may be sub-
mitted for examination by the chief health, food. or drug officer of any State, Ter-
‘ritory, or the District of Columbia. or at any domestic or foreign port through which
such product is offered for interstate commerce, or for export or import between the
United States or any foreign port or country. :

Sec. 4. That the eramination of specimens of foods and drugs shall be made in
the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture. or under the direction
and supervision of such Bureau, for the purpose of determining from such examina-
tions whether such articles are adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of this
Act

The Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, by the
Act, is made the ageney for examination of products, and the head of
that branch of the department, therefore, occupies a position of much
importance. The point of safety seemed to be that it rested with the
Secretary of Agriculture. joimtly with the Secretary of the Treasury
and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to promulgate rules and
regulations for carrying out the provisions of the Act. It was further
provided :

Sec. 7. That for the purpose of this Act an article shall be deemed to be adulter-
ated. * * in the case of food. if it contain any added poisonous or other added
deleterious ingredient which may render such article injurious to health: provided,
that when in the preparation of food products for shipment they are preserved by

any external application applied in such manner that the preservative is necessarily
remored mechanically, or by maceration in water. or otherwise, and directions for

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 119

the removal of said preservative shall be printed on the covering or the package, the
provisions of this Act shall be construed as applying only when said products are
ready for consumption.

No special concern on the part of those interested in fruit was felt, as
to the effect of the law as expressed in the Act, and was not until the
Board of Food and Drug Inspection suggested, and the Secretary of
Agriculture promulgated, on July 13, 1907, ‘‘Food Inspection Decision
76.” This decision was deemed drastie in its terms’and made a large
portion of the fruit dried in, and marketed from this State, contraband
under the law. It says:

It is previded in Regulation 15 of the rules and regulatiohs for the enforcement
of the food and drugs act, that the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine by
chemical or other examinations those substances which are permitted or inhibited in
food products; that he shall determine from time to time the principles which shall
guide the use of colors, preservatives, and other substances added to foods; and that
when these findings and determinations of the Secretary of Agriculture are approved
by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the
principles so established shall become a part of the rules and regulations for the
enforcement of the food and drugs act.

The law provides that no food or food product intended for interstate commerce,
nor any food or food product manufactured or sold in the District of Columbia or in
any Territory of the United States, or for foreign commerce, except as hereinafter
provided, shall contain substances which lessen the wholesomeness, or which add any
deleterious properties thereto. It has been determined that no drug, chemical, or
harmful or deleterious dye or preservative may be used. Common salt, sugar, wood
smoke, potable distilled liquors, vinegar and condiments.may be used. | Pending
further investigation, the use of saltpeter is allowed.

Pending the investigation of the conditions attending processes of manufacture, and
the effect upon health, of the combinations mentioned in this paragraph, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture will institute no prosecution in the case of the application of
fumes of burning sulphur (sulphur dioxid), as usually employed in the manufacture
of those foods and food products which contain acetaldehyde, sugars, etc., with which
sulphurous acid may combine, if the total amount of sulphur dioxid in the finished
product does not-exceed 350 milligrams per liter in wines, or 350 milligrams per
kilogram in other food products, of which not over 70 milligrams is in a free state.
* * The label of each package of sulphured foods, or of foods containing sodium
benzoate or benzoic acid, shall bear a statement that the food is preserved with
sulphur dioxid, or with sodium benzoate, or benzoic acid, as the case may be, and
the label must not bear a serial number assigned to any guaranty filed with the
Department of Agriculture nor any statement that the article is guaranteed to con-
form to the food and drugs act.

It is well known that sulphur is almost universally used in this State
in drying peaches, apricots, and pears, and to quite an extent in drying
plums and apples. It is admitted that the fruit when dried, in its raw
state, contains a greater percentage of ‘‘sulphur dioxid,’’ produced by
the fumes of burning sulphur. than 350 milligrams per. kilogram, or an
equivalent of 35-1000 of one per cent. Experience has shown that
the use of sulphur is a necessity, in order to produce dried fruit of the
color and quality required for consumption in any market. It has also
demonstrated that at the unit fixed by ruling 76, viz., 35-1000 of one
per cent, the fruit would not keep for storage nor shipment to distant
markets, nor could it be dried without serious loss‘from decay during

>.

the drying process. <A large part of the dried fruit cured in this State

did not come within the limit prescribed in Decision 76 and was there-
fore contraband, subject to seizure and confiscation as an unwholesome
and deleterious product. The decision provided that “pending investi-
gation of conditions attending processes of manufacture and the effects
on health,” * * * that the Department of Agriculture would
institute no prosecutions against fruit containing sulphur dioxid when
prepared in the usual manner.

This provision did not furnish sufficient assurance of safety, for

120 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the reason that the time of immunity granted was indefinite and very
uncertain.

Strong representation was made to Secretary Wilson of the Agri-
eultural Department setting forth in forcible manner the disastrous

effect Decision 76 would have from this indefinite feature as to the time

on the fruit interest of the State. The Secretary visited California
during the curing season of the year 1907, and afforded opportunity,
both public and private, for any representations or demonstrations in
respect to fruit drying in the State that were sought to be made. Under
assurances given by Secretary Wilson, the business of drying, packing,
and distributing fruit during 1907 went forward without. much inter-
ruption.

At the beginning of the year 1908 Decision 76, by reason of limitation
as to qualification for the previous year, was in force as a part of the
rules and regulations for the enforcement of the ‘‘Food and Drugs
Act.’’ Uncertainty as to the future policy of the department and the
apparent attitude of hostility on the part of the Bureau of Chemistry,
in charge of Dr. H. W. Wiley, excited apprehension, caused a stagnation
in the fruit industry in the State, particularly in dried fruits, and
made further effort on behalf of growers and distributors necessary.

During the season 1907 large sums had been expended by the Bureau
of Chemistry, under direction of the Agricultural Department, in
cbtaining samples of fruit cured by the use of sulphur, in studying the
processes of manufacture, in making scientific tests and in supplying
information on which the department might be able to fix a permanent
safety unit of sulphur dioxid in fruit, and thus restore confidence to
the fruit industry. It was presumed when the Bureau of Chemistry
began its investigations in California that its findings would be made
public through the department, and that producers and distributors
from the knowledge thus gained, could act in the future with intelli-
gence. It isa disappointment that no information has been given out
in reference to these examinations.

Another effort was made early in the present year to obtain a modi-
fication of, or amendment to, Decision 76, in order that fruit drying,
its preparation for market and its distribution might be pursued with
safety on a practical basis. This renewed effort was made necessary
because producers were unable to guarantee that the product cured by
them would come within the limit prescribed in Decision 76, and buyers
were unwilling to stand in the breach between produeers and distribu-
ting merchants. The burden of responsibility rests on producers and
they did not feel able to bear it. They claimed that fruit of the color
and quality required for consumption could not be produced in this
State which did not show, on chemical examination, if the test was made
while in the raw state, an excess of sulphur dioxid over 35-1000 of one
per cent. The unit fixed by Decision 76 was, in their opinion and in
the opinion of distributors, prohibitive.

The Department of Agriculture appreciating the situation as it was
presented to Secretary Wilson, issued a new decision on February 28th,
this year, known as ‘‘ Food Inspection Decision 89, as an amendment
to Decision 76, the full text of which may be interesting:

The question of the addition to food of minute quantities of benzoate of soda and

of sulphur dioxid will be certified immediately by the Secretary of Agriculture to the
Referee Board of consulting scientific experts.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 121

Pending determination by the Referee Board of fa wholesomeness or unwhole-
someness of these substances, their use will be allowed under the following restric-
tions:

Benzoate of soda, in quantities not exceeding one tenth of one per cent, may be
added to those foods in which generally heretofore it has been so used. The addi-
tion of benzoate of soda shall be plainly stated upon the label of each package of
such food.

No objection will be made to foods which contain the ordinary quantities of sul-
phur dioxid, if the fact that such foods have been so prepared is plainly stated upon
the label of each package.

An abnormal quantity of sulphur dioxid placed in food for the purpose of market-
ing an excessive moisture content will be regarded as fraudulent adulteration, under
the Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, and will be proceeded against accordingly.

Food Inspection Decision No. 76, issued July 13, 1907, is hereby amended accord-

ingly.

The fruit industry was by this amendment still left in a position of
uncertainty and in a demoralized condition. Growers held meetings,
made appeals to the department through the delegation in Congress,
and finally to President Roosevelt. Acting with his accustomed
promptness, the President took steps to create what was denominated a
*“Referee Board,’’ to which matters connected with the dried fruit
industry, theretofore left with the ‘‘Bureau of Chemistry and the
_ Agricultural Department’’ for determination, were to be submitted.

The Referee Board was constituted by appointment of five eminently
scientific men, of extensive experience in chemistry and pathology. Its
personnel is:

Dr. Ira Remsen, chairman, president Johns Hopkins University, Balti-
more; Prof. Russell H. Chittenden, Yale University, New Haven; Prof.
John H. Long, Northwestern University, Chicago; Prof. Alonzo E.
Taylor, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. C. A. Harter, Special
Inspector of Foods, New York City. |

The high character and standing of this board gives confidence to
those engaged in the fruit industry. It is believed the importance of
the industry as it relates to the welfare of the large number of people
interested in it, as well as the deleteriousness of dried fruits cured with
the use of sulphur, will be carefully and broadly considered. It is felt
that the conditions under which ‘‘sulphur dioxid’’ renders dried fruit
deleterious, if it is rendered so at all by the present method of drying
and handling, will hkewise be considered. The hope is entertained that
the findings of the Referee Board, and its determination, will furnish
the Agricultural Department, independent of the Bureau of Chemistry,
a basis on which to issue a new decision that will enable fruit growers
and fruit dealers to pursue the occupation of drying and distributing
fruit in a lawful and satisfactory way.

It is hoped also that the Referee ‘Board, in its investigations, will
come to California during the curing season. By having opportunity
to observe climatic conditions, and by following the fruit from the tree
to the packing house and until it is ready for distribution, the board
will be better able to decide what is essential’ to the fruit industry in
this State, than if its findings and recommendation are based on purely
technical examination.

Following closely on the issuance of Decision 89, at the request of the
fruit growers of the State, I went to Washington to get, if possible. a
modification of that decision. The State Board of Trade had been

active in efforts to protect the fruit industry of the State, and’ on

i? THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

eecount of my familiarity with it and the intimate connection had with
the subject at issue, I consented to undertake the task.

As a result of the mission to Washington the following official declara-
tion was obtained:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 11, 1908.

Hon. J. C. Needham:

In response to your personal inquiry made this date. when you called upon me
in company with Messrs. Arthur R. Briggs and W. H. Brailsford. now here repre-
‘senting the fruit growers in the State of California. in regard to Food Inspection
Decision S89, I beg to advise you that, in my opinion, it will be impossible for the
teferee Board of consulting scientific experts to arrive at a determination of the
question of the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of sulphur dioxid in fruits cured
by the ordinary sulphur process for a number of months. and perhaps for a longer
time than that. In any event, you and the fruit growers of California may rest
assured that no decision adverse to the use of sulphur will be promulgated so as
to affect the curing or marketing of the 1908 crop :

The curing and marketing of the 1908 crop should. be done under the terms of

Food Inspection Decision 89, and if the terms of that decision are complied with,
there will be no governmental interference with the curing or marketing of said crop.
Very truly yours,
‘(signed) JAMES WILSON. Secretary.

This was the status of the matter until April 24th, when Congressman
Needham telegraphed to the State Board of Trade, as follows:

; WASHINGTON, D. C., April 24, 1908.

Sulphur question will not be taken up till one year from next August. Dr. Taylor
has gone to Europe and this was agreed upon before he left. Growers will have
two years more before any finding is made.

Postponement of a consideration of this matter by the Referee Board,
as told in Congressman Needham’s telegram, affords opportunity for a
campaign of education in respect to the fruit interests that may very
properly be taken advantage of. Fruit drying in California is done
under conditions unlike those in other states. The fruit is generally
larger and juicier than that grown elsewhere. It ripens fast after com-
ing to maturity, and must be handled quickly. The size of the fruit
and its richness in juice render it necessary, when it is placed on the
trays to dry, that some means‘of arresting oxydization be used. Sul-
phur, which arrests oxydization and prevents the fruit from turning
dark, also assists the process of drying and has come to be looked on as
beneficial as well as effective. . |

What is described as the sulphur process is probably known to every
delegate in this convention hall, but even if this is so, it may not be out
of place to say the process consists in subjecting the undried fruit,
when freshly cut and placed on drying trays, to sulphur fumes formed
from burning raw sulphur in a closed house or box. The house or
box is filled with trays loaded with fruit. A small quantity of sulphur
in an iron pan is placed on the floor and ignited, when the door is closed
and the fumes from the burning sulphur pass over the fruit and leave
the sulphur dioxid, which is found by chemical examination in the
dried product. Sulphur is a sterilizing agent and a germicide. By
its use the insect germs, if any exist, are made dormant or they are

destroyed. The fruit is also rendered less attractive to insects during

the process of drying than it would be if not sulphured. This is the
first process in sulphuring, and if the fruit is intelligently handled
only a small per cent of sulphur dioxid remains after the fruit is dried.

The dried product goes then to the packer. The fruit is purchased by

i

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a a

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 123
packers and dealers throughout the district in which they operate, and
is put in merchantable condition by them. Taken from the growers
promiscuously, the fruit is of many shades of color, kinds and qualities,
and before it is ready to be marketed, requires sorting, grading, and
packing. Direct from growers it is mainly unsuited for distribution in
either domestic or foreign markets.

In the packing house, before it is put in boxes for distribution to
the trade, the fruit is again sulphured. In being prepared for packing
it is dipped quickly in hot water, which moistens the surface and softens
the fruit, after which it is subjected to the sulphur process. This again
prevents a change in color, and with the hot water plunge, lills any
germs there may be in it. This is the process called resulphuring, and
which has led to considerable criticism, chiefly from persons not famil-
iar with the requirements of trade. While dipping and resulphuring
adds somewhat to weight, it has little if any merit from the-point of
profit to the packer. This is taken into account in making purchases
from growers, so that they really derive the benefit, whatever it is.

If abuses have occasionally crept in under the custom of resulphur-
ing, this is not sufficient ground for general condemnation of the use of
sulphur in curing or putting up dried fruits for market. No branch
of business is entirely free from abuses, and no community is free from
wrongdoers. The packing of fruit is as legitimate and well conducted
as any other branch of commercial business. If excessive use of sulphur
has occasionally been resorted to in the dried fruit business, it does
not seem necessary to apply a remedy so drastic as to imperil the entire
industry. Fruit growers and dealers generally recognize the merit
of the National Pure Food Law, and are ready to uphold it. They,
however, want the law wisely and justly interpreted and administered.

Abundant scientific testimony is obtainable to seemingly establish
the wholesomeness of dried fruit cured in the manner usual in this

State. If examination by local chemists and pathologists is insuffi-.

cient, there may be added to it testimony of high authority from other
states and other countries. Professor Hofman, honorary medical
advisor and director of the Hygienic Institute of the University of
Leipzig, Germany, in the year 1903, in an action .brought in Germany
to determine whether apricots said to contain. a larger percentage of
sulphur dioxid than was permitted in that country, testified that
‘neither in the literature, nor in the practice of physicians, nor in
the records of the Royal Medical College, was one single case known
or reported where sulphur dioxid consumed in dried fruits had caused
injury to health.’’

Against the attitude of Dr. Wiley, of the Bead of Chemistry, and
his opinion, stand the opinions of eminent chemists both in the United
States and foreign countries. If there exists a doubt in respect to the
effect of sulphur dioxid in fruit dried by the use of sulphur, fruit
growers should be entitled to the benefit of it, until the fact is indu-
bitably established, particularly as the custom of drying fruit by the
use of sulphur has been almost universally followed in this State for
many years without any known injurious results.

But laying aside the matter of opinions and preference, the National
Pure Food Law, it seems, has clearly set forth a condition under which

ml) peepee

4124 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

s o
examinations of dried fruit should be made. The Act of June 30, 1906,
in reference to food, says:

That when in the preparation of food products for shipment they are preserved
by any external application applied in such manner that the preservative is neces-
sarily removed mechanically, or by maceration in water, or otherwise, and direc-
tions for the removal of said preservative shall be printed on the covering, or package,
the provisions of this Act shall be construed as applying only when said products
are ready for consumption.

It has been fully and satisfactorily demonstrated that by washing,
soaking and cooking, the sulphur dioxid contained in dried fruit almost
entirely disappears, at least the percentage is very greatly decreased.
If ruling 76 had prescribed how tests of fruit should be made, as
producers and packers claim was clearly intended, according to the
language of the Act, viz., by examination of the cooked product, ‘‘ when
ready for consumption,’’ no controversy would have arisen and no
doubt would have been entertained of the intent of the Bureau of
Chemistry or of the justice of the Act.

Another feature of Decision 76, open to fair criticism, is, that it
fixed an arbitrary unit of sulphur dioxid as permissible, viz., 350
milligrams per kilogram, or 35-1000 of one per cent, prior to a determi-
nation of the unit of safety, or without attempting, so far as any public
utterance of the Bureau of Chemistry is concerned, to establish such
safety unit. If the unit fixed is made to apply after an examination
of the cooked product, it is entirely reasonable and satisfactory. If it
is applicable only to the uncooked product, it is manifestly too low.
The unit of .035 of one per cent appears to reflect a theory rather than
a determination on examination and inquiry based on a comprehensive
view of conditions incident to actual use of the product as food.

I am satisfied that reference to the Referee Board of the issues in-
volved in the sulphur question, and the action of that board, have the
approval of Secretary Wilson, who has exhibited a disposition to pro-
_tect the fruit industry of this State. Dr. Wiley maintains a defiant
attitude. His endeavor seems now to be to demonstrate that sulphur
is an unwholesome ingredient and should not be used, because its use
produces sulphur dioxid, ‘‘an added substance which may render the
fruit deleterious.’’ “He openly says, it is the fight of his life to main-
tain the position he has. taken in the use of sulphur.

Aside from all scientific consideration, it may not be out of place to
consider the sentimental question involved. It is no exaggeration to
claim that there is in the disturbance over the use of sulphur a serious
menace to the present prosperity and future development of California,
which only those who know our industrial processes intimately and
accurately can appreciate.

It is, therefore. important that the question now agitating fruit grow-
ers should be wisely. speedily, and permanently settled. For the crop
year 1908 the matter seems to be fixed with reasonable assurance of
safety on the part of all concerned, but the interpretation of the
National Pure Food Law in its application to California dried fruit
products is of vital and very general interest.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I beg to say that Mr. B. E. Hutchinson
is to begin the discussion on the subject. and I take great pleasure in
introducing Mr. Hutchinson of Fresno County.

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THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. $25

MR. HUTCHINSON. I will take very little of your time. I would
like to have Professor Wickson follow me. I am nothing but a practical
grower, and.I would lke to be backed up by people who are better
posted on the theories.

To say that we were surprised and alarmed when this question first
came up under the Pure Food Law, and that the use of sulphur in
the drying of fruit had been attacked, goes without question. We
were as much alarmed as you people here were when the tariff question
was up, and you wanted a tariff on oranges equal to what it was or
better. We, of course, took every measure that was possible to find out
what they were going to do and how we were going to get out of it, as
we could not dry our fruit according to the ruling. It is an im-
possibility.

I shall only talk to you in a practical manner. I have been in the
business twenty-three years—drying fruit—and I have tried all the
different processes of drying, and I have found none that we could
rely on, except the sulphuring of fruit as we do it now. That there
are some who abuse it we are willing to admit, as well as you are
willing to admit that some of your oranges are not picked and brought
into the packing house as they ought to be. We have some careless men
who make a great deal of trouble. but if the fruit is sulphured as it
should be and proper care taken, with the owner in charge and doing
it himself, without leaving it to some Chinaman or irresponsible person,
we can show you fruit that is acceptable and will be eaten by anybody
without any danger of being injured by it. Of course there are some
people who sulphur their fruit too much—some that put it in eare-
lessly and leave it all night, which is very wrong. We don’t eat dried
fruit raw; we don’t take it as it comes from the producer and eat it that
way. It is cooked, and after it is cooked there is no sulphur to amount
to anything left. This we have demonstrated, having those who were
strongly opposed to us get the analysis of it after it was cooked, and
we never had any trouble after that.

You have many ways here to get rid of your scale and of your insects
of all kinds—more trouble than we have in our part of the State, but
we have our -troubles. too. Correct sulphuring of fruit, as I have
demonstrated, is not to leave it in the sulphur house more than two or
three hours. Some men buy the cheapest of sulphur, and it will go out
and won’t burn. You can’t expect to get an even grade with that,
and you don’t get it. But where they will use-as near the right amount
of sulphur as is possible, it is all right. Some days it takes more
sulphur than it does other days, and you have got to be there all the
time to look after it carefully. Never leave it in the sulphur house as
long as three or four hours. It is not necessary. The sulphur will
take in a few hours well, if it is good sulphur, then take the fruit out
and spread it.

Our peaches we are obliged to put out into the sun. We do that.
The sun does all the work. It is not necessary to build these expensive
buildings to dry by artificial heat. We have been asking all the time
for some other way to dry our fruit that would be within the law
as they have it. We don’t want to break the law. We don’t want to
he complainers. We have asked it, but we have never got an answer.
We have been told by Dr. Wiley the way of doing it with salt instead

s -

3126 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

of sulphur—sprinkle it with salt water, ete. Why, that was tried with
us twenty-two years se eg apamckonem You cae do it. Then
Why,
with the amount of Ee that we have in our cota ihe idea of
building a drier big enough for any one that has a large orchard to
dry his fruit is simply ridiculous; you can’t do it; and you can’t dry
without sulphur. If you sulphur it, it will dry; it ‘will dry very much
faster after sulphur. That would leave the poor man with ten or tw enty
acres at the mercy of the larger ones, the same as we are at the mercy
of the packers now. We can’t dry fast enough so that we can dry all
of the fruit there unless every one dries his own, and they must make
preparation to dry their own instead of getting it dried by others.
The idea of drying in that way is simply ridiculous.

In my boy hood days they dried principally apples. They put them
on strings and hung them in the house. We had fireplaces then. Of
course the flies and insects got at the drying fruit, and I don’t think
it made it very much better to use than our sulphur. Still, they want to
force us to that. ;

In the case of Dr. Wiley’s idea of drying in dry houses by steam,
he tried it with apples. Apples are cut in thin strips and dry very
easily and quickly. You can dry apples without sulphur, and they will
look fairly well, and people buy them; but when it comes to peaches,
they can not be dried without sulphur. I have a sample that was given
me by a gentleman who made an affidavit that it took four weeks to
dry it. It was given me to take to Washington. It was the culls that
they would not take at the cannery all summer, and he dried them
without sulphur, and it took him four weeks. I have his affidavit to
that effect, and he said, ‘‘Take it there, and have it cooked by the side
of some of your own and pass it over to these scientific men, and I
will guarantee we will have no trouble, because you can’t dry this fruit
without sulphur and have it all perfect. A great deal of it will be in
such shape that we don’t want to use it.’’

Now, as Professor Wickson is here, I would like to hear from him.
Our time is short, and I don’t want to take up the time of any other
speaker. It is very interesting to us to hear the papers, and I will
eall on Professor Wickson to close this discussion.

PROFESSOR WICKSON. Mr. Hutchinson did not tell me that I
was to be called, and he has not told me yet what I am to speak about.
He did make the general statement that-I was to back him up, and I
will do that all mght. But he doesn’t need that any more than
Mr. Briggs needs it, so my speech will be exceedingly short.

The statement which Mr. Briggs has made covering his wide study
and energetic action in behalf of the dried fruit interests of California,
needs no backing up. It speaks for itself. Mr. Hutchinson is a man
who speaks from a quarter of a century of actual experience in the
handling of dried fruits by the sulphur process. Their deeds and their
works need no support whatever from me. I will only say that it is
very difficult to exaggerate the importance of the use of sulphur in
California. This practice is a survival, as Mr. Hutchinson intimated.
of a third of a century of actual and earnest endeavor to find something
else. Fruit growers don’t want to sulphur their fruit. It is a lot of

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 127

bother, and if the fruit would sell without sulphuring, it would be an
advantage. The impression seems to have gone out somehow or other
that fruit growers rather enjoy sulphuring and dislike to give it up.
That is altogether a false impression. If the fruit would sell and go
on to the world’s markets as it is doing at the present time, and it
could be done without sulphuring, I guess the fruit growers would
enjoy it more than anything else.

So to close with a word, the endeavor which Mr. Briggs made near
the close of his paper, that this matter be kept alive and constantly
studied into from the point of view of commerce of our fruits, is
eminently proper. Every one interested in the advancement of the
fruit interests of California should make it his particular business to
understand this question, of what importance it is economically, how
interesting it is from the point of health, and to appoint himself a
committee of one to get wise on this question of sulphuring, so we will
have something then that will be a fund of information to draw upon
as the matter may come up subsequently. For the next two years I
think it will be all right, but it needs a campaign of education, and
a popularization so that the importance of the matter to California
may be enforced upon the attention of the whole people. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Iam glad to introduce Professor Mackie,
of the Soil Survey, acting for the Department of Agriculture, and he
will present to you a paper as indicated by the programme to-day, to
be followed by Mr. Mills in a discussion of a few minutes.

SOME RELATIONS BETWEEN SOILS AND FRUITS.
By PROF. W. W. MACKIDP, oF THE U. S. BUREAU oF SOILS, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Although the relations between soils and fruit crops are extremely
important, these relations have been generally overlooked on account
of the very apparent influence of climate. Thus, without any direct
reference to soil conditions, we have divided our State into climatie fruit
belts. We have citrus belts, prune belts, raisin belts, ete., each with its
own peculiar climatic feature, and have assumed that these areas were
eminently fitted for these especial crops. This is true, in a measure,
but within each of these fruit belts exist many kinds of soils, some. of
which are unfit for the fruit crop to which the region is mainly devoted. |

Many failures could have been avoided by proper attention to this
feature of soil selection alone. In our citrus belts may occur soils too
sandy or too gravelly for proper growth of trees. Again, the subsoils
may contain hardpan, which would seriously interfere with the per-
eolation of water or penetration of roots. The water table may be too
elose and drainage poor. Prune districts may contain soils with
gravelly subsoils, which allow the moisture necessary for maturing the
erop to escape during the growing season, thus reducing the size of
the fruit and crop. The peach orchard may be planted in heavy or
hardpan soil, where cold spring rains sour and destroy their roots, |
finally ruining the orchard. Many such effects of soil variation within
a well recognized fruit belt could be given.

128 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

SOIL SELECTION.

On the other hand, certain success may be secured by selecting soils
which especially favor the crop to be grown. Prunes produce heavier
crops and larger fruit when grown on deep alluvial soils ranging from
deep sandy loams to silt or clay loams. Such soils more readily carry
moisture through the dry summer while the crop is growing. These
soils likewise hold irrigation water better, and are usually richer than
more porous or gravelly soils. Peaches prefer sandy soils of a light
color, possessed of good drainage and free from close hardpan. The
Muscat, or raisin grape, which has proven so successful in the San
Joaquin Valley, does best on a light brown or gray sandy loam. When
the soil changes into a light loose sand, adobe or red soil, this grape
fails to do its best. The Tokay grape, which depends almost entirely
upon its rich flame color for its success, shows great variation within
the belt known as the Tokay belt. These variations can be traced, as a
rule, to the changes in the soil. The best colored Tokay grapes usually
grow on a red or ght red sandy loam or loam soils, most of which are
underlain by hardpan or heavy clay. When grown on light gray sandy
soils, or rich dark alluvial loams or silt loams, a large grape is produced,
but its color is very inferior, being either too light or too dark and
unevenly colored. So well recognized are these soil effects, that some
types of soils are known as Tokay soils.

It is the work of the Bureau of Soils to definitely identify these soils
In many areas in California, completely outlining them-upon maps,
which show the exact location of the various soil types encountered.
The .characteristics of these soils, such as origin, topography, color,
texture, depth, fertility, etc., are then described, together with their
special crop adaptation and special methods of culture best adapted
to them.

With this aid it becomes possible for those desiring to enter into the
field of fruit growing to select the soils and localities best suited to the
fruit they desire to grow, whether it be Tokay or Muscat grapes, ship-
ping or canning peaches, prunes or oranges.

THE IDEAL SOIL.

The ideal soil may be described as one which readily permits the
pereolation of rain or irrigation water and, at the same time, has
capillary power to draw the moisture from its depths to the surface
for the sustenance of crops. Such a soil is deep, very uniform in
texture, with almost imperceptible demarkation between soil and sub-
soil. A fine sandy loam may be termed an ideal soil.

While the soil just described may be best for general crop production,
variations from it often meet the conditions required by special fruit
crops. It happens in this manner that certain soils, not generally
ranked very high for general cropping, become very productive under
the culture of special fruit crops, such as the orange, grape, and olive.

Deciduous orchard fruits are perhaps-the most exacting in their
demands for ideal soil conditions. While many of them show econsider-
able rangé in soil adaptation, as a rule they are limited to the better
types of soils. Impervious subsoil and hardpan usually show their
injurious effects by the presence of die-baeck or rosettes at the end of

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 129

twigs, and early or unusual dropping of the leaves and fruit. Poor
drainage and the presence of alkali also injure those orchards. The
effect of changes in soil types upon the various deciduous orchard trees
is Often plainly marked. It has been observed in the case of apple
orchards grown in the same valley, with similar climatic and _ topo-
graphic features, that a change in soil texture produced a striking
change in quantity and quality of the crop. A variety grown on sandy
loam soil produced a large crop of bright, highly colored fruit, while the
same variety in the same orchard but on clay loam soil produced almost
no crop at all, and this of an inferior color.

The peach shows similar variations due to change in the soil. A
superior shipping peach is produced on the coarse granite sandy loam
in certain districts in the Sierra foothills, while the better grades of
canning peaches are grown on alluvial river and valley soils. The light
sandy plains soils produce a better drying peach. The cherry, aside
from its climatic preferences, demands a deep loose soil, free from
heavy subsoil, hardpan, or close ground water.

The prune thrives best in a mellow soil of medium to heavy texture,
varying from sandy loam to clay loam. A uniform silt loam which
holds moisture easily is its ideal. Other deciduous fruits show lke
preferences.

Citrus fruits show similar preference in soil types. They prefer soils
with good surface and subsoil drainage with favorable exposures. Rich
soils when low and too moist produce fruit low in acid and sugar,
practically eliminating them from the citrus class. The citrus fruit
does not show the same degree of aversion to shallow soils as do some of
the deciduous fruits, like the cherry, peach, and apricot. When drain-
age is good, oranges and lemons often do well in four feet of soil over
very impervious hardpan. Where blasting is practiced, even less
depth has grown good orchards. Such land should be planted, however,
only when all other suitable soil has been occupied.

The olive which is now attracting so much attention in portions of
California grows on a wide range of soils, growing in either sandy or
heavy soils, shallow or deep ones, and will-tolerate a considerable amount
of alkali and drought. The ripening of this fruit, however, varies
ereatly with the change in soil. The red sandy loam and light loams
ripen the fruit sometimes many weeks ahead of the heavy dark colored
soils which are often so cold that the fruit never fully colors. This
makes it imperative to select early ripening varieties for the heavy soils,
while late ripening sorts, like the Mission, can be planted on the early
maturing soils.

It can be said of most orchard fruits that the soils suitable for suc-
eessful growing are somewhat restricted. These soils are usually of the
highest class, clearly placing the orchard districts in the first rank
of soils.

GRAPE SOILS.

The grape shows a much wider range of soils than orchard trees.
Vineyards have followed the clearing of brush upon the hillsides, have
again covered the abandoned grainfields with profitable crops, and
have even covered wind blown sands and desert areas. As California
has almost a natural monopoly of the vinifera or European grape, the

9—¥FGC

130 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

soils suitable to its culture become of prime importance. In bringing
the abandoned grainfields back to a state of high cultivation and profit,
the grape has done more, perhaps, than any other crop now grown in
the State. ‘In this work it is scarcely well started. In the San Joaquin
and Sacramento valleys are many such abandoned grainfields. On
many of them, especially on the red sandy loam or hardpan land,
wine and table grapes have converted those fields into the most pros-
perous of farms. The Tokay grape has been found to produce best
on just such soils. Wine grapes show fine returns, and produce a erape
excellent in quality and color on these abandoned fields. Many areas
of loose or wind blown sand, which were either wholly unfit for erop-
ping or had been abandoned for grain farming, have been found to be
suitable to grape culture. In some of these areas irrigation with pumps
is possible for grapes, because a small amount of water in furrows will
go a long ways. When water from ditches is scarce, the planting of
vineyards is welcomed in such sandy soils in irrigated districts, on
account. of the conservation of the water for such crops as alfalfa,
which requires flooding. Other important soils reclaimed by the grape
are those found in unirrigated districts which can not be irrigated.
Many such soils, when planted to grapes and cultivated at such time
that moisture from the sky above or subsoil below is carefully retained,
give good returns. Such culture in areas of deficient rainfall may
be called dry farming or the ‘‘Campbell’’ system applied to perennial
crops. These crops are much more certain than grain crops, and
are well adapted to this culture. Soils thus treated range from wind
blown sands to adobe or clay soils. The sands of the San Bernardino
Valley, now being extensively planted to grapes, represent such soil and
culture. Many heavy soils in the interior valley produce good vine-
yards by proper cultivation when no irrigation is possible or profitable.

HARDPAN.

In the utilization of hardpan soils fruits, and most especially grapes, —
have played a most important part. In the San Joaquin and Saera-
mento valleys there exist two great classes of soils containing hardpan
at depths sometimes too close to the surface for orchards or alfalfa.
These classes consist of the red soils lying near the foothills and under-
lain by red, or iron hardpan, and the gray or brown plains soils
underlain by white hardpan. On the red hardpan soils vineyards have
been planted until it is now surely demonstrated that four feet of
good soil is sufficient for a good vineyard. In fact, this is considered
more than is absolutely necessary for good grape production when the
top soil, to about a foot in depth, consists of a mellow loam or sandy
loam and the immediate subsoil a tenacious red clay loam, making
a total depth of only two feet. Excellent vineyards have been grown
on such combination of soil, this entirely without irrigation. While
this condition of soil and subsoil is the extreme, it shows that shallow
hardpan soils with proper care and cultivation can be made to produce
profitable vineyards. It is even true, in some localities, that such
erapes as the Tokay and Emperor show better results under just such
conditions.

In a number of instances the appearance of ground water within a
few feet of the surface has been taken advantage of by vineyardists to

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 138

make profit out of this otherwise detrimental state in the soil. This
is only possible, however, in soils- free from injurious amounts of alkali
which would otherwise rise to the surface.

In some instances hardpan soils have been blasted to. grow orchards.
Such blasting must, for best success, be done.in hardpan which is not
too thick and is underlain by a sandy soil directly underneath. Where
such conditions occur, citrus fruits have thrived, and even such trees
as the peach have done remarkably well. Warning must be given con-
cerning the character of hardpan encountered, for in all cases it is
necessary to break through into sandier soil below. Where holes are
blown into hardpan without breaking through it, such holes are the
receptacles for excess water, both in summer and winter, often causing
the souring of roots and damage to orchards.

ALKALI AND FRUITS.

The relation between fruits and alkali in soils is often very marked,
depending greatly on the character of the alkali. It has been observed
in vineyards that the variety of grape has little to do with the resistance
to alkali, but the texture of the soil exerts considerable. influence.
Sandy soils containing alkali exert a much more injurious effect than do
heavy or clayey ones. Quantities of alkali have been found in good
vineyards on heavy soils which would entirely destroy the same vines
in light sandy soil. The color of grapes is often considerably reduced
by the presence of alkali. This necessitates changing of varieties on
certain soils thus affected, forcing the vineyardist to plant the colorless
or white sorts. | |

Among the orchard fruits less affected by the presence of alkali than
others may be mentioned the fig, olive, pear, and pomegranate. These
have all shown a tolerance of alkali considerably in excess of other
orchard fruits. The citrus is particularly affected by alkali, especially
the chlorides or common salt. The presence of excessive quantities
of lime or marl in citrus groves often causes yellowing of the leaves,
but as this condition is encountered only in one or two particular soil
types. careful selection of soil will avoid this evil.

SOIL FERTILITY.

' Perhaps the most important, most baffling, and least understood rela-
tion between fruits and soils is that of fertility. The almost endless
variety of fruits grown in California, the various qualities desired in
them, and the great variation in soils render this subject of fertiliza-
tion very complex. <A fertilizer which will do well.on one type of soil
will not give the same results on a different one. Different crops show
corresponding differences in the effect of fertilizers. Out of these con-
fiictine statements some generalizations may be drawn. It may be
generally stated that the soil which is most ideally perfect in physical
texture and depth is usually the most fertile, containing plant food in
the best condition for plants. This may be explained partly by the
fact that the ideal soil permits. of slow but perfect percolation of water
downward and similar rise of soil water upward under the influence
of capillary power and heat. Such a passage of water not only distrib-
utes the soluble plant foods evenly throughout the upper layers of soil,

12 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

but it brings in contact with the tied up or unavailable plant food the
soil solvents like carbonic acid, water soluble inorganic acids, and
organic acids exuded from roots of plants or generated by plant decay,
making these plant foods immediately available in small but constant
quantities. So great is the body of soil thus affected by this process in
the perfect soil that little exhaustion is felt in any particular portion
or within an appreciable length of time.

Departures from this ideal condition require a careful study of ferti-
lizers, depending upon such factors as the restriction of water passage
by the heavy texture of the soil or the rapid leaching of soils from too
porous a texture. In both these extremes, the capillary power in soils
is greatly decreased or restricted, permitting the exhaustion without
replacing the available plant foods in the soil thus cropped. Such
soils often need fertilizing, but the question is, What kind of fertilizers
shall be applied; how can the greatest benefit be derived from their
use? The quantity of plant foods available in soils is extremely difficult
to determine. and soil chemists are not at all agreed on the proper
chemical methods to determine this. It is very likely that no chemical
method will ever be devised to accurately determine the plant foods
in soil available for crops. Each plant seems to possess a different
power of extracting these plant foods from soils, and I am inclined
to agree with Professor Wickson, who once said that the best analyst
of the available plant food in soils was the plant itself. Such a view
renders uncertain the determination of exact application of fertilizers
to soils, except as tested by the actual application to crops grown upon
each soil. This is likely to be a slow and uncertain process, but is in
accordance with the most successful fruit growing. Fertilizers should
not be applied at all until every other practical available method of
maintaining or increasing the soil fertility has been thoroughly tried.
Such methods include better and deeper cultivation, application, and
conservation of moisture in the soil and attention to such features as
drainage, aération of soil and subsoil, and the determination of dele-
terious substances like alkah, ete.

But more important than all these is the preservation and incorpora-
tion of humus, or decayed organic matter, in the soil. California soils
appear to depend for their fertility upon this perhaps more than any
other single factor. In this humus is held the major part of the avail-
able plant foods. As humus is found in the upper part of the soil
column, and to a much lesser extent in the lower depths. or subsoil,
it will be seen that the presence of humus is most important in the
crowing of crops. Nitrogen, which is more rapidly exhausted than
any single plant food, is held almost exclusively in that part of the
soil containing the humus. As this humus is found mainly in the upper
part of the soil column, the nitrogen is therefore exposed to greater
exhaustion, not only by the growth of crops themselves, but by the
action of the elements and the burning out by the summer sun. This
burning out of humus and consequent reduction of nitrogen has been
one of the prime factors in the exhaustion of grain soils, especially
those systematically summer-fallowed and left exposed during the whole
of the long summer season. The clean culture in orchards and yvine-
yards closely resembles this summer-fallowing of grain lands, and
permits of the same evils. To such cleanly tilled soils commercial

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 133

fertilizers can not have their full effect, and may even cause some injury
in puddling or causing the soil to run together, as well as burning it out,
often leaving it worse off than before. To offset this effect of com-
mercial fertilizers, or to retain the fertility of the orchard or vineyard
without them, the incorporation of organic matter, or humus, in the
soil becomes a necessity. To do this, and at the same time increase the
nitrogen content, the growing and plowing under of green manure, or
leguminous crops, has proved by far the most efficient means. However,
the application of barnyard manure has been highly satisfactory for
the purpose of increasing the humus in soils, as well as improving
its general tilth. The action of this increase in humus in the soils,
by either plowing under green manure crops or the. appleation of
barnyard manure, is seen in the improved tilth of the soil, and most
especially in the increased capacity of the soil to imbibe and retain the
optimum water content, the quantity of water necessary for best crop
production. This improvement in the water carrying capacity of
the soil in turn tends to render more soluble, or available, the plant food
already there, and to replace from below the quantities removed from
the top soil by the plant.

In the work of erowing green manure crops in orchards, the citrus
erowers of Southern California have made astonishing and most grati-
fying pregress. I believe I am correct in stating that they have
found that the most satisfactory and conclusive benefits in orchard
fertilization have been obtained from the growing of green manure,
or legume crops, and the application of barnyard manure. The ©
benefits, however, are out of all proportion to the actual quantity of
plant foods added to the soil by either. This may be explained by
the fact that the increase of humus increases the availability. of the
plant foods already in the soil, and at the same time retains them

near the surface, where the feeding roots of trees secure their supply
of plant food.

It is apparently true that few soils are actually so rich that the
appleation of a complete fertilizer to the citrus orchard is not either
beneficial or necessary. In conjunction with this practice it will
always be found that the increase of humus by the growing of green
manure crops, and the application of barnyard manure, will render
such commercial fertilizers much more effective, and at the same time
remove any evil effects they may have upon the soil.

MR. JAMES MILLS. I will ask Mr. Koethen to say a few words
on this subject.

MR. KOETHEN. Professor Mackie has given us a very good résumé
of the subject. There are some things that have been said in which
I, for one, do not agree with him. I do not believe that the heavy
soils are not well adapted to the growing of citrus fruits. I believe
I will be borne out by the testimony of some who are here. We all
know that the early premiums that were taken for citrus fruits were
taken by trees grown on heavy soils. What we call the red adobe soil,
such as you find in Redlands, is recognized by most citrus growers as
the best for a citrus orchard. I believe that is uncontroverted, and
that is probably one of the stiffest soils we have—stiff red clay.

134 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

I have in mind one particular orchard, of which a portion is sandy
soil. There was something wrong. I was asked the question as to what
the cause was. I returned with the question as to what was the matter
with the subsoil. I asked if they had examined the subsoil. You will
usually find that there is something wrong with the subsoil. There is
either hardpan or gravel underneath. I know now of a five-acre orchard
where, right through the center, there are about three rows of trees
which are motley. They have never made sufficient growth, and show
all the indications of ill nurture. I had the man examine the subsoil.
and he found gravel within three feet of the surface. The rest of the
orchard was not in that condition, and by the application of heavy
quantities of hnmus-making material he has practically overcome that.
and those trees are now in a healthy, vigorous condition, showing
that while the gravelly subsoil may be a detriment to an orchard. it
can be overcome by the addition of large quantities of humus. Heavy
soil is evidence of fertility. Hence, a citrus orchard that is planted
without the addition of fertilizers will soon lose its value. It costs
more, in other words, to keep up the fertility in a light sandy soil for
citrus fruits than it does for heavier soils.

Now, just one more word and I will close. Professor Mackie is right.
that citrus growth is particularly adverse to salt in the soil, and I think
that we must be very, very careful in the selection of commercial
fertilizers that they do not contain salt. That may occur in some of
the animal matter from the products of the packing house, where they
have been careless in allowing salt from the washing or the leaching
from the vats to get into the tankage. I don’t know of any particular
case where that has occurred, but it might happen. I do know this:
I know that the chief ingredient, or rather the chief defect, in nitrate
of soda is common salt. Now, that does oceur in the natural beds, but
where that does occur in nitrate of soda it will almost invariably bring
bad results, because our soils are naturally pretty rich in salt already,
and just a little may tip over the balance and cause trouble.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Professor Mackie would like to make
just one statement.

PROFESSOR MACKIE. I would like to state.in regard to what has
been said about heavy soils, that I was not aware that I said heavy soils
would not grow good citrus fruits. In many types of soil we agree
that the citrus fruit grows well, but that the ideal soil is not of that
sort, taking everything into consideration. I know the clay soil at
Porterville, and the red adobe of the foothills, and even the red soil
of this county. produce an excellent quality of orange: but there are
some defects in those qualities of soil and subsoil which I recognize in
my paper.

MR. C. C. CHAPMAN. We have remarkable soil in California.
There is not one of us but boasts of his soil. A man in Orange County
was showing an Easterner around, portraying the grandeur of the
country and the excellent soil. and he said, ‘‘I will just give you a little
demonstration of the quality of our soil. I have some cucumber seed
I will plant, but get ready to get out of the way as soon as possible.’”’

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. B35

They threw the seed down and started to run, but had not gone far
before they were overtaken by the vine and had to eall for help to
extricate themselves. That is our California soil.

I think that while the soils may have something to do with the
character of our fruit, I am quite sure that we can grow fruit of equal
character on any soil—it don’t make any difference. Here is where
intelligent farming comes in. I have from a very light sandy loamy
soil to a very heavy soil, almost to adobe, and I grow fruit of equal
keeping” qualities on one the same as the other. So that I think if
all of our farmers would come to these institutes and these con-
ventions and hear these papers, and go home and put into practice the
knowledge they have gained, they will find they have overcome almost
any deficiency of soil or any obstinacy of heavy soil or deficiency of
light soil, and grow an equal quality of fruit. We do it down in
Orange County.

MR. MILLS. Allow me to say with Mr. Chapman that if our horti-
culturists would come to these meetings they would carry away a
very great deal that they need. Those of us who come to them go
away from them with something always, and sometimes with more than
at other times. I wish to apologize to vou, who have come from long
distances, for the mere baker’s dozen of Riverside horticulturists who
have been among you. They need the information, and they need it
mightily.

MR. CHAPMAN. Maybe they think they know how to grow citrus
fruits.

MR. MILLS. That is the trouble. The subject is the ‘‘Relation of
the Soil to the Fruit.’’ The fruit we grow, the vegetables we grow,
the crops we grow of different kinds. must have something to grow
upon. The soil is but the stomach which supports the tree and grows
the fruit. Man is but a walking tree. He has not got his feet stuck
down in the soil like the tree and made stationary, but nevertheless he
crows, and he does his work much like a tree. He has got to feed,
and the food has to be digested and made into forms that will force
the vital fluids through the body and build up the structure with which
his mind will work, and he will do the work that God has given him to
do. If man earelessly watches his physical conditions, if man foolishly
eats that which is not good for him, he becomes unhealthy—otherwise,
physically unfit to do the work given him to do, and you see him
walking up and down through the earth, a wreck of a man, unfit for the
work he has to do.

And so we see in our orchards, conditions that lead us to believe that
the relation of the soil to the fruit is not just right—the relation of
the stomach to the man, or the stomach to the tree, is not just right.
We have got to have conditions right if we are going to grow the fruit
that we want, and grow the quantity we want to grow and the quality
we want to grow. Fruits need water, they need nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, potash, sulphide of iron, chlorine, and other things; but the things
we have to deal with, which the tree needs for the growth of itself and
the production of its fruits for the children of men, are three things,
next to moisture—nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash.

136 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

The soil first is for the rooting of the tree that it may stand upright,
that it may get the food and the water that it needs from the soil—
largely from the soil. We must get a deep rooting system if we are
going to get a uniform condition. We speak of men and women as
superficial; they are not deep-rooted down in the faith of things that
they may live a uniform, consistent life persistently. It is the same
thing with the tree life. The root must be deep down in the soil that it
may not be affected by the things that affect tree life. The sun in
the heavens in California in July and August is so hot that ‘the tree
that has a shallow rooting system is undone; it can’t make a uniform
growth. You pour the water over the soil, and, as Mr. Smith said
yesterday, it drinks it up lke the famished man on the desert until it
poured out over the stump that he was experimenting with. So we
must be deeply rooted. Our trees must be deeply rooted, that they may
have their roots away down yonder beyond the effect of the hot sun
of summer and of the cold nights of winter—they_ come both hot and
cold. The tree which has been coaxed out in its youth to live a super-
ficial life, and its root system runs out all over the surface, will continue’
to live that way for a long time, unless you deal radically with it. It
looks for its drink constantly before others are looking for it. Two
weeks, three weeks, and the leaves are wilted and die, because the roots
are on the surface, and the moisture that is near to the root system is
soon exhausted, and the tree is calling for water again. But just yonder
over the line, another orchard differently treated, with its roots down
deep under the earth, will go along five, six, seven, eight weeks,
gloriously living its life. Not a leaf is affected by the hot sun. It is
living a uniform and consistent life. You have helped it to live that
hfe, as you have tried yourself. possibly. to live that consistent life.
Therefore, I say first, that you must enable the tree to be deeply rooted,
that its relations with the soil, the fruit, and the soil relations may be
right.

The tree needs food. There is in the soil more or less food, and
while the chemists say, and say truly, that it is impossible to tell how
much that orchard may need when you have analyzed it, yet I believe
that in the long run the man who knows his orchard, knows what is
in it down as far as the roots—having experimented with his shovel
in a dozen places on his orchard to know what he has got to deal with
in the subsoil as well as on the surface: and I am sorry not one per
cent of you know it, because you have not taken your shovel and gone
down and down to find just what the conditions are physically in your
orchard. I say that he who analyzes its soil and puts it on paper. and
continues to do it, will have some knowledge that is of some use to him.

Let me tell vou, in passing,— and I would, not speak of myself, but
it may be of assistance to you.—that the laboratory on our groves is
teaching us something and teaching us great things. The laboratory
en Arlington Heights, I assure you. will enable us this year, because
of the information gained. to keep in our pockets $50,000 that we
would otherwise spend if we were in the dark. But we have found lhght
through our laboratory, and we will save this year $50,000 because we
have spent two or three thousand. It is worth your while.

But there are thousands who forget the relation of the tree and the
soil to the fruit, and they say, ‘‘Oh, there is enough there: I am not

ee

a re a ee ee ee eee a Ses, a

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 137

going to do it.’’ Look you, this morning’s paper! The trains are not
able to bear the immigration from our shores across the 49th parallel to
the rich lands of the Canadian Northwest. Why? I will answer it, and
remember the answer, because you need it in California. Because they
selfishly exhaust the humus, the life. from the soils of the glorious
West of America, and have left it for their descendants and future gen-

erations to rebuild it. It ought to be a erime, and the law ought to say

so (applause), that men who are given for a time—a short time this life
is—the right to cultivate the soil, shall exhaust its wealth to put it in
their pocket and to jingle it until the clods of the valley cover their
carcasses. No man has any right to take that wealth upon which we
live, and upon which three hundred million, I believe, will live here in
the year 2000—but how will they live? Look you, how the forests are
depleted—the relation of the soil to the fruit. Look you, how when the
forest is gone the moisture is gone—the relation of the soil to the fruit.
Look you, when the storm comes and the rush from the mountains
washes out the fields and carries them to the seas, that the humus is
going with it—the very thing upon which man lives and depends for a
living. because all things eventually go back to the soil for a living.
The brick blocks that are in this city, the brick blocks in Los Angeles
and San Francisco, however high they may tower towards the heavens,
come from your soil and mine—you and I, who dig in the soil. The rela-
tion of the soil to the fruit, we must have this humus. Potash we are
rich in; they are poor. Potash is easily gotten—$60 a ton, a pound
to the tree; about $30 to ten acres at $3 to an acre; but they only put
on about 200 pounds to the ton in a two per cent high grade fertilizer—
enough, as I will show you.

Now, I don’t want to keep you too long. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
potash—these things, which vou see Professor Mackie said about the
nitrogen. Look at it. Nitrogen! Humus is the storehouse. Look at the
storehouse. Look at the supply. You have to buy it—buy it in green
fertilizer or barnyard manure or nitrate of soda, and use them. What-
ever else you may use, you must use that. But the time comes when
you may have enough temporarily. But don’t you go year after year
or you will suffer; for the soil is depleted, and the soil is your bank, and
the smaller the deposits the smaller the capital, and the less the income.
Nitrogen is the thing that we need in our soils, and the relation of the
soil to the fruit is not right unless you have more and more. See you
now. the comparison of the bank again—the greater the deposit, the
greater the income; the greater the capital, the greater the income; the
greater the supply, the greater the dividends. Do you hear Chapman
talk about dividends sometimes? Do you see his Valencias going out to
the market at $3,300 a car? What he can grow with $10 you have got
to put twenty in to get it. and it pays you, only your dividend is not
as big.

Now. keep your bank full. See that your deposits are not overdrawn.
See that the law is preserved in this soil, that the relation may be cor-
rect between it and the crop that brings the dividend. Buy nitrogen—
you can hardly get too much. Perhaps I dwell too long upon that.

Now. the soil not only is the storehouse but it is the stomach. A sick
stomach: a sick man, a puny man, a growling man. God help the

138 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

woman that has a dyspeptic husband. God help the orchardist that
has got a dyspeptic soil. And lots of you have got it. You have made
the stomach sick. The soil, as much as man, must be physically right.
Why, it has got to be so open that the air can get into it, that the
bacterial life may live and thrive and digest the food that is in it, and
the food that you put into it. Therefore, the physical life of the soil
must be right. It must be porous enough; heavy soil opened up with
humus making material; light soils closed, too, with the same material.
that the moisture conditions may be right; that you don’t pour the
water on and it runs off through the soil, or the summer winds rush
through the soil like the winter winds used to sing around the corner of
vour father’s house. An open soil lets the air rush through and away
the moisture goes. You have got to have your soil so that you can hold
the moisture, and that that uniform condition that Mr. Smith brought
so clearly before you is attained.

I can show you in a ten-minute ride in my automobile where one is
ruinously affected in two weeks after an irrigation; the other is never
affected until eight weeks will expire, so that it is not pouring water
on and taking it off.

Now, to keep the physical condition, get your humus and get your
cultivator and use it, and use less water. More cultivator, less water.
The cultivator is well said to be irrigation, cultivation, fertilization.
Irrigation, hold what you put in and what the Lord put there from the
heavens, which is worth more to you than what you put on through the
ditch. Cultivation opens up the soil and lets the air go in to keep
bacteria, and lets the noxious gases escape, as we open our windows to
get the free air that we may live more healthy. Irrigation, cultivation,
fertilization. Every cultivation you give your soil makes more plant
food available ten times over than the cost of the work. Have you
teams standing in the stable? Put them to work. Pay the man you
have got, and feed the team. Pay the man day after day and day after
day, that he may make our soil physically fit. Exercise it. It is the
same as dumb-bells, as the rowing machine, as the football, the basket-
ball, to the human soul, the tabernacle, this plain thing that we walk
around in—we have got to keep it right so that we will be well.

(Applause. )

‘Now, I will close, unless you have some questions. Again, let me say
more than anything else, the key to the proper relation between the
soil, with these elements in it, and the fruit which we are so hungry to
see on our trees that we may get the money that we may make our wives
and our children more comfortable—to get these you must be phys-
ically fit. Let me give you an illustration. There is a giant among men
over yonder in Washington, physically fit, mentally fit, spiritually fit,
with a soul so big that he can take all his fellows in. . But look at the
machine with which he hits so and wields the stick that brings salva-
tion to the land. (Applause.) That is the thing we are after. We want
a Rooseveltian soil, physically strong, physically fit to do a great work ©
for you and for all. The more, the richer in plant food, the richer in
physical life of the soil, the greater the income it will give you.

As an illustration, a gentleman who was here yesterday came to
me a little over a year ago. I talked with him an hour about the

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 139

fertilization of his orchard, but he said, ‘‘We haven’t the money.
The lady for whom I work is a widow. She has lost her husband.
She doesn’t know how to finance. She doesn’t like to go to the bank
and borrow, lest not getting a crop she will lose her place.’’ But I
said, ‘‘My man, you can’t get the crop without the food to grow it
upon.’’ ‘‘We haven’t got the money, and we want'to get the money.”’
*“Where are you going to get it?’’ ‘‘Out of the soil.’’ ‘‘You can’t.
Haven’t you tried?’’ ‘‘Yes, I have.’? And I preached and I preached
as a Methodist evangelist preached, you know, in the old days back
there. ‘‘Get religion, man—get religion, agricultural religion.’’ And
he got a little of it, and he went back to see the lady and I followed him,
and I drove it home with all the force of my soul, because I saw the
woman’s salvation materially depended upon it, and her health of
mind and body, and it is our soul that depends upon it, and we must
see to it that if we have a message that we give it to them. And the
man was here yesterday, and ‘‘Oh,’’ he said, ‘‘what a revelation.’’
And the woman said to me, ‘‘Mr. Mills, I have something to live for
now. I have got the books you told me to get. I have dug into them.
I have got them. I have got the message. I have got the gospel. I
am going to live it, and my orchard is living it, too. The relation of the
soil to the fruit. Keep the soil sweet and right, and it will work as you
- ean if you are sweet and right physically. (Great applause.)

(At this time an adjournment was taken until 1:45 o’clock P. Mm.)

AFTERNOON SESSION—THIRD DAY.

THurspAy, April -30, 1908.
PRESIDENT JEFFREY. As stated on the programme, Mr. Pease:

will have charge of the meeting, and I am going to ask him to preside
this afternoon.

CHAIRMAN PEASE. Our first paper is by Mr. C. E. Bemis,
*“What is the True Value of a Certificate in Shipments of Nursery
Stock?’’ I am pleased to introduce to you Mr. Bemis, Horticultural
Commissioner of Los Angeles County.

WHAT IS THE TRUE VALUE OF A CERTIFICATE IN SHIP-
MENTS OF NURSERY STOCK?

By C. E. BEMIS, or Covina.

I do not know whether those who assigned me this topic had in mind
the current value of such a certificate issued under present conditions,
and according to the practices now in vogue in the various states of the-
- Union, or, its true value, if the best methods a men were responsible.
for its issuance.

140 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ GONVENTION.

Lest there be those present who do not understand the nature of
these certificates, I might explain that about thirty of our states have
passed laws which require a certificate of inspection to be attached to
each shipment of nursery stock sent into such states. About ten of
these states also require a certificate of fumigation. Several states
accept the latter (if in the form of an affidavit) in lieu of the inspection
certificate.

About seven states, including California, do not require these certifi-
cates, seven states and territories have no state laws. Now, the state-
ments made in these certificates vary greatly in the different states.
The different laws are just as variable in their requirements, according
with their fears of this pest or that, few or many. Moreover, the
methods used in the different states in making the inspections upon
which these certificates are based, and upon which their true value
must very largely depend, are still more valuable. A government or
state entomologist makes the inspections and signs the certificates.
In most states, the inspections are made chiefly for the discovery of
San José scale; some attention being given to woolly aphis and to
crown gall, little attention being given to any other kinds of infection,
and only when the infections named are very bad are any stocks con-
demned. A few states have sufficient numbers of inspectors to make
careful examinations of stocks, but in many states a single inspection -
officer has to cover all the nurseries of his state in from thirty to
ninety days, once in each year, and all he need certify is that the
stocks appear to be free from infection. Now, if any one of you
Southern California inspectors. who are in the habit of spending weeks
in the inspection of stocks from single nurseries, can imagine yourself
examining all the nursery and florists’ stocks in the State of California
in sixty days, you can easily understand how little value would attach .
to vour certificate in which you would state that you had inspected the
stock in any given shipment, and it appeared to be free from infec-
tions. Florists’ stocks are constantly being sent into California from
many states bearing inspection certificates, but are, Im Many eases,
found to be infested with various pests dangerous to our fruit industries
here.

Our climatic conditions are such that many insect pests which can
thrive only in the greenhouses of those states, may find ideal conditions
here out in the open with almost endless variety of host plants ready for
their attack. Aleyrodes citri, for instance, the dreaded Florida white
fiy, is now known to infest many greenhouses in the Atlantic and
Southern States, and this pest may come to us in any of the thousands
of shipments entering our State from those greenhouses, as the cer-
tificates attached give no assurance of careful or recent inspection.
Strict quarantine measures are now direeted against Florida and
Louisiana only. I believe that a strict quarantine should be adopted
and enforced by California against the importation of any and all
nursery and florists’ stocks from without her borders. We ean, and
should, grow all such stocks which we require. I am reliably informed
that the Department of Agriculture at Washington is seeking to
regulate all inspections and shipments of nursery and florists’ stocks
throughout the states by uniform and effectual laws. We should lose
no opportunity to urge such enactments. However. by far the larger

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS* CONVENTION. 141

numbers of trees and plants planted in this State are now grown within
its borders, and the shipment of these is of greatest concern to us,
as we have now many dangerous pests in various parts of the State
which are not thoroughly disseminated, and their nortber spread should
be vigorously fought against.
When I began this paper, I was under the Bena that regulations
similar to those of my own county were somewhat general throughout
the State. I was very much surprised at being unable to find any
other county reciprocating in kind. The rules" adopted in 1901 by
the Los Angeles County Commission require the inspection of all
plants and trees shipped from within its borders, whether to points
within or outside the county. <A shipping tag must be attached, and
a certificate of inspection mailed to the inspector at point of destination.
Every inspector is forbidden to issue such a certificate unless he
has made eareful examination of the stocks. Our inspectors are, how-
ever, all human beings, and are therefore not infallible, so that some
slight infections may pass them unnoticed, especially so, as Los Angeles
is so great a distributing point for nursery and florists’ stocks. Each
inspector is required to examine every shipment coming into his
district before allowing it to be planted, even though it bear a certificate
from an adjoining district; and he must report at the next monthly
meeting of inspectors and commissioners any infections he may find
on such shipments, so that each inspector’s work is under constant
serutiny of all his associates. All the railway and express companies
readily codperate with our commission in putting into effect our rule,
which requires that no common earrier may receive for shipment within
the county any plants or trees, unless accompanied by an inspection
taz; and also the rule that the local inspector at point of destination, or
the commissien, shall be notified, on the arrival of every shipment,
and delivery withheld for orders from such inspection officer.

Should every county in the State which ships trees or plants enforce
a similar set of rules, the inspection certificate might become of immense
value. The commissions of some counties with which I have had
oceasion to deal for some years, while the most exacting in their
requirements against the least infection going into their counties,
manifest the utmost indifference as to the condition of stocks sent out
by them, apparently solicitous for the interests of their own nursery-
men, but not concerned for the welfare of those who plant these stocks
or for the general good of the, fruit industries of our great State.
The true value of the inspection certificate must after all depend upon
the individual qualifications and integrity of the man making the
inspection upon which it is based. Men possessing proper qualifications
for this work are not easily secured, especially as places higher up
are seeking such men, and are never fully supplied. Then, too, the
pittance allowed them for their services by our State law ($2.50 per
day without expenses), does not make the occupation inviting to many
of the best men, and its meagreness may be used in justification for
neglect of duty by those employed. A stream never rises higher than
its source, so the acts of our horticultural inspectors are not apt to
rise superior to the incentives furnished them by those who appoint
them. so that unless the policies adopted by the commissions of the
various counties are the result of ripe experience, good judgment, and.

142 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

sterling integrity on the part of each commissioner, and each shall
insist upon their being faithfully enforced by their deputies, as well as
themselves, the certificate has little value.

The horticulturists of the State must, through their organizations,
and individually, demand of the county boards of supervisors, that the
horticultural commissions must be taken seriously, and not classed with
the dozens of other commissions created by our Legislature and by
city and county governing bodies for no other purpose than to make
places for the political supporters of those having the appointing
power. Concerted action upon the part of our fruit associations and
Protective League can require the selection of well equipped and
reliable men for appointment to our horticultural boards, and our
supervisors will not ignore our demands for such appointments. We
have been too modest in our demands, and should begin to assert our-
selves vigorously in such matters. .

MR. ROEDING. In your paper you recommend that the fumigation
of nursery stock should be carried on in nursery rows. How about
nursery stock where the pest is in the roots of the stocks? In that
event, the fumigation of-nursery rows would not carry out the purpose
you would want it to.

MR. BEMIS. Of course there would be a limit ‘to its use, but I
think, generally speaking, the greater part of the work of disinfection
of our nursery stock can be accomplished by fumigation. We might
find it more easy to disinfect them after being taken up, but in the
case of phylloxera I don’t know that we could gain anything by fumi-
gating for that purpose at all, so far as I know anything about the
practice adapted. I should presume, though, that in the case of many
_of those root forms, the remedies applied could be applied in the nursery
row. That depends largely on what sort of treatment you use. If you
use bisulphate of carbon, or anything of that kind, it might answer.

MR. ROEDING. It would not be practicable to fumigate for San
José seale. — :

MR. BEMIS. For the reason that they would be below the surface
of the ground ?

MR. ROEDING. No, they would be above the surface, but the
lmmense area.

MR. BEMIS. I don’t know that that would differ materially from
our treatment of red scale and that sort of pest that we treat on the
citrus. We have found it very profitable to treat them in the nursery
row. I don’t know that we can economize room very much if we
take them out and put them in a box.

‘CHAIRMAN PEASE. The next paper will be ‘‘Cause of New
Infestations, ’’ by Mr. FE. DD. Mowler:

MR. FOWLER. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: A number
of years ago we were told by one of the experts at Washington that

ee = eae
+ . = =

‘. we ; .

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 143

the red scale would not live in this warm, dry climate of Southern
California. Now, it has been demonstrated that it does live. We
were told by him, and some others along about that time, that the
white fly would not live in the dry, hot climate of the great northern
valleys of this country. It was demonstrated last summer that it can
live and does live. There was a time, years ago, when many people
believed that even the white fly could not live and flourish in the valley
of the great San Joaquin, but it does live. Not only that, but it has
attacked the orange and the lemon. The lemon grows like the palm
tree and flourishes like the cedars of Lebanon. So there have been
some mistakes made by men who have preceded me, and should the
commissioners of this State make mistakes they may yet get right.

CAUSES OF NEW INFESTATIONS.
By P. D. FOWLER, or TULARE.

This subject was assigned to me by the State Commissioner of
Horticulture, and with the consent of this Convention, I will offer a
few thoughts along this line. New infestations can be, and are, carried
in many ways. A bouquet of flowers gathered in a beautiful flower
¢arden, in which there existed some disease or insect, and carried in
the hand or grip from one part of the State to another, could carry the
same trouble to the place of destination. This has been done many
times by both men and women without ever having given the matter
a thought as to the danger. Men who live in this beautiful Golden
State of ours have, while traveling through other states or foreign
countries, seen some rare plant or shrub that excited their admiration,
which they bought and carried carefully home and planted in their
own garden. Later, they wondered why some peculiar insect or disease
had developed in their garden. There are many things brought into
this State that your commissioners never see, no matter how earnest,
honest, and efficient they may be.

Insects and diseases peculiar to plant life are a great study. It
requires a great deal of time. investigation, study, and experience to
prepare a commissioner for his work. Trees, plants, and vines are
shipped in all kinds of bales and boxes, and are often covered with
mud, so that it is impossible to properly inspect them without washing
every tree and plant; and when there is a carload of them there must
be some work. There are constantly appearing new diseases and insects,
and a commissioner must be a student full of energy, well applied, if he
keeps up with the times. Many of the fruit growers of this State do
not realize the benefits derived from careful inspection of nursery stock.
The writer has been told many times by fruit growers that he had no
right to go into an express office, or freight office, and open and inspect
a bale of trees; but after full explanation of the necessity, and the law
for it, the objectors were always satisfied.

New infestations may be carried by the shipment of boxes, ladders
and picking sacks from one orchard to another, or from one county to
another. There should _be quarantine regulations. As I understand
the laws of this State, the quarantine regulations are absolutely in
the hands of the State horticultural authorities; and wherever there

144 © THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

exists a new and dangerous insect pest or disease, the extent of that
territory should be ascertained and the district at once quarantined
until cleaned up.

There should be no such thing as one county quarantining against
another county. If there does exist in any county a dangerous insect
pest or disease that is liable to be transported to an adjoining county,
it is just as liable to be transported to some other county, and should
be at once quarantined by the State. There is even more danger to
the distant county than to the adjoining county, because the distant
county may not know the condition existing. There should be a
uniform system of inspection and quarantine, and then every com-
missioner, grower, and nurseryman should work to make it effective,
by allowing only absolutely clean stock to be planted.

And, last, but not least, I consider the greatest danger of the new
infestation is the distribution of nursery stock through the United
States mail. <A great deal of nursery stock is sent through the mail,
and very little of it is ever inspected. Insects and disease can be
carried through United States mail as safely as through the express
office, but the inspector has not the same chance to get at them.

Five e years ago the writer wrote to the Postmaster General in regard
to the inspection of plants coming through the mail. An answer was
received in due time. He said the question of inspection of plants
coming through the mail was a new one, and that no ruling had ever
been made in the matter, but that he would take it up with the depart-
ment, and as soon as a ruling was made, would let me know. If there
has ever been a ruling, I have not been informed. J have made some
investigations about the matter, and have consulted the postmaster at
San Francisco, and he informed me that there never had been a ruling
that he has any record of. This is a matter of great importance, and
should be taken up by this Convention. The Post Office Department
should be earnestly requested to take immediate action’ and make some
provision by w hich all plant life coming through the mail could be
inspected by the commissioners.

California has an absolute quarantine against Florida and Louisiana
on all kinds of plant hfe; and yet, plants are coming direct from those
states into California through the United States mail. Let us take some
ection in the matter. -

MR. JEFFREY. Mr. Fowler has touched upon a very important
point, and I think the Committee on Resolutions should get this matter
before the Convention to be acted on to-night, if possible. JI will say
that this matter has been brought to the attention of the Post Office
Department. The matter was referred to the Bureau of Entomology,

and from the Bureau of Entomology to the Agricultural Department,
and to Mr. Wilson himself; and is had a letter from him which con-
eludes in this way, that he would dislike very much to see any restric-
tions put upon the free interchange of seeds or plants through the
United States mails. The Post Office Department refuses to take any
action. We were finally informed, after we had been notified that
plants were expected through the post office, that our postmaster at
Los Angeles was acting without authority in allowing us to reach
those plants before they were delivered to the customers; and he noti-

FEE TIE EF

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 145
fied us that hereafter, if we wanted to see any plants coming through
the United States mail, we would have to wait until the plants were
delivered to the consignees. The trouble is that the authorities at
Washington don’t view these things as do the people of California.
It is a very hard matter to get the authorities at Washington to act.
I would lke Mr. Fowler to know that this matter has been carried up
to headquarters and representatives in Congress have been seen about it,
also leading men in Washington City. We have this letter from Mr.
Wilson, stating that he would dishke very much to see any restriction
put upon the free interchange of plants through the United States
mails. Until they do see it, we will be at a disadvantage. I will say
that we have been requested within the last week, as I stated to another
audience the other day, to quarantine against the introduction of
cotton seed into the State of California, on account of the boll weevil,
and this came from the Agricultural Department. We all know that
we never had such a good Secretary of Agriculture before. The sys-
tem all down the line is a good one. In Mr. Woelum and Mr. Mackie
you can see the kind of men they send out, but they do not see this
thine as they ought to—this quarantine matter—and until they do,
we will have an uphill! job, and the greatest danger, as Mr. Fowler says,
seems to be impossible to correct.

MR. FOWLER. I would like to say another word. Mr. Jeffrey
has just said that the Agricultural Department is anxious for us to
quarantine against cotton seed coming from Texas into California.
Anybody knows that they can send cotton seed through the mail just
as cheap and as quick as they can through the express office, or any
other way. Our law requires that plant and nursery stock of all kinds
being shipped through any source shall be plainly marked on the
outside of the package, stating what that package contains, so that
the inspectors will have an opportunity of gettme hold of it. The
United States mail don’t do that. They send those things through
without any kind of mark—with just the name and address of the
individual to whom it is sent; and it is a hard matter for a post-
master to tell where they come from and who sent them, and where
they were grown, and the commissioner has no chance to get at them
at all, only by consent of the party to whom they are sent. The
postmaster can tell you that there is a package there, which he thinks
contains plants, and it is for so and so, and it will be delivered to him.
Then you ean see that party, and, if he will let you, you can examine
the plant. I have burned up a great deal of stuff that came through
the mails, but I have always done it by the consent of the party to
whom it was sent. When I could get hold of a party that had anything
of that kind and could talk to him, I could convince him that it was
best to let me look at it, and if it was necessary to destroy it he would
eenerally let me do it. I have burned up sacks of mail four feet high
that contained nothing but plants, and they came from Florida. iB
is a condition that is very dangerous. .

MR. SHARP: Did you examine them after they went to the con-
signee ?
10—Fec

a
146 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION, |

MR. FOWLER. Yes, I always examined them after they went to
the consignee, but that don’t give us the protection we want, because
there are post offices scattered all through the country, and we don’t
know where the plants are going to. These things happen in the
town where I live.

MR. ROEDING. -I will only supplement the remarks made by
Mr. Jeffrey by saying that I think the step which has been taken
relative to the prevention of the introduction of cotton seed into this
State is a good one, although I don’t see where it makes any material
difference to the fruit people of this State whether the boll weevil
is introduced or not, because we are not in the cotton business, and it
is not likely that we will be. Nevertheless, this wedge that he has
introduced into the Agricultural Department on this one matter is
certainly a very important point to the fruit growers of this State,
and I think we should take active measures to support our Horticul-
tural Commissioner, so that no stock can come through the mail without

the Commissioner being aware of that fact.

The danger does not arise entirely from nursery. stock which is
shipped from different points in the United States, as far as California
is concerned, so much as it does the importation of stock from foreign
countries. ‘he many pests which are known to exist in Australia,
New Zealand, and Japan: can readily be brought through the mail,
particularly from those countries where the parcels post admits pack-
ages of trom four to eleven pounds; and even more than. this, the
admission of packages of samples without value that are very rarely
examined -can come from all parts of the world, and growers who are
not familiar with the dangers of the insect pests that exist in Africa
and other places I have mentioned might, without any intention,
do the fruit growers ef California an injury, simply through ignorance.
i have not the least doubt that the introduction of the white fly in
California was brought about by packages brought through the United
States mail to growers who had no idea of injuring the fruit interests
of this State; but nevertheless, through the introduction of small
packages, these pests were brought in. And were it not for the
action of the State commissioners in regard to it, it might have ruined
our entire interests.

There is not a year that I don’t receive orange cuttings, and I.
invariably take active steps to wash those cuttings and fumigate them
before I allow. them to be grafted on the trees where we want to
ase them. This only illustrates how easily these things can be done -
without the officials being aware of it. A man does not desire it.

and has not the slightest idea of doing the fruit industry of this State __

any injury.
CHAIRMAN PEASE. I think Mr. Jeffrey can explain the matter
of the cotton boll weevil being introduced into the State. Oftentimes
we have a pest introduced, and.that pest does not confine itself to the |
same plants that it was a pest on in the country where it came from,
and the quarantine against eotton seed would be from the fact that ©
the boll weevil might transfer its attention to something that we have

»

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 147

a here that it would like in lieu of the cotton, the same as the white fly
_ transferred itself to some other plants when its food was all gone.

- MR. JEFFREY. To-night, at the white fly discussion, you will

find a chart showing about sixteen or eighteen food plants of the white

fiy in California, the Ale yrodes citri, the orange white fly. There are

twenty-two species of plants on which the white fly has been discovered

by our men at Oroville and Marysville, and that is one reason why

the white fly makes so much trouble. If it should break out in River-

side or San José, or Fresno, or any other place where they have a large

variety of exotic plants—imported plants—it would entail enormous

losses upon the people in the destruction of their favorite plants. And

I ean see the boll. weevil might adapt itself to other plants.. At present

we don’t know that it would. At any rate, we want to keep the boll

_ weevil out, because down here at Imperial there are a few men from

Texas who are going to plant several hundred acres of cotton, and that

is what brought this matter about. They don’t want to plant anything

but the particular Texas variety that they are familiar with, and don’t

want to bring their seeds in from South Carolina, or other uninfested

districts; and it was to meet these men at Imperial that this quaran-

tine was ordered. We have broken down the bars now—we have a

formal application from the Department of Agriculture to quaran-

tine the whole State against the introduction of a pest. Now, we

ask them to assist us in the quarantine work which has been very

_ recent, in regard to bringing in the new citrus varieties. The trouble

here is that there is a conflict of jurisdiction. If you put postage

‘on a package of plants, the postal law does not allow anybody to

bandle that except the man to whom it is addressed, and our quaran-

tine is in direct conflict with that Federal law; for we pass a quarantine

_ Measure which would require our inspectors to go to the post- office

hy and attempt to inspect the plants that might come by mail. Until

1 these laws are reconciled, I don’t see how we can prevent importations,

unless it is by moral suasion on the Postmaster General, in which he

will instruct every post office delivery clerk in the State to notify the

‘inspector in whose district the office is located of the arrival of plants

for a consignee, and give the inspector a chance to look at the plants»

before they are delivered or before they are opened. This is an enor-

mous danger. The people of Marysville and Oroville have spent enough

money fighting one little pest to pay the expense of the county horti-

cultural commissions of several counties for several years, and if it

should have broken out in Riverside the cost of its extermination would

have paid the expenses of all the officers of the State for some time.

If our Committee on Resolutions will take this up at the meeting to-night
we will have something practical from Mr. Fowler’s paper.

MR. WRIGHT. I have a statement which corroborates what has
been said, that it is a. constant danger which we are up against. I have
>. here a catalogue of a nursery in ‘Florida advertising seeds, and they
publish testimonials. They prefix the testimonials which ‘they have
a. received during the year 1907 from the Pacifie coast with a note,
tha *Ow3 ing to the great agitation in eA ee over the insects Hereditary

148 THIRTY-FOURTH ‘FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

on orange groves, we refrain from giving names to the following testi-
monials. The originals are, of course, on file.’’ Then follows ‘‘San
Diego, Cal., July, 1907. Samples arrived in fine shape. Please send the
following order.’’ And so on down through a long list—San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Diego again, Holtville, El] Centro, Lordsburg.

Now, I happen to know—I have been in Florida and have seen the
white fly in action, and I have seen this man’s nursery, and it is located
in the center of one of the districts where the white fly is most destruc-
tive. I assume from the fact that these shipments have been coming in
in good order, and all through the year of 1907, that they have been
consigned by mail. We are confronted with a continual shipment of
orange trees from one of the worst districts in Florida for the white
fly. Of course, I assume that there is no man interested in an orange
grove, no man who knows the nature of these things, that would be
cuilty of such carelessness in the reception of such plants which may be
infested; but, as Mr. Jeffrey suggests, we can by using some suasion with
the Agricultural Department obtain the mght to inspect or receive a
notification from the post office that such packages are to be received.
We will probably have repeated infestations of white fly bobbing up
in every district in California to which these packages may be sent.
I only bring this mn in corroboration of what Mr. Jeffrey has said, that
that is our great danger.

MR. JEFFREY. About two years ago a lady in Hollywood brought
« bunch of plants over to the office and said that we could inspect them.
We burned them, and she expected it when she brought them in.
They were gotten from this same firm. We talked the matter over, and -
she said if she received any more plants she would let us know. Her
husband got a letter from the Florida firm in regard to the quarantine,
stating as follows: ‘‘We have no fear of detection’’—that they had
means of sending their plants into the State without marking or any
means of identification, and not to pay any attention to the horticul-
tural commissioners of Los Angeles County, that it was their business,
and not the commissioners’ business to interfere.

MR. CUNDIFF. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: We have
heard the various questions relative to the cultivation and marketing
of fruits very ably: discussed by people from different parts of the
State, who, I am sure, have demonstrated their ability to handle these
subjects in a very entertaining and instructive way. The only regret
that I have, as a Riversider, is that we have so few of our people here.
1o have the benefit of these discussions. The business of fruit growing,
while the greatest in the State, has its back sets and reverses and dark
sides, the same as almost every other line of business. The business of
the horticultural commissioner is largely on the dark side of it, or the
pest side of it. You who were here the other day.and were fortunate
enough to hear the very able paper presented by Professor Cook. of
Claremont, will remember that he referred to the damages in this
State on account of injurious insects and plant diseases. I knew it was
a large sum, but I had no idea that it attained anything lke the pro-
portions it does. I presume that Professor Cook has had the facilities
for getting accurate information, and he places it in this State at fifteen

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 149

million dollars. An industry producing about sixty or sixty-five million,
and damaged to that extent, certainly should elicit our interest and
cooperation in order if possible to avoid or to remedy it.

At the last Fruit-Growers’ Convention a similar subject was assigned
to me. In fact, I don’t know but that you are likely to get something
similar to this at every fruit-growers’ convention on quarantine. At
that time, I went into the statistical part of. the damages over the
United States. I will not take up your time in this paper to discuss
any of those features. That information is readily available through
the department bulletins. ,

QUARANTINE BETWEEN CALIFORNIA POINTS.
By R. P. CUNDIFF, oF RIVERSIDE.

The enactment of quarantine laws to protect our orchards against
the introduction and spread of injurious insects and diseases had its
inception in California, and the benefit to our horticultural interests
through the work of our quarantine officials at San Francisco, and
other ports of cur State, in preventing the introduction of: destructive
insects and plant diseases, is one of the principal safeguards to the
future welfare of our State’s greatest industry.

The subject under consideration, ‘‘Quarantine Between California
Points,’’ we shall assume to refer to intercounty shipments or nursery
stock, fruits, ete. The legislative enactment approved March 25, 1903.
provided for a State Commissioner of Horticulture, who shall also
be quarantine officer. Such officer may, with the approval of the
Governor, establish, maintain, and enforce such quarantine regulations
as may be deemed necessary to protect nurseries, trees, plants, vines,
or other articles of horticulture against contagion or infection by
injurious disease, insects or other pests, by establishing a quarantine
at the boundaries of the State, or elsewhere within the State.

The law confers no authority upon the Commissioner of Horticulture
to regulate intercounty shipments of nursery stock, fruits, ete., except
where such shipments are consigned to counties or localities having
no legally appointed county horticultural officials.

The law also provides for the appointment of county boards of horti-
eulture, to consist of three members. While the law clearly defines
the duty of the county horticultural commissioners, it does not delegate
to them power to enact quarantine. regulations. Such laws must be
enacted by the boards of supervisors in the form of county ordinances.

In some instances these ordinances have been criticised and ridiculed
by nurserymen and others interested in the sale of nursery stock. We
do not take the position that all of the county horticultural ordinances
ef California are perfect, but we believe, in the main, they will com-
pare very favorably with the general legislative enactments of the
State. The claim has often been made that counties have no power
to quarantine against other localities, but must accept any nursery
stock offered for sale upon which dangerous pests or disease can not be
located by an inspection. While it is true that in at least one decision,
rendered by a superior judge of the State, apparently affirming the

150 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

view taken by the nurserymen, it does not destroy our belief that had
the case gone to a higher court the decision would have been reversed.
‘Law is supposed to be founded upon justice and common sense. The
right to protect both life and property is as old as civilization. The
Legislature of our State, in defining the duties of county boards of
supervisors, names as one of their duties, ‘‘to make and enforce within
the limits of their county such local police, sanitary, and other regula-
tions as are not in conflict with general laws,’’ hence there ean be
no doubt as to their authority to enact and enforce laws to protect
our horticultural interests from the introduction into their counties
of injurious insect pests or plant diseases.

The want of a proper understanding or appreciation of this work by
some of the county boards of supervisors of our State has been one of
the most discouraging features, and has prevented the protection to
our horticultural interests to which they are entitled.

The practice, in some counties, of making the appointment of horti-
cultural officials political rewards, has resulted, as might be expected,
in placing men in these important positions who possess no qualifications
_ or fitness for the work. Until this practice is absolutely discontinued
it matters but little in such counties how effective may be their ordi-
nances ; unless the officials, whose duty it is to enforce such laws, possess
a proper appreciation and understanding of their work, the results will
continue to be unsatisfactory. :

The expense of fighting insect pests, plant diseases, ete., is continually
Increasing in our State. What can be done to prevent this, and how
shall) we accomplish it? We believe that a rigid enforcement of proper
quarantine regulations in intercounty shipments of nursery stock will
do more than 4ll other agencies to solve this vexing problem. “‘The
pests we keep out can do us no harm,’’ should be the watchword of .
every horticultural official. ‘‘An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of eure,’’ can be applied to keeping injurious insects from our
orchards with a hundredfold greater meaning than is usually applied
to this time honored adage. The quarantine department. under the
supervision of our State Commissioner of Horticulture at San Fran-
cisco, is doing a splendid work in preventing the introduction into our
State of new insect enemies and plant diseases. So efficiently has this
work been performed that I can recall no instance of a new pest gaining
admission to our State since the establishment of this important office,
over twenty years ago, except the white fiy. The orchard pests we are
batthng with, and are costing such large sums of money to combat,
were firmly established in our State before any preventive legislation
was enacted. Therefore, the responsibility for the continued spread of
these pests from one locality to another must rest largely with the
county horticultural officials.

In this connection, I wish to say that there are many worthy and
absolutely efficient horticultural commissioners whose efforts along this
line have been greatly retarded for want of proper encouragement
from their boards of supervisors in the way of adequate finanecral
assistance. This penurious and shortsighted policy, in some counties,
has allowed the pests to gain such a foothold by spreading from orchard
to orchard that the cost of producing marketable fruit is a very serious

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. hi Lesa

drain upon the income of the fruit grower. The fruit grower is largely

responsible for such a condition existing in any county. He should

_ demand the protection to his orchard and locality to which the law

entitles him, by insisting that only the best men be appointed as horti-

eultural officials, and that they are furnished with the needed financial

assistance by the supervisors to properly carry on their work.

4g There are yarious conditions that must be taken into consideration in

preventing the introduction of injurious pests from other localities.

First, the nature of the pest should be understood; its resistance to

remedies for its destruction should be known. Unless you are positively

sure that you can apply a remedy that will absolutely destroy it, you

had best take no chances in releasing it to the consignee; better to

burn it, and if necessary, have your county pay for it, than take chances

ef allowing a pest to become established that may cost many thousands

of dollars to even control. As an illustration, we will name the purple

and red scale; either of these varieties are exceedingly resistant to

any known remedies for their eradication. Others might be named

equally as difficult to destroy. We know of no instance of either an

insect pest or plant disease ever having been eradicated after gaining

a foothold in any section. Perhaps the nearest approach to this has

been where we have been so fortunate as to find the true parasite or

insect enemy of some of our seale pests. The cottony cushion and San

José scale are perhaps the most notable examples of the absolute control

by parasitic enemies. Both of the above varieties of scale were at one

time classed as among our most destructive pests, as well as being

j exceedingly resistant to artificial remedies for their eradication. With

q all of our experience and improved methods, such as fumigation, spray-

ing, ete., we are only able to control the ravages of destructive insects

aiter becoming established in any locality. Any artificial remedy is

| _— expensive, as it must be applied at regular intervals, owing to the
_ impossibility of destroying all of the insects at one application.

We are opposed to placing unnecessary restrictions upon nurserymen
cr others interested in the sale of trees, but we are unalterably opposed
to allowing pest infected or diseased trees brought into any locality.

_ No dealer in trees should have either a legal or moral right to send
out nursery stock infested with destructive pests, and no purchaser
should have the privilege of planting out such stock to spread the
infection and become an expensive menace to the horticultural interests
of his locality. Upon this point.there should be no clash between
the honest purseryman and the horticultural official. The nurseryman
who is so unfortunate as to have diseased, or pest infected stock, should
have no right to visit his misfortune upon other localities. In our
experience, as horticultural officer, we have usually found those engaged
in the nursery business men of integrity. This is especially true of those
who are depending upon the business for a livelihood. It is the man
who is known as a tree broker, or the person engaged in the business
as a side issue, that we must beware of. It is often true that blame
_ should attach to the intending purchaser quite as much as to the
ng nurseryman for the introduction of new pests into a locality. This
is especially true of the newcomer, who is perhaps absolutely ignorant
of the existence of injurious orchard pests. After securing his land,

$

By . THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION,

he naturally goes into the market to purchase his trees where they are
offered the cheapest. Usually the cheapest places are in sections where
the pests are the most in evidence. If, perchance, he notices the scale
or other insects upon the trees, he is blandly informed that they are
of no consequence and can not live in the neighborhood where he
expects to take them, besides they have been thoroughly fumigated,
and there is absolutely no danger of any spread of the pests from the
trees, ete. ;

We have frequently had very unpleasant experiences in condemning
stock under conditions as above represented. Another class of pur-
chasers that must be closely watched is the speculator, “‘the get-rich-quick
fellow,’’ who expects to plant out a new tract and unload it on to some
tenderfoot at the first favorable opportunity. He is generally on the
lookout for cheap trees, and is often loaded up with scale infested stock
from some quarantined section, unless the horticultural official is fortu-
nate enough to get an interview with him before such a mistake is made.

As to the value of quarantine regulations, we trust we may be par-
doned in referring to this county to substantiate our claim as to the
wisdom of this method for the control of inseet pests. We absolutely
refuse to admit stock from districts known to be infested with any
serious pests that have not been introduced into our county. We also
refuse to admit nursery stock infested with red scale, though we are
expending quite a sum of money annually to control this pest in our
county. We are bending every energy to prevent it gaining headway
in new orchards and clean districts of our county. The pests we have in
this county were firmly established before a horticultural commission
was ever appointed, and before such remedies as fumigation were
known. By our system of quarantine and inspection we have been
able to keep out such pests as purple scale, silver mite, phylloxera, and
white flv, as well as others of less importance. In referring to the above,
our present board of horticultural commissioners does not wish it to be
understood that it was the originator of this valuable precautionary
work. The credit belongs to our predecessors in office, as it has been
the pohey since the formation of the first board of commissioners of
our county. The present board has simply extended and improved the
quarantine from time to time, as appeared to be for the best interests of
our fruit industry.

What other method but an absolute quarantine could prevent the
introduction into any locality of such pests as the white fly, phylloxera
of the vine, purple scale, silver mite, and Morellos orange maggot, as
well as many other serious. pests that could be named? It matters not
how carefully we may inspect or what remedies we may apply to nursery
stock coming from infested lcealities, if continued for any length of
time, it is sure to result in the pests being admitted into otherwise
elean districts.

As horticultural officials, it is our duty to use every precaution to
prevent the further spread of injurious orchard pests. An industry that
represents an income to the State of nearly sixty million dollars annu-
ally should be entitled to and receive the-greatest possible protection.
To this end the horticultural official should have the active cooperation
and earnest support of every fruit grower and taxpayer of the State.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 153

MR. ROEDING. I really believe that it would be far better for
the horticultural interests of this State if our State quarantine officers
regulated the districts which would be quarantined. I think all the
horticultural commissioners fully realize that it is very difficult, indeed,
to draw an imaginary line between counties. In quite a number of
counties in Southern California no grapevines are permitted to come
from certain places. If the commissioner from Fresno County makes
the report that the vines which had been raised from cuttings had
heen grown in a district where phylloxera is not known to exist, those
vines are allowed to come into this county. San Bernardino County
under no consideration allows vines to come from a district north of
the line of San Luis Obispo and Kern counties. The counties north
of. the line mentioned are permitted to ship vines into Los Angeles
County, with the proviso that they notify the horticultural commis-
sioner, and also that they can only ship these rooted vines to a grower.
They are not permitted to ship them to a nurseryman to distribute
them in small lots where it is impossible for the horticultural commis-
sioner to keep them under his observation. Under these regulations
we have been shipping vines to Los Angeles and San Bernardino
counties. It is not at all unlikely that if those vines are infested with
phylloxera, that that insect will get over the imaginary line between
Riverside and San Bernardino counties. So, it seems to me, the best
interests of this State demand a uniform horticultural ordinance, so
that where a dangerous insect pest is known to exist, the State
Commissioner can use his judgment as to whether a shipment shall
be made from one county to another. I don’t want to expose trade
secrets, but I might say that I can ship vines to San Bernardino
County if I want to, and there is no way to follow it up. If my vines
should come from Bakersfield, the commissioner would not pay any
attention to them unless he happened to know they were from me, and
that I did not do business at Bakersfield. I will say that I have no
intention of running any game of this kind on the people of San
Bernardino County. It merely illustrates how easy it is to put these
’ things in.

MR. HARTMAN. I don’t believe that there is any physician in the
State that is capable of looking into my face and telling whether I
have ever been exposed to scarlet fever, or anything else, but if he
knows that I come from an infested district, that is enough. Mr.
Roeding does a great business. and of course has to trust to employés
to do part of it. How do we know what his employés will do?

MR. KING. Many of the conditions are brought about through
ignorance. While the discussion was on with relation to bringing in
plants to California, my mind went back to my advent to California
three years ago, my wife having come here two years previous to that
to look after our interests here. At one time my wife and another
woman thought it wise to send to Florida for some plants. They had
no idea that they were violating any law. The plants came in, and I
believe they were perfectly healthy, but they ran the same risk as
everybody else does. Now, I feel that it might be wise to have our rep-

i eye THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

resentative furnish detailed information on these points to the new- -
comers coming in from the East. It might help us in a great many
cases, and it might have prevented even the white fly’s introduction.

MR. JAMES MILLS. Mr. Chairman: Just a word. I am very
ereatly interested in this discussion and in the views that are being
expressed. Yesterday, I think it was, Mr. Roeding said he was sorry
to say he was a great sufferer from the laws as passed by some of our
counties. I thought when I looked at him, and when I heard and knew
his success, that “he was a very healthy looking sufferer. -Now, it is
nota question of Roeding or Mills or Teague or any other nurseryman’s
welfare; it is a question of the welfare of the growers at large. I am
one of those who have a nursery, who believe in drawing the line just
as close as it is possible to draw it, and to compel those who raise stock
to clean up and not allow them to ship goods into other sections not
affected with like diseases and like pests.

I have in mind a party who wanted to ship into this county a few
years ago 3,000 trees at ten cents a tree. The growers here wanted
them, and were put out at the commissioner because he said no. The
nurseryman said, ‘‘I am willing to pay the damage. What is it?”’
He said, “‘It is $10,000. Do you want to pay it?’’ And the result is
that we have not got purple scale. It was from a purple seale district.

This year the growers in Riverside raised the question, We want this
embargo lifted; we can’t get trees. And let me tell you that the
growers wanted to go into the purple scale districts, into the red spider
districts, to import trees into this county where we don’t have it, and
the men from those distant districts from which our growers wanted
to import came into this county and purchased trees to go down there.
I have sold myself thousands of trees this year that went outside the
borders of this county; and our people want to go outside the borders
of this county to bring trees in. |

I am one of those who, having large interests in my hands for others,
am ready to put my hands in my pocket and form a company fo grow ~
stock-for the growers of this county at cost, rather than to bring trees
in from other districts where they have these diseases. God knows we
have enough. I myself am responsible in twenty months for an
expenditure of $57,000 in fighting the scale here in a small district in
this city. Shall we, the growers. earnestly seeking our welfare and
the welfare of our families, endanger for the welfare of one nursery-
man, or two, or three, all of us? I say no. (Applause.) The indi-
vidual must give way to the masses. Let us get county ordinances: let -
us get State laws; let us get national laws on these great fruit interests
involving such enormous ¢apital and labor. (Applause.)

MR. SHARP. I feel a little delicate always in talking about what
we have done in our county, or what I propose to do or what I don’t
propose to do, or anything of that kind. I want to say this, that the
best thing we have found is to educate the people to believe that they
can’t afford to go outside of the county to get a tree or vine, that they
can raise them at home, and they will grow there all right.

4

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THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15d

CHAIRMAN PEASE. I remember when this purple scale question
first came up that there was a nursery firm from Florida that were
shipping citrus nursery trees from Florida all over Southern California.
They were shipping many carloads to Pomona, where I lived at that
time, and the local inspector found.the purple scale and was inclined
to burn them up. The man who shipped them was indignant, and he
said that was absolutely unnecessary. He said, “‘The purple seale
will not live in this loeality, and if you will plant them out in your
orchards I will give you five dollars for every one you find alive after
two years.’’ I believe he also said that he would eat them. I am sure
that that man could go through the counties of this State and get a very
square meal on the purple scale.

I have had nurserymen tell me that there was no use in tryine to
keep them out, that they would get in any way. And in line with that
point, showing that they thought the scale would not live in this climate,
J want to quote a funny little piece that you will appreciate. It is
from the State Horticultural Report of 1884. It is in reference to the
black seale. You can hear this same story told in the upper parts of
our county now. They tell you it won’t live in this chmate. They said
the same thing about the red scale; they said the same thing about the
white fly; they said the same thing about the purple seale. I want to
show you what the State Entomologist.said in 1884:

The black scale is the most universal scale, and has been known by all citrus fruit
and olive growers of the State who have trees within reach of certain influences from
coast climate and winds. These limits do not extend by miles from the coast, but
by these peculiar influences referred to. It has now been fully established that this
black scale (Coccus oleo) will only thrive under certain favoring influences, and that
remote from these, in the hotter and drier interior climates, it will die out even after
being introduced on living transplanted trees.

To illustrate this fact, trees infested with this scale have been taken to the
‘interior hot valleys, and have been, after a season, found to be free of scale. I have
found this to be the case at Riverside, and other portions of San Bernardino County.
During a late visit to Ontario, this fact was brought strikingly to my notice by
Mr. Chaffey, who showed me orange trees planted last spring, and upon which a
few black scale remained; by their side trees planted a year previous to these, and
which, although at time of planting were infested, had now become clean; also at
Pomona, one of the choicest spots in the State for citrus fruits. Mr. Frank House,
in kindly showing me the orchards of that favored locality, proudly called attention
to the fact that no pest existed there upon their citrus trees or fruits. It is at this
place, a few miles from its western boundary, that this exemption from the presence
of the black scale begins, and nowhere east of that boundary can this scale thrive.
It is here that the olive first shows the beautifully bright and clean appearance so
characteristic of that tree in its perfect health. This exemption results in the greatest

fruitfulness, as I saw demonstrated by the inspection of trees at Pomona, Ontario,
and Riverside.

MR. MILLS. We have enemies enough to fight in Riverside, and the
way to preserve us from any more is to draw the line like.a wall. We
desire to protect ourselves from the future. .We must go to Sacramento
soon to get more guards at all the ports of entry on the Pacific coast,
at all the places in the south along the railroad lines, and down into
Mexico, that we may not get the Mexican worm; that we may not get
the fruit worm of the Mediterranean; that we may not get many enemies
that are seeking entry here, and that would devastate all our orchards

we have, and the interests that give us our living. Let us be protected,
and let us demand it as fruit growers. We have been neglecting it, we

and cause incalculable loss. We are here to protect the vast interests .

have been denied our rights, because we have been a miserable lot of

156 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ereatures. We have not sought our rights. We are the voters, and if
we ask to be heard we will get protection. We need it, and we should
o9 after it.

The Chairman here announced the evening session, which was to be
devoted to an illustrated description of the white fly campaign, and the
session adjourned.

EVENING SESSION—THIRD DAY.

Thursday evening was devoted to a lecture on the work done against
the white fiy (Aleyrodes citri) at Marysville, Oroville, and Bakersfield.
This was illustrated with a long series of stereopticon views, showing
the necessary destruction of the citrus trees and other food plants of
the white fly in the affected districts. These views were described by
Mr. E. K. Carnes, under whose direction the work was done. There was
a very large attendance present, and the views impressed upon the
orange growers of the State, more than any words could have done, the
sacrifices which have been made by the people of the affected sections to
preserve the great orange industry of the State from destruction.

Upon conelusion of the lecture a number of questions bearing on the
subject were asked, after which an adjournment was taken until Friday,
May 1, 1908, at 9:30 o’clock a. M.

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THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15

PROCEEDINGS OF FOURTH DAV.

Fripay, May 1, 1908, 9:30 o’clock a. m.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. E. W. Holmes has a little statement
to make about the Riverside navel orange, the premium orange of the
world.

MR. E. W. HOLMES. Upon the opening of this Convention, your
Chairman, in a jocular way, made reference to a statement which had
been considerably circulated, and which did injustice to horticulturists.
1 have asked permission to make a statement in regard to that so there
might be no misapprehension about it.

I happened to be one of seven or eight pioneers who planted the
first orange of the navel variety. Only three of that number are now
living. Up to’ that time we were groping in the dark, and had no
knowledge what was best to do. We did not know whether we could
enter the mankets against the Florida orange. A few years after that.
the fair at New Orleans was held and it was decided to make an
exhibit there of our oranges. The result was that the Riverside exhibit
at the fair won the two gold medals and the silver medal for the best
exhibit of oranges and the best exhibit of lemons grown, against Florida
and the world. The statement has been made many times that it was a
mistake to say that the prize was won by the Washington navel, as we
eall it. That statement is a mistake. It is true that there were manv
Australian navels taken in, because in the largest exhibit we took all
varieties, Australian and bloods. and everything else, and several
varieties of lemons; but the award was really based upon the superior
quality of the navel orange. It was a great surprise to the Eastern
people at that time that California should venture to enter the race
with Florida, and should overcome it in its own field.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now hear from the @hunmnattee
on Resolutions.

Resolution Favoring the Appointment of County Horticultural Commissions.

WHEREAS it is possible that confusion or conflict may obtain through the possibility
of some counties appointing a horticultural commission under the County Government
Act, instead of under the State law authorizing the appointment of a regular com-
mission of three members, and the lack of such county commission may embarrass
the State Commissioner in properly safeguarding the horticultural interests of the
State and enforcing quarantine: therefore, be it

Keesolved, That the best interests of the State demand that every county should
promptly comply with the State law and organize a regular commission of three
members, and not proceed in any other way, thereby strengthening the work of the
State Commissioner of Horticulture in preventing the introduction or spread of
dangerous insect pests or diseases.

Respectfully submitted.

5 A. V. STHUBENRAUCH.
C. B. MESSENGER.
H.C. ROWLEY.

158 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

Resolution Indorsing the Campaign Against the White Fly.

WHEREAS the work of the State Commissioner of Horticulture, in taking up the
work of stamping out the white fly pest, has been most energetic and most effective
service has been rendered; therefore. be it :

Itesolved, That the State Commissioner of Horticulture and his corps of assistants
are worthy of commendation and the fullest support from every fruit grower in the
State; and be it further !

Resolved, That this Convention urges that the State Legislature make more liberal
appropriations for this office. ;

Respectfully submitted.

A. V. STEUBENRAUCH.
C. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

Resolution Indorsing the Work of G. Harold Powell.

WHEREAS the results accomplished by the Secretary of Agriculture in detailing
Mr. G. Harold Powell and his corps of assistants to investigate the causes of losses
in citrus fruit shipments through decay, have resulted in the saving of yast sums to
that industry and in encouraging its extension; therefore, be it

Resolved, That this Convention most heartily indorses this work, and urges its
continuance and extension to deciduous fruits, grapes, and vegetables.

Respectfully submitted.
: ; - A. V. STEUBENRAUCH.
C. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

Resolution Indorsing the State University and Professor Wickson.
WHEREAS the University of California Experiment Station is rendering a most
‘valuable service to the horticultural interests of the State in many and sundry
activities in all. sections; and
WHEREAS Director Wickson and his able staff-are deserving of the hearty support
and commendation of the fruit growers of this State; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the approval and indorsement of this Convention be, and is hereby,
given the University and Director Wickson.
Respectfully submitted.
A. V. STEUBENRAUCH.
C. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

Resolution in Favor of Inspection of Plants Passing through the Mails.

WHEREAS the transmission through the mails of seeds and plants from quaran-
tined. sections of the country endangers the farming interests of this State by
bringing into California seeds and plants which may be infested with dangerous
pests and diseases; and ;

WHEREAS ho inspection is allowed by the Post Office Department of such mail
before delivery of the package; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Secretary of this.Convention call to the attention of the Post
Office Department and the Department of Agriculture the dangerous possibilities
. of this situation, and urge, as the sense of this meeting of fruit growers of California,
the serious conference of the two departments, with a view of arriving. at some
means of overcoming this danger. —

Respectfully submitted.
A. V. STEUBENRAUCH.
: .C. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

Resolution Favoring Woman Suffrage. :
Resolved, That we favor the submission to the qualified electors of the State of
a constitutional amendment providing for the extension of the suffrage to women
on equal terms with men.

Respectfully submitted. .
A: V. STEUBENRAUCH.

Cc. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

Resolution of Thanks.

WHEREAS the success of any public convention is due. in large measure, to the
efficiency and skill of the local committee of arrangements, in preparing in adyance.
the conveniences and material for the work and pleasure of the meeting; and

WHEREAS the Thirty-fourth California Fruit-Growers’ Convention is, in large
measure, indebted to the Committee of Arrangements of this occasion, Messrs. Mills,

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 159

1

Reed, Holmes, Chase, and Rumsey, assisted by Mr. May,.Secretary of the Chamber
of Commerce. for the successful accomplishment of its duties: now, therefore. be it
Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention are sincerely voted to these gentle-

_ _ Resolved, That a vote of thanks be, and hereby is, tendered to the Woman’s Club
_ of Riverside, for the very enjoyable entertainment provided for the members of the
_ Convention on Wednesday evening, this also to include all who took part in the

_ programme on that occasion.

_ _ Resolved, That a vote of thanks be, and hereby is, tendered to the citizens of
; Riverside who so generously provided such a desirable and convenient meeting place

for the Convention.

_ Resolved, That a vote of thanks be, and hereby is, tendered to the press of the

State for the work done in promoting the Convention, by timely notices in advance

of the meeting, and also to the local press for the full reports published of the

proceedings of this Convention.
Respectfully submitted.
A. V. STEUBENRAUCH.
C. B. MESSENGER.
H. C. ROWLEY.

On motion of H. C. Rowley, duly seconded, the above resolutions were
unanimously adopted by the Convention.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. ‘Whe Committee on the President’ gs; Ad-
dress will now report.

Report of the Committee on President’s Address.
To the California Fruit-Growers’ Convention:

Your committee desires to submit the following report and recommendation on
the President’s semiannual address for your careful consideration :

This address is deserving of the closest attention on the part of our fruit growers,
as our interests undoubtedly represent as large an investment of capital and an
annual income to our great State equal to the income of any other industry.

Our President has presented, in his address, an array of facts, which show, con-
clusively, that although our fruit growers are contributing more money in the way
of taxes, and doing more to add to the wealth of the State, that the legislative
branch of our government has not made appropriations in keeping with the proper
prosecution of his work.

We most emphatically recommend that our fruit growers use every effort in their
power to impress the members of the next Legislature, from their respective districts,
with the necessity of making liberal appropriations for the benefit of our vast
horticultural interests, so that the efficiency of the working force, so ably guided
by our President, shall not be hampered in its investigations on account of the lack
ot funds in this laudable work. .

We desire to commend the efforts displayed by our Presidert, and his efficient
corps of deputies, in their prompt and effective work in exterminating the white fly
; (Aleyrodes citrt) in such localities where reports were received of its existence.

It is needless to say that we fully understand the importance of continuing this
work along the lines which have been followed, but that we have not been sufficiently
roused to the fact that unless more funds are provided for the conduct of this
office. that the efficiency which we expect from these officials will not be realized.
At our semiannual convention we should aim to aid our President in his efforts
to accord all those who are invited to address us the time allotted to them for the
proper presentation of their papers, and the discussions which are to follow.

We recommend that a copy of this address be placed upon the desk of each
member in the halls of the Legislature at the next session, so they will have an
opportunity of learning for themselves the importance of the work which is being
done in our interest. Further, that the Committee on Legislation shall. by personal
solicitation, do everything in its power to have the appropriation for our horti-
cultural interests increased in keeping with our needs.

J. H. REED.

C. E. BEMIS.

GEO. C. ROEDING.
On motion of George C. Roeding, duly seconded, the report was
adopted as read.

MR. MILLS. I move you that the Secretary of our Convention be
‘Instructed to forward through the United States mail a copy of the
_ President’s Address, so soon as it shall be known after election who

.

160 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the members of the next Legislature are, to every member of that
Legislature.
Motion seconded, and earried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the pleasure of hear-
ing from a practical orchardist, a man of large orchard affairs. ‘‘Main-
taining the Fertility of the Orchard,’’ by Frank L. Palmer, of North
Pomona.

MR. PALMER. On Wednesday, a gentleman was introduced to me
at the hotel, who said he was particularly glad to meet me, as he noticed °
that I was to have a paper on fertilization, which he would very much
bke to hear, but would not be able to remain over until to-day. He said
that he had made investments in orange property, and was going to
make other investments in orange property in other parts of the State,
and under the circumstances would I not just tell him in a word which
is the best brand of fertilizer. (Laughter.) I will simply say if the
gentleman had: waited over he would probably have been very much
disappointed in my paper.

MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF AN ORCHARD.
sy FRANK L. PALMER, oF NortuH Pomona.

We have heard a good deal in recent years about wornout and unpro-
ductive farnis. About the year 1890 these so-called ‘‘ abandoned farms’’
of New England came into special prominence by reason of the fact that
some of the New England states issued lists of such property for sale—
these lands having been sold to the State for unpaid taxes. The. title
of the pamphlet issued by the. State of Massachusetts was this:
_““Deseriptive List of Farms in Massachusetts Abandoned or Partially

Abandoned.’’ Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont issued simi-
lar lists, and in a State report for Maine the large number of 3.398
such farms is mentioned.

Unproductive farms are not confined, however, to the New Eneland
states. We know, as a most serious fact, that the once rich pratries of
Ilhnois, and other states of the wheat belt, have become so impoverished
by continuous cropping that the land.is how yielding less than half
the number of bushels of wheat it produced forty years ago. Many
farmers of Illinois grew wheat upon those fertile lands year after year
until wheat could no longer be profitably grown, then they moved on to
Nebraska and the Dakotas and repeated the process, and the same class
of farmers are still moving on to seek virgin soil in Manitoba.

Such is man’s wasteful method. But let us turn for a moment from
man’s methods to nature’s methods. In a state of nature do we find
land worn out by reason of its having been taxed with a heavy growth?
The early American pioneers pushing their way toward the West,.
eutting out forests, clearing timber lands, and converting them into.
farms, did not find this land impoverished because it had been growing
and nourishing a forest. No; in nature fertility is maintained by
nature’s own processes. ‘‘In nature those elements of fertility which:

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVEN'TION. 161

have been withdrawn from the soil by plants in their growth are
returned to it by their death.’’ In the case of the forest lands, the
eriginal fertility of the soil has not only been maintained, but vastly
increased by the decay of leaf mold and other vegetation, and the sub-
sequent formation of humus in the soil. Here, then, we perceive the
working of a natural law of replenishment or restoration. This law,
ordained by the Maker of the Universe and observed in nature’s own
processes, must be obeyed by man. We must restore to the soil those
elements that we remove from it in crops, or, failing to do this, we
shall bring poverty upon ourselves and upon those who are to follow us.

All these facts are perfectly familiar to us. There is no need,
before an audience like this, to make any argument to emphasize the
necessity of fertilization of our soils. We recognize the necessity ; we
are willing and even anxious to obey the law of restoration; but when
we fertilize our farms and our orchards, we desire to do it wisely and
intelligently; and we find the subject hedged about with some diffi-
culties, and containing problems still unsolved.

It is an interesting fact that it was only about one hundred years
ago that the sources of plant food began to be correctly understood.
Professor Snyder says, in the introduction to his admirable book,
that, while manures had been used from the earlest times, and their

beneficial effects recognized, their action was regarded as mysterious,

so much so that the alchemists preached a theory that so-called ‘‘spirits’’
left the decaying manures and entered into the plant, thus accounting
for its more vigorous growth. Continuing, he says that among the
first to see the relation between chemistry and agriculture was Sir
Humphrey Davy, who published a treatise on the subject in 1813.
Since that date vast strides have been made in the proper understand-
ing of the composition of plants, and of the sources and composition
of plant food. Years of study and investigation have been given
to the subject by eminent men of many countries, and through the
investigations and extensive field experiments carried on by such
scientists as. Von Liebig, in Germany, and Lawes and Gilbert, in
England, the world at large attained much of its enlightenment which
forms the basis of our present day knowledge of these subjects.
Coming down to our own time, and to the present day, I think it
may be confidently said that a.distinct advance has been made in our

. orchard practice by us farmers here in Southern California, during

the past twenty years. Fertilization is practiced much more wisely
and intelligently, I feel sure, than it was fifteen or twenty years ago.

In no respect is this more true than in the general awakening to the

value and importance of humus.

HUMUS.

Humus has been aptly described as the ‘‘life of the soil,’’ and this
is true in a very literal sense, for it is the home of the bacteria of
the soil, those wonderful little organisms which convert the inert ferti-
lizing elements into forms which are available:as plant food. When
the humus of a soil becomes exhausted, or burned out, these micro-
organisms cease to do their work; and under these conditions our trees
may be insufficiently fed even though a plentiful supply of fertilizers

ieee

162 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

may have been applied; and this because of the fact that the free
roots can not take up fertilizers in the forms in which we apply them.
Almost all the fertilizing elements that we use have first to be con-
verted, by the action of the soil bacteria, into other forms that are
available to the tree. ‘

What are the conditions here in Southern California? We have a
semi-arid region. Our soils contain, as a rule, plenty of lime and
potash, but are very deficient in humus and nitrogen. It thus becomes
of vital importance that we conserve our humus supply, and add to
i1.in every feasible way. I consider that for our arid region the basis.
and foundation for all successful fertilization is the maintenance of a
supply of humus.

How is this to be done? I know of only two ways. One is by liberal
applications of stable manure, or straw, alfalfa hay, or other mulch,
and the other is by the growing and plowing under of cover erops. —

STABLE MANURE.

The fertilizing effect of stable manure is far in excess of what we
would expect from simply studying the amount of plant food contained
in the manure. Dr. Wiley of the Agricultural Department has this
to say on that point:

The action of stable manure is another instance of the great benefit which is
derived from manuring a field with nitrifying organisms. It is well known that the
nitrifying ferments of decomposing stable manure are particularly numerous and
vigorous. It has long been a matter of wonder among agronomists to find stall
manure. when scattered over a field, producing fertilizing results far in excess of
what could be expected from the quantity of plant food contained therein. In the
light of the facts set forth above, however, these results are no longer surprising.
In the distribution of the manure large numbers of a particularly vigorous species
of nitrifying organisms are incorporated with the soil, and these and their progeny
continue to exercise their activity upon the inert nitrogen of the soil when the more
easily nitrifiable portions of the stall manure are exhausted.

Let us, then, use stable manure, and accord to it the high apprecia-
tion that it deserves. It is a most valuable fertilizer, particularly
for use in old orchards, where, owing to the size of the trees, it is
difficult to grow cover-crops successfully. Before leaving the subject
I desire to add, however, that I do not regard the exclusive use of stable
manure as desirable. It is a one-sided, unbalanced fertilizer; being
rich in nitrogen as compared with phosphoric acid and potash. In—
its action it will combine with its nitrogen the available potash and
phosphoric acid already in the soil, and year after year the available
supply of these two constituents will become less. A bulletin of the
New York Station cites the fact that the soil of many farms in that
State has actually become exhausted by this process, where the exclu-
sive use of stable manure has continued for long periods of years.
Therefore, when using stable manure continuously, it seems to be
evident that we should use some form of potash with it, and possibly
both phosphate and potash.

COVER CROPS.
I mentioned the use of stable manure and the growing of cover-crops

as the two best methods for maintaining the requisite supply of humus
in the soil. Cover-crops easily rank first in this particular; and, besides

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 163

furnishing a supply of humus, they are also of great value and impor-
tance in other respects: The particular value of clover, peas, beans,

-yetch, and other plants of that family for adding fertility to the soil

has been known for hundreds of years, although the reason why these
legumes possessed superior qualities in this respect over other plants
is a discovery of modern times. In his bulletin on soil inoculation
Dr. George T. Moore has these interesting quotations from the writings
of Pliny the elder: ‘‘The bean ranks first among the legumes. It
fertilizes the ground in which it has been sown as well as any manure.
The yetch, too, enriches the soil and requires no attention in its
eulture.”’

But the ancient Romans knew only the fact that these legumes acted
hke manure; the true reason for the fact remained a secret and baffled
_ Many investigators ; and not until the year 1886 was it definitely proven
that the lezumes are able to acquire and store up nitrogen from the air.
This discovery is ascribed to the German scientist Helriegel.

Later still, it became definitely known that this fixation of nitrogen
from the air is accomplished by means of bacteria which gain entrance
to the roots of the legumes. Great interest was awakened in the subject
in this country when Dr. Moore of the United States Agricultural
Department perfected a method of soil inoculation with the nitrogen
gathering bacteria, and pure cultures were prepared and sent out to
farmers in many different states. This has very naturally resulted in
giving a special impetus to the growing cover-crops, which has extended
even to the orchards of California. But, whatever the cause, the fruit
erowers are sowing peas and vetches and fenugreek in the orchards
far more extensively now than was the practice fifteen years ago.

I remember that green manuring was practiced successfully by a few
orange growers in Redlands years ago, but probably Mr. James Mills,
superintendent of the Arlington Heights Orchards, has done more than
any one else to demonstrate the feasibility of growing cover-crops in
our orchards, and also the very great benefits which follow their use.
Although we must admit there are difficulties in handling these crops in
the orchard and not every one who has attempted it has been perfectly
successful, yet I think the great and peculiar value of cover-crops is
appreciated more generally to-day than ever before; and it is not too
much to say that this is the best method now known for maintaining the
fertility of our soils. There are many different ways in which we derive
benefits from their use. Here are ten different reasons that occur to
me for erowing cover-crops (legumes) in the orchard:

1. They provide humus in the soil, by which the inert fertilizing materials of the

gem are made available.
They make it possible to Bain results from the use of the cheaper forms of

ne such as Thomas slag and other unacidulated phosphates.
-. $8. They store up nitrogen from the air. and therefore act as a direct nitrogenous
fertilizer.

4. They improve vastly the mechanical condition of the soil, making it easily
possible to secure the best cultivation.

5. They put the soil into a condition to retain moisture.

6. They make the soil porous, so that proper aération is secured.

7. They are 2 means for overcoming irrigation, hardpan and plow sole.

S. While growing. they prevent the washing of the soil by the storm waters.

9. While growing, they probably assist in preventing the ‘radiation of heat from
the ground in time of a freeze.

19. They do away with the cultiv ation of the around during the winter months.

164 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

NITROGEN.

It is evident, I think, that in any plan for fertilization in this semi-
arid region, the humus content of the soil must be given first considera-
tion. If humus is deficient, it must first be supplied. After it is
supplied the foundation is laid for the use of chemical fertilizers. if
required; but to apply chemical fertilizers in a soil exhausted of its
humus may possibly work more harm than good.

It is, of course, understood that when we have grown cover-crops and
obtained our humus, we have at the same time added materially to our
supply of nitrogen.. We have added to the soil whatever nitrogen may
have been obtained from the air by the cover-crop, and further we have
restored the proper conditions for nitrification in the soil.

Whether the quantity of nitrogen so obtained is sufficient, or, in other
words, whether we may rely solely on green manuring for our supply
of nitrogen, will depend possibly upon the kind of crop we desire to
fertilize. If it be an orange or lemon crop, I think we must certainly
add nitrogen in’some other form. Perhaps an analysis of the matured
cover-crop may indicate a sufficient quantity of nitrogen for oranges
or lemons, but we must remember that. it is not in a form to be
immediately available. We have turned under a mass of green vegeta-
tion which must first be decomposed, and its fertilizing elements changed
into other forms by the action of the soil bacteria, before it’ becomes
available to the tree as plant food. It seems unfortunate that our
winter cover-crops mature so late in the season that when we turn under
this mass of vegetation it is already so late that our trees can not get
the full benefit of it in time to help the setting of the new crop of fruit.
Just at this time of the year our fruit trees need a suitable supply,
though not an excessive supply of available nitrogen; and, in order to
provide the available nitrogen, it has been the practice with many
erowers to drag down the growing cover-crop, sow a nitrogenous fer-
tilizer on top of it, and then plow under the green crop and the fertilizer
together. For this purpose either tankage or dried blood will serve an
excellent purpose, provided it is put into the ground early enough. It
is very desirable for several reasons, and from every point of view,
that cover-crops be plowed under early in the season, and no later
than February; and I feel sure that the amount of benefit that may
be derived from their use will depend very largely upon right manage-
ment in this respect. If the plowing has been done early we may use
a dressing of nitrate of soda a little later to good advantage, particularly
if the spring weather is cold. We know that the processes of nitrifica-
tion require a certain degree of warmth in the soil (Snyder says a
temperature of 54 degrees to 99 degrees is the most favorable). and it
is well to keep this fact in mind when considering whether to use nitrate
of soda in the early spring.

There is another aspect of the matter to be noted, which is that
we should not go to extremes in supplying nitrogen. If it be supplied
in excessive quantities, plants and trees use it very freely, and in the
ease of fruit trees, we sometimes get bad results. The quality of
the fruit may be injured in this way, of which we have often seen
evidence in the orange. And not only is this true, but if the excessive
Teeding occurs about blossoming time, the growth of leaves and stems

aS eh a a

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 165

will be promoted at the expense of the fruit buds, which then develop
imperfectly, resulting in a decreased, instead of an increased, fruitage
of the tree.

" PHOSPHORIC ACID.

There are two other of the fertilizing elements which we must return
to our soils in order to maintain their fertility, namely, phosphoric
acid and potash. Nitrogen, as we have seen, promotes the growth and
sustains the vigor of the tree; phosphorie acid, it is believed, promotes
a large yield of fruit. My idea is that in growing fruits we should
supply phosphoric acid quite generously. But the form in which we
will get, the most benefit from it is a question more difficult to decide;
and even scientific men, after years of field experiments, are not well
agreed on the subject.

If we buy superphosphates, for example, we will get a large per-
eentage of the phosphoric acid in a water soluble form; if we buy
Thomas phosphate powder, we will get a high percentage of phosphoric
acid with but very little of it in soluble form; and if we buy untreated
bone meal we will have a material in which a medium percentage of
the phosphorie acid is water soluble, but which is all ultimately avail-
able to the tree. These three materials, together with guano phosphate,
are the phosphate materials we see the most of in California.

The advantages and the disadvantages of a soluble phosphate may be
stated in this way: When soluble phosphoric acid becomes distributed
in the soil, a process of fixation rapidly takes place, the phosphoric
acid uniting with the hme and other alkaline bases present in the
soil. This process is what is commonly spoken of as ‘‘reversion.’’ If
there is plenty of lime in the soil, the lime will be the first of these
alkaline bases to get the acid, and the reverted phosphorie acid is then
just as valuable as it was before, because, in this form, it is still avail-
able to the roots of the trees. If, however, there is not much lime
in the soil, but a good deal of iron and alumina, these bases will get
the acid; which, particularly in the case of iron, would pretty effectu-
ally lock it up, and it is in this respect that possible loss of phosphoric
acid takes place. You will notice, then, that there is little danger of
loss by leaching, because the phosphoric acid, by the process of com-
bination, becomes fixed in the soil, and the only loss is in cases where
the soil may be very deficient in lime and very rich in iron. Soils of
this character are, I think, quite uncommon in Southern California.
My understanding is that our soils are, as a rule, rich in lime, and
therefore we may use phosphates freely in any form without having
the phosphoric acid either washed out of the soil or locked up by
combination with an iron base. ‘‘But if the soluble phosphate is
quickly converted into an insoluble form, it may well.be asked what
has been gained by all the trouble and expense of converting the
insoluble phosphate into a soluble form?’’ This question is raised
in a bulletin of the West Virginia Experiment Station, and the answer
is so admirably stated that, although I have quoted it more than once,
I think it will bear repetition. The author says the chief advantage
is a-matter of ‘‘distribution.’’

When the soluble phosphate is applied to the soil it quickly passes into solution,
and, as the soil water is never at rest, the phosphate solution soaks through the

166 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

soil in every direction, bathing every little particle of sand and silt and clay, and
gradually being deposited among them as the necessary lime is found. These
deposited or precipitated particles are extremely minute, and so expose an immense
amount of surface to the action of the soil water.

Then, after speaking of untreated rock and untreated bone, Pro-
fessor Hite, the writer of this bulletin, says:

The greatest disadvaritage of such materials is that when applied to the soil they
remain where they fall. They may be scratched about more or less by the harrow
or the hoe, but even if the field could be shoveled over, or run through the most
improved disintegrator and mixer, the best that could be hoped for would be a com-
paratively inert particle here and there. The case is altogether different when the
soluble phosphate is used, for the deposited particles are not only readily available

when needed, but they are so thoroughly incorporated with the soil particles that
they are everywhere within easy reach of the roots.

It seems to me there is another feature that might be classed <
an advantage, namely, that for: fruit trees the reverted form of bia.
phate is the very best form of phosphate we could have. This may
very possibly be disputed but the di-basic, or reverted, phosphate
appeals to me as being superior to the mono-basie or soluble form, and
also to the other two less soluble forms.

So much for soluble phosphates. On the other hand the less soluble
phosphates have the advantage of being cheaper in price, and in con-
nection with cover-crops, or in cases where there is a plentiful supply
of humus in the soil, often give good results. Professor Hilgard for-
merly recommended Thomas slag phosphate, and I presume would still
do so. This is a four-lime phosphate which is ground to a very fine
powder, and in this condition.is partly available. It is thought very
highly of in England, and after we succeed in getting our orchards
well stocked with humus we may find it one of the most economical
forms in which to buy our phosphorie acid.

One other thing ought to be said. The use of phosphate material
is very necessary in our orchard practice, but to use it in large quan-
tities where nitrogen is deficient will undoubtedly do harm. If used
on plants without a sufficient supply of nitrogen present it sometimes
has a burning effect, and I have known orange trees to receive similar
harm which apparently was caused in this way.

THE USE OF THE SIMPLES.

We have seen that both nitrogen and phosphoric acid may produce
bad effects when used separately and in excessive quantities. This is
equally true of potash. To fertilize rationally it is necessary to bear
in mind that no one of these fertilizing elements ean fulfill by. itself
the requirements of the tree; they act in combination in the plant or
tree, each being necessary to the others, and each supplementing the
action of the others. It is evident, therefore, that caution must be
used in applying these elements separately.

Perhaps the strongest argument that can be made in favor of the use
of complete fertilizers is that they are, as a rule, well balanced ferti-
lizers, intelhgently prepared to meet the requirements of the given
crop, and therefore are not liable to do harm, but, on the contrary,
will ordinarily prove highly beneficial. The strongest argument against
them les in the matter of cost.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 167
It is more economical to buy the ‘‘simples’’ than to buy complete
fertilizers. We may also use these different fertilizing elements sepa-
rately, and even at different times of the year under the right condi-
tions, but in so doing we certainly should not use either one of the
elements in excess, and to the neglect of the others. I think a good
plan is to decide upon a ration that we think suited to our require-
ments for a given season, and then adhere to that ration during the
fertilizing period of the year. For example, barnyard manure supple-
mented with bone meal is an excellent ration. Another ‘fine ration,
now much in favor, is the application of phosphates and potash (or
phosphates alone) about the first of September, followed by a sowing
of field peas or vetch immediately after; completing the ration in the
spring by applying dried blood or tankage when the cover-crop is
plowed under. |
These two rations ate mentioned only as examples; the point I would
make is to urge the importance of having a comprehensive plan for the
season’s fertilizing, broad enough to fulfill all the requirements of the
erop.
POTASH.

As generally understood, potash is the maturing element in fertilizers.
It performs an important office in the formation of starch in the leaves
and in its transference to the fleshy part of the fruit. If in hberal
supply, it is supposed to add sweetness to the fruit. It also hardens
up and aids in maturing the woody parts of the tree, and its importance
in all these respects is universally. recognized.

We have a large supply of potash in our California soils; 40,000
pounds in the first six feet of soil is, I believe, the estimate. To what
extent this is available to the tree is difficult to determine, but we do
know that the bulk of the soil potash is not in a form to be immediately
available and only becomes available by slow degrees. We also, know
it has been repeatedly demonstrated by field experiments that under
similar conditions, with an apparently adequate supply of inert potash
in the soil, the appleation of a light dressing of available potash will
give an increase in the crop. I suppose there is no question but that
the best way to get the benefit of the soil potash is by growing cover-
crops.

It may be said that a good deal of uncertainty exists among the
fruit growers as to the advisability of using potash fertilizers; theo-
retically they are not needed, because there is a sufficient supply in
the soil, and money spent for potash would seem to be money thrown
away. 3

NO UNIFORMITY OF PRACTICE.

In this respect, as in many others, there is no uniformity of practice
on the part of the growers. This is one of the reasons why the State
of California has established an experiment station here in Riverside.
Such questions. as the potash question are to be studied by Professor
Smith and his associates, and it is expected that by means of field
experiments, now being earried on at the station grounds, and also
in some of the orchards, results will ultimately be obtained so clear
and positive in character as to serve as\rules of guidance for the future. -
Such results will be of inestimable value to the fruit industry.

168 _ THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

One of the important questions to be studied is the maximum quantity
of fertilizers per acre that we may profitably use. Another is the most
favorable time of year for applying the different forms of fertilizing
materials. Another is the problem of influencing quality of crop by
means of fertilization.

INTENSIVE CULTURE.

We have been considering the question of maintaining the fertility
of the soil. Let us go a step farther. What is the chief object the
orchardist has in view? Is it not to produce large crops of fruit of
the finest and best quality? Does not this imply intensive culture?
We might grow large and healthy trees, of ordinary productiveness,
by simply maintaining the original fertility of the soil, but to cause
these trees to produce yearly crops of fruit which shall be of maximum
cuantity, and of the best quality, may involve far more generous fer-
tization than we have ever practiced in California.

There is nothing alarming about this. In Florida experiments have
been made of increasing the applications of commercial fertilizers for
bearing orange trees year by year, and it is claimed that up to eighty
pounds of commercial fertilizer to the tree was used with ever increas-
ing profit.

And can we not influence quality of crop by means of fertilization?
Proper and improper pruning will influence quality; proper and
improper irrigation will influence quality; and so I think we may
confidently believe that we may improve the quality of our fruit by
fertilization. Not, indeed, by the use of any nostrums, nor secret
formulas, but in a purely scientific way. Science has not exhausted
herself. Science as applied to horticulture is only in its infaney, and
its possibilities are beyond our ken.

As production increases, the question of profitable fruit raising may
become more and more serious, but of one thing we may be certain—
there will always be a demand for the best fruit. ‘‘There will always
be room at the top.’’ Our conditions for successful fruit culture are
of the very best. We live in the best country under the sun; we have
the best climate under the sun; we have the best people under the sun;
and we shall fall short of our high privilege if we fail to produce the
best fruit under the sun.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have discussion by Prof.
Ralph E. Smith, of the Southern California Pathological Station, at
Whittier.

PROFESSOR SMITH. Mr. Palmer’s paper has well shown the
general condition of the fertilizer question. We all know that the
ouestion of the application of fertilizer through our citrus orchards
if a very open one, and still certain things are known while a great
many others are not.

It seems to me that citrus production has two important phases
at present. One is the financial profit. We want to grow oranges to
sell and get as much for them as possible. While other considerations
come in, that, after all, is the main question, to grow as many oranges

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THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 169

and as good oranges as we can on a given acreage on a given outlay,
and get as much money for them as possible at the least expense.

We have an index to the success of our various growers In various
districts and associations, and that is found in the daily papers every
day where we find a column which is headed ‘‘ Daily Citrus Reports of
Eastern Markets.’’ If we look over the list every day we see these
differences. In this morning’s ‘‘Times’’ we see the first brand sells for
$3.35 and the last one on the list for $1.40. There is a difference of
$1.95 a box. The ability to control the factors which brought about
those differences is the feature of supreme importance in growing and
selling oranges. One was selected and was a better quality of fruit
by selection. One was a fancy or extra faney and the other a low
standard.

Now, there is another factor besides the selling price. Two or three
weeks ago I happened to be over in Salt Lake City, and I examined
the condition of oranges. I found that you could not buy oranges
of good quality there for less than fifty cents a dozen. I watched the
markets, and I watched the oranges at a certain fruit stand, and very
often a certain orange would stay there for several days. The price
was too high and the quality was too low. So, I do not think it is
desirable to look for the highest price all the time. In my opinion it
is more important to decrease. the cost of production than to increase
the selling price. We must look more to economy of production than to
high prices.

Fertilization is one of the most important factors. It is not the
only factor, but it is a very important one. At the end it comes down
largely to the difference between the general and the specific, and it is
a very important, or a very doubtful question which is more important,
the perfection of the general or the perfection ‘of the specific; that
is to sav, whether it is altogether desirable to try to show people
that they’ can put on a certain thing and a certain amount and
leave out everything else and get certain results. And the question
comes up whether it is not desirable to advise the use of a complete
fertilizer. It is quite doubtful at present whether there is not more
danger with the average grower in advising him to use single elements
than there is in advising the use of some good commercial fertilizer.

Now, the citrus experiment station is established for the benefit of
the citrus industry, and has already begun considerable work in regard
to this problem of fertilization. We are experimenting on a large.
number of trees by the use of different elements—nitrate of. soda,
phosphoric acid, potash, and other things.

I find in this well-known book compiled by B. M. Lelong, on ‘‘ Citrus
Culture,’’ an article by Professor Hilgard on ‘‘ Fertilization,’’ in which
he says:

A question wholly aside from those discussed above, is that of the special modifi-
cation of crops by the use of a surplus of certain substances known to produce a
specific effect. Thus, common salt is known to make asparagus and some other
yegetables more succulent and tender; nitrogenous matter increases the size and
succulence of fruits, and some experiments made with potash fertilizers on oranges,
point to an increase of sweetness thereby. It is, then, simply a question whether or
not purchasers appreciate such modifications sufficiently to render their attainment

a profitable undertaking, apart from any increase of the crop or the maintenance of
soil fertility.

170 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In a book written by Dr. Marshall Ward, the English botanist. on
‘“Diseases of Plants,’’? he says that the greatest advance in the last
decade in agriculture is the recognition of the plant itself as a central
figure, and not the climate or soil or other factors of its environment.
and he goes on to depreciate the importance of agricultural chemistry,
and brings out the supreme importance of the plant itself. He com-
pares it to a factory. He says if we had a factory we might keep track
of what went in at the doors and what came out as the finished product,
but we would not be aware of what went on in the inside.

I have taken too much time already, and I thank you for your
attention.

MR. JAMES MILLS. This paper by Frank L. Palmer is a classic
on this subject in this State.. I commend it to every grower in the
State. He has stated the question so clearly, and with such intelligence,
that it can not be improved on and won’t be improved om for many
years to come. Every grower everywhere ought to read Frank LL.
Palmer’s paper, and it ought to be sent to them. It is a classic, Mr.
Chairman. I never heard such a paper. It commends itself to me,
and I commend it to everybody.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are now ready for the next paper,
‘“Date Growing in Southern California,’’ by Prof. 8. GC. Mason.

DATE GROWING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

By SILAS C. MASON, ARBorICULTURIST, PLANT Lire History INVESTIGATIONS.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. :

Date growing is doubtless one of the oldest of horticultural industries,
its culture by the Egyptians 2000 years B. C. being well authenticated
by tablets and hieroglyphics, and by the Assyrians at a period much
more remote. Assyrian wall tablets, long misunderstood, are now recog-
nized as showing-the pollination of the date tree as an important
ceremonial. And, indeed, it may well have been so regarded, for as the
bhghting of the corn tassels by the hot prairie winds of western Kansas
or Oklahoma means the failure of the corn crop, so any failure in the
critical process of artificially pollinating the date flowers with male
flowers from separate and perhaps distant trees may mean the loss
of their only food crop to thousands of people of the desert regions.
Few people who purchase dates as a confection realize that they are
one of the world’s staple food crops, and the timber afforded by the date
palm trunks the main dependence of large numbers of people in the
erection of their rude dwellings and villages.

Few trees in cultivation are so peculiar in their requirements or so
restricted as to the area of their profitable productiveness. Like most —
woody plants of cultivation, the date varieties are not reproduced true
from seed. Unlike our common exogenous fruits, as, for example, the
navel orange or the Bellflower apple, where a single twig may. aitord
buds from which twenty new plants true to the variety may be propa-
gated, the date tree has, except in rare instances, no branches, but

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS” CONVENTION. 171

only the terminal bud putting forth the enormous compound leaves,
and a lhmited number of suckers or offshoots from the base of the trunk.
These offshoots constitute the only means of propagating the variety,
and as they should be three or four years old before being removed
from the parent tree, and as their production ceases by the time the
tree is fifteen or twenty years old, we see how slow. and expensive a
matter it is to get a date garden established, and that the danger of a
rush into the date growing industry and consequent overproduction is
not great.

CLIMATE.

In climatic requirements the date demands great heat, long sustained,
and a dryness of atmosphere found only in almost rainless regions.
A clear distinction must be drawn between localities where the date
tree may be grown as an ornamental and those where the fruit may
be successfully crown and ripened. In southern Florida, along the
Gulf of Mexico and alone the Pacific coast from San Francisco south-
ward, the winter temperatures are sufficiently mild and the summer heat
great enough to permit the growing of beautiful specimens of the date

tree, yet the summer temperature is not hgh enough and the humidity

too great to permit the development of the fruit.

Only regions of such extreme heat and dryness as are found in the
Sahara, the Persian Gulf countries or the valley of the Euphrates
of the Old World, have proved successful date producing territory.
Careful botanists have computed that the zero point of the date tree,
‘as far as flowering and fruiting is coneerned, is 18 degrees C., or
64.4 degrees F.. and Dr. W. T. Swingle, in Bulletin No. 53, United
States Department of Agriculture, has shown that where the. excess
over this in mean daily temperature added together for the growing
Bewr of from May Ist to October 31st approximates 1,500 degrees to
2,000 degrees, with the requisite sunshine and dryness of atmosphere,
early varieties of dates may be ripened.

With an excess amounting to from 2,800 to 3,300 ber for this
period, as at Cairo, Egypt, and Biskra, in Northern Sahara, date culture
becomes a standard industry, numerous varieties of medium earliness
and quality being produced in commercial quantities. At Phenix,
Arizona, an excellent example of similar climate, seedling dates, many
of them of very fair quality, have ripened for many years.

With 3,800 to 4,200 heat units for the growing season in the hotter
Sahara oases and at Bagdad, the choicest long season varieties of dates
such as the Deglet Noor, Menakher, and Kustawi (S. P. I. No. 8,738),
are produced, fruits sold as delicacies rather than as staples, and com-
manding such retail prices as our choicest candies and bonbons.
Analogous climatic conditions and high number of heat units char-
acterize the Coachella and Imperial valleys of Southern California,
where we may yet expect to see these fruits produced in quantities to
satisfy our entire demand.

Dr. Swingle regards the area in the United States where date culture
is a possibility as comprising the hot interior valleys of Central Cali-
fornia, the Salton Basin. the valley of the Colorado to the Nevada line,
a small portion of the Mohave Valley and Death Valley, the lower Sait
and Gila River valleys and a small area of the lower Rio Grande Valley

ae THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

in Texas. In the cooler portions of this territory only the early, quick
Imaturing sorts could be expected to succeed, while in the hotter portions
of the lower Colorado Valley and the Salton Basin it has been demon-
strated that many of the varieties requiring the longest season may
be successfully matured. ‘

But though at home in the fiercest heat in which any vegetation
grows the date palm endures a greater degree of cold than the orange,
possibly about the same as the olive, a fact probably due to the tough,
fibrous nature of the leaves and tissues and the protected position of
its single terminal bud. There are a number of date palms about
Indio that are known to have survived a minimum of 15 degrees F.
with little if any injury, and old seedling trees are erowing in the
neighborhood of Phoenix and Tempe, in Arizona, where minima of 12
and 13 degrees have been recorded during their history.

From the heat requirements of the date palm it is natural to conclude
that it is also a drought resistant plant, but it is not more so than the
Washingtonia or desert fan palm of Southern California, which, while
a native of the hottest canyons and washes surrounding the Salton
Basin, delights to grow with its roots:in a snow fed streamlet which may
sink into the sands a mile farther out, but lacking this will be found
where there is a slow seepage and permanent moisture, though this may
be of too salty or alkaline a character for the traveler’s use.

Like the fan palm, the date palm must have an assured supply of
moisture in order to exist and a generous supply if fruit is to be per-
fected. Its root system closely resembles that of the Washingtonia, as
it develops in a few years’ time a powerful system of round cord-like
roots of great penetrating power, and able to reach considerable depths
for a water supply. Seedling date trees near Indio, which have had no
irrigation for a year and a half, have continued to make good growth,
bore fruit last year, and are flowering and setting fruit at the present
time. These are along the line of a heavy mesquite growth, and it is
known that surface wells are obtained at a depth of from fifteen to
twenty feet. It is only reasonable to suppose that the date roots have
penetrated to layers of permanent moisture.

The nature of the soil will have much to do with the water supply
demanded by a date plantation, the very sandy soil at the Mecea garden
requiring much more frequent irrigation than soils of a elay or adobe
nature. The well provided for this 10-acre tract is an artesian well,
bored about 500 feet deep and with a 314-inch casing, inside diameter.
The flow is approximately 150 gallons per minute, or 216,000 gallons
per day of 24 hours. This is equivalent to 1215 miner’s inches, as
usually reckoned. It has seldom been necessary to operate the well for
more than the 8-hour day, even during greatest summer heat, but as
the trees develop in size the demand will be greater. Dr. Swingle
quotes French authority for the daily need of date trees in northern
Sahara as from 126 to 180 gallons per tree per day, at the source
of supply, but with a considerable loss calculated for seepage and
evaporation.* With the water distributed in pipes, or tile or cement

*A report from Mr. E. F. Chumard, in charge of a plantation of Deglet Noor
date trees, on heavy adobe land near Heber, in the Imperial Valley, indicates that he
uses approximately 126 gailons a tree daily during the growing season of six months,
aay. to October, inclusive, applied direct to the orchard without allowance for seepage
or loss.

ee i a ee

re

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. LTS

conduits, as in the orange groves of Riverside County, a great saving
in the requirement per tree is effected.
At the Tempe Cooperative Date Garden in a heavy adobe soil, but

‘surrounded with alfalfa fields which are copiously irrigated, the soil

water has raised so that the trees have received no direct irrigation for
a year and a half. While this provides for the water requirements of
the orchards, of the effects on the ins of the fruit I will speak a
httle later. :

SOIL REQUIREMENTS.

That dates may be grown upon a great variety of soils has been fully
demonstrated in this country, as well as in their home, but we still have
to gain much experience as to soil adaptations of different varieties.

At the Tempe garden growth of all varieties upon the brown adobe
soil of the Salt River bottoms is very rank and luxuriant, and the
production of fruit all that could be expected. It is evident, however,
that the ripening of the fruit is a good deal retarded by moisture which
the soil retains, and it seems evident that many varieties of fruit are
of a more soft syrupy nature grown here than in the dry hot sands at
Mecea.

A situation where the drainage is bad and irrigation or flood waters.
not readily removed should be avoided. With the heavier soils it is very
important that baking and cracking should be prevented by prompt
cultivation as soon as the ground can be worked after irrigation. In
short, good drainage and aération of the soil are as essential to the
date as to ordinary crops.

ALKALI RESISTANCE OF DATE PALMS.

The alkali resistance of the date is very remarkable, it ranking as
the most resistant plant in cultivation, even exceeding the Australian
salt bush. Old well-established trees are able to endure a much greater
streneth of alkali than young seedlings. The old trees may seem to be
much more resistant than they really are from the fact that alkali
accumulations on the upper layer of soil, which is usually turned by the
plow, may become very heavy with little injury if the roots can pene-
trate to subsoils having a comparatively small percentage of the poison-
ous salts. This is very noticeable in the Tempe garden at the present
time. The plantation was made in 1900 on land where alfalfa had been
killed out, and similar to lands which Thomas H. Means, of the Bureau
ef Soils, had found to contain about 214 per cent by weight of harmful
soluble salts in the upper 12 inches. At the present time there is a
marked alkali crust over the whole area, and the problem of keeping
down weeds is practically eliminated, for few attempt to grow. Young
plants from seed sprouting under the trees turn brown at the surface
of the soil and die before the end of their first summer. The caretaker
has been unable to surround his house with any shade trees, a single
pomegranate bush being the only woody plant besides the dates able to
Survive in the enclosure. The fact that the ground water rises very
quickly when the surrounding alfalfa fields are irrigated shows ‘that
there is a free movement of water in the substrata, probably a part
of the great Salt River subflow, and the date roots are doubtless grow-

174 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ing in a soil with a low per cent of alkali and not liable to eliation.
Dr. Swingle has shown in Bulletin No. 53, formerly referred to, that
date trees do not thrive if the soil at all depths contains more than 0.5
per cent of alkali. He also shows that water of a per cent of saltiness”
or alkalinity that would be fatal to ordinary crops may be used in the
irrigation of the date tree provided good drainage is afforded. In this
discussion it should be remarked that only the so-called white alkalies,
the chlorides and sulphates are referred to. While the date is in a
degree resistant to the black alkali, sodium carbonate, but a very small
per cent of it could be tolerated.

These facts regarding the date palm are of the utmost economic
importance in relation to the development of Southern California. In
both Coachella and Imperial valleys, with climatie conditions equal to
any in the world for the production of dates, there are hundreds of
acres of land backed by an adequate supply of water either from
artesian wells or from the Colorado River, where the surface soil is
somewhat too strong in alkali for the growth of any known field crop,
yet where the date would thrive most admirably.

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT.

In its cultural requirements the date palm is the most unique and
interesting, perhaps, of any tree yet introduced into this country.

Dicecious in character, except in the case of occasional rare examples,*
that is, bearing the male and female flowers on separate trees, a mis-
cellaneous plantation of seedlings would on the average contain about
half of each, and as the date is wind pollinated, and the pollen impal-
pably fine and hght, the fruiting blossom would mostly receive pollen
and an abundance of fruit*be set. As an economie proposition, how-
ever, in a plantation of choice varieties. such a number of male trees
could not be afforded when a few would furnish all the flowers necessary
to pollinate the whole grove if the work is done artificially, so in
practice one male tree is set for every fifty or one hundred fruiting
trees.

The seedling males differ greatly in the time of flowetinen and in
the amount of ‘pollen afforded, two flowering for the first time at Mecea
this spring, proving entirely sterile, the anthers being mérely empty
sacks. Other male trees flower so late as to be of no value, for their
use upon belated fruiting flowers would only produce clusters of dates
too late for ripening.

So it comes about that a male variety affording an abundance of
potent pollen at a desirable season is highly valued, and offshoots from
it are set instead of taking chances on seedling varieties.

With both male and female sorts the seasonable application of water
has much to do with the earliness of flowering, and a tree has recently
come under my notice where irrigation had been neglected earlier in
the season that upon receiving an abundance of water later is just now
fiowering considerably out of time for the variety.

One important difficr ulty with the work at Tempe, Mecea. and the
private enterprise at Heber, in the Imperial Valley, is the lack of a

*Two seedling trees have been noted near Tempe. Arizona, by Mr. Simmons, care-
taker of the Tempe Co-operative Date Garden, bearing both maie and female flowers.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a5

sufficient number of early male flowers. Flowering begins in February,
and while, in theory, last year’s pollen should be used in such e¢ases
the practical keeping of it in potent condition seems to have failed in
# measure with all of these cultivators.

The tying of a little sprig from a male flower into the whisk broom-
like head of a female flower. as it bursts the sheath, looks like a simple
process, and is; but on the inteligent doing of this at just the right
time and in just the mght way depends the entire date crop, and in
districts on about the border line of date growing territory, late frosts,
- cold rains, or sweeping winds may considerably interfere with success.

Where failure has resulted the flowers may drop off early, leaving
the nearly naked strings of the spike to tell the story; but in other
cases they may hold on and the fruit grow, three dates to the flower
instead of but one, sometimes reaching large size and a_ beautiful
appearance, but lacking the seed and power to ripen. I have seen
more than a hundred pounds of fruit of this character upon a single
tree. In twelve or fourteen weeks after pollination has been accom-
plished one of the three ovules of the flower will start into vigorous
growth, while the other two will fall behind, later on sometimes appear-
ing as scales at the base of their successful rival. I have but once seen
two perfect seeded dates ripened from the same flower.

Pollination successfully accomplished, the grower’s troubles are not
yet over. With young trees, whose fruiting stalks are produced near
the ground, the weight of the rapidly developing fruit, a bunch some-
times weighing from 30 to 40 pounds, soon bends them over, and they
must be propped up. As a precaution against birds, squirrels, rats,
and sometimes the neighbor’s boys, not to say the neighbor himself, the
bunches are sometimes enclosed in stout sereen wire bags. but some
predatory *‘animal’’ occasionally cuts the stalk and carries away bunch
and bag, perhaps the only bunch of that variety vet fruited. It is
seldom that the entire crop is menaced, as occurred at Tempe in the fall
of 1906. when hordes of migratory rats invaded the plantation, and it
was only by great efforts and after the killing of hundreds of them
that a portion of the crop was saved.

The presence of a dangerous and destructive scale, the Parlatoria
blanchardi, on most of the offshoots imported from the north of Afriea
necessitates thorough fumigation on their arrival in this country. In
spite of all precautions this scale has been introduced both at Tempe
and Mecca, probably in the deep crevices beneath the leaf bases, and
while thorough cyanide fumigations have kept it well in check, it seems
likely that the gasoline flame treatment devised by Professor Forbes
will be necessary for its complete extermination. Fortunately, it
spreads but slowly and seems to have no other host.”

The labor of the date orchard is pretty well distributed throughout
the seasons. There is no portion of it dependent upon a heavy force
cf outside labor brought on for a particular period, though the gather-
ing and packing will be the most busy time, and the hopeful cultivator

Another genus of scale, the Phoenicoccus mariatti, commonly Known as the
Marlatt scale, has been present upon date trees at both Pheonix and Heber, but as
it was confined to the bases of the leaves, seemed to do little damage. Recently,
however, Mr. Chumard, at Heber, has found it in such numbers upon the bases of
fruit stalks of his Degiet Noor trees as to seriously interfere with the full develop-
ment of the fruit.

176 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

will be glad to have employment for considerable extra labor at that
period, but his wares are not so perishable as to depend on the work of
a day, as with strawberries or cantaloupes. In the distribution of the
year’s work date growing will compare well with the labor problem in
the apple orchard or grape vineyard.

ADVERSE SEASONS.

No crop grown is more liable to destruction by untimely rains than
the date crop, but the arid character of desert countries is so well .
established that these occurrences are rare. During last October the
rainfall at the Tempe garden was 21% inches, a quite unprecedented
record. Added to this the rise of the ground water from excessive
irrigation of the surrounding fields, and a period of cool nights with
heavy dews, and little was lacking to insure the destruction of the crop.
Many that ripened soured instead of curing out, and others started
to decay while still hard upon the trees. Flies and wasps swarmed in
to remind one of the plagues of Egypt. The same conditions, with
less rain, began at Mecca, but before long a drying desert wind set in
and the damage was stayed, though an autumn temperature below the
normal prevented the ripening of considerable fruit that would have
matured in ordinary seasons.

There seems no doubt that the increased humidity due to the prox-
imity of the Salton Sea, only a half mile distant, had a retarding action
on the ripening of the fruit.

In the Tempe garden fruits were ripened in commercial quantities
two years ago, though the rats destroyed a considerable part of the
erop. Those sold, chiefly of the varieties of Rhars, Tedalla, and Birket
el Haggi, brought 25 cents to 40 cents per pound, put up in neat one
pound cartons.

The choice and late Deglet Noor has not yet been successfully ripened
at Tempe. Fair specimens of this were secured at Mecca last year in
spite of the October rain, and I recently tasted very good Deglet Noor
dates from the private plantation at Heber, in the Imperial Valley.
Several of the new varieties from the M’Zab region of Algeria gave very
finely flavored dates in small samples last year. The present season
promises to show fruits of many more varieties, and among them several
bunches have been pollinated of the rare Menakher variety secured by
Mr. Thomas H. Kearney from Tunis, and of which there are but three
or four specimens living in the United States. - This superb variety,
Mr. Kearney states, is seldom placed on the market, even in Tunis,
‘“beine reserved for the tables of the wealthy natives and for gifts to
their friends.”’

CHARACTERS OF DATE FRUIT.

Different varieties of dates differ greatly in the amount of sugar
or syrup they contain. There are the soft, sticky dates which we are
accustomed to see upon the market, and others still so soft and syrupy
as not to admit of export. but which are eaten fresh or preserved in
jars of their own syrup. Still others, the choicest of all, as the Deglet
Noor and Menakher, are rich in sugar and of a delicate flavor, but
are dry and firm enough to admit of packing in long strings upon their

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. UH

own stems in fancy packages and command truly fancy prices. The
third type, or dry dates, are so far known in this country only to those
familiar with the experiment station results. Sometimes classed as |
bread dates, some varieties of them might very properly be called cooky
dates or wafer dates. So hard as to avoid all stickiness, somewhat
Sugary, yet with a distinctly wheaty taste and an agreeable date flavor
which can not be copied, they possess those agreeable qualities which
eall for ‘‘more’’ to that degree to which the great bakery and biscuit
companies are always striving to bring their products, yet the eating
of more does not bring the cloyed sensation which follows eating more
than a few of the rich soft dates. Of this class of dates are the
Kenteeshy, Kerza, and an unnamed variety which have given us excel-
lent fruit, and a number of similar or reputedly better varieties yet to
be fruited. These are medium early in maturing and less affected by
unseasonable rains than the soft varieties. At the same time they are
heavy bearers and easily kept.

‘| have offered them to but few people who failed to like them with
the first trial, and it seems to be a liking which grows. With the
American habit of buying something to nibble upon, whether peanuts,
popeorn or the latest new package article compounded from both,’ I
predict for this type of dry sweet dates an immense and lasting popu-
larity as soon as our public comes to know them.

An item of great importance in favor of American grown and packed
dates over the Arabian is brought out by Mr. David G. Fairchild,
in Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin No. 54, Persian Gulf. dates, in
which he says, page 29, ‘‘No old inhabitant thinks of eating a date
without first thoroughly washing it in a glass of water unless the cook
has prepared it beforehand, and the sale of dates in America might
fall off decidedly were it generally known how intimately the unwashed
hands, bodies and teeth of the notably filthy Arabs often come in con-
tact with the dates which are sold by every confectioner.”’

SEEDLING DATE VARIETIES.

In the production of seedling date varieties lies a most. fascinating
field for the desert experimenter. Nearly every early settlement in the
Southwest had a few old seedling date trees, either from seeds of
imported fruits from the markets or from the old stock introduced at
an early day by the missions. Some of these are of very excellent
quality. In not a few instances trees bearing choice fruit have passed
the offshoot producing stage, and no way is known by which the variety
may be propagated. At Phoenix, Arizona, owing to the intelligence and
skill of Mr. and Mrs. Lount, two varieties, perhaps the choicest that
have originated in Arizona, have been preserved and a number of off-
shoots set out.

A new seedling, recently discovered at a ranch in the Gila Valley
near Gila Bend, is of such superior flavor and earliness as to make it
a variety of great promise for propagation for the shorter season dis-
tricts of the date growing area. One decidedly good early variety has
developed among a seedling row of about twenty trees on a ranch near
Indio.

From the Mecca garden the department gave out to the settlers in

12—rec

Ss 7 . THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the Coachella Valley about 6,000 two-year-old seedling date trees last
year, as well as a large quantity of seeds of choice varieties. The plan
is to have the seedlings set in such a manner that with the elimination
of most of the male trees as soon as their character is shown by the
flowers and the discarding of the worthless fruiting varieties after a
sufficient test, there will still remain enough of fairly good sorts that
with a little shifting will occupy the ground at twenty to thirty feet
apart.

There is a trade of considerable importance at Phenix and Tempe
in fresh seedling dates grown in the neighborhood, with the demand
always beyond the supply. There can be but little doubt of the possi-
bility of such a trade in Southern California sufficient in volume to
_ justify the expense of seedling growing, while there remains over and
above the certainty of some choice native grown sorts that will add
greatly to the future resources of the community.

PEDIGREED SEED.

There still remains the fascinating problem of the production of
pedigreed date seed, by the breeding of male trees of known parentage.

It is well known that with seedling fruits not coming true to the
variety there is still a following of the type, a block of Winesap apple
seedlings, for instance, being strongly of the Winesap type. In the
case of dicecious types of plants, the seedlings of Deglet Noor dates,
for example, will have only half of Deglet Noor blood, the male parent
being a nondescript variety of unknown parentage, useful only to effect
the pollination of the female flowers. But let us select as a pollen
producer a vigorous Deglet Noor seedling and we have a known half
of Deglet Noor blood on the male side. Continue to pollinate in this
line the Deglet Noor flowers and we shall secure graded up stock—
3-4, 7-8, 15-16—acecording to the law of stock grading, till a male tree
of nearly pure Deglet Noor blood, except for the tendency to variation,
is obtained.

With such bred up male trees from the choice date varieties for pollen
bearers we shall be able to direct the tendencies of crosses and breed
seedlings for earliness, hardiness, or for fine flavor or characteristics
of fruit with some degree of precision.

As the leading apple varieties grown in America to-day are of
American origin I am convinced that the American date gardens of
the future will, more and more, contain American bred varieties.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next paper will be on ‘‘Some Points
in the History of Caprification in the Life History of the Fig,’ by
Walter T. Swingle, also of the Department of Agriculture.

SOME POINTS IN THE HISTORY OF CAPRIFICATION IN THE
LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG.

By WALTER T. SWINGLE, PHysIoLocist, PLANT Lire History INVESTIGATIONS,
_ DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
As some of my hearers may not be familiar with the figs of the
Smyrna type, I shall preface my remarks with a short account of this
remarkable fruit tree.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 179°

OUTLINE OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG.

The fig, like the cottonwood, the carob, the pistache, and some others,
exists in two forms, male and female. The female trees alone bear fruit,
and the male trees, or capri figs, as they are called, produce pollen,
which, when earried to the flowers of the ‘female trees, cause the fruits
to set and fertile seeds to develop.

From this point on, the complications begin that make the life history
of the fig one of the most interesting chapters in natural history. The
pollen is carried from the male flowers of the capri fig tree to the
female flowers of the ordinary fig tree exclusively by a very small wasp-
like insect, the Blastophaga psenes. The fig tree is absolutely dependent
on the visits of this insect for a crop of seeds, and in its turn the
Plastophaga can live and breed only in the capri figs. This mutual
dependence, or symbiosis, as naturalists call it, is one of the most strik-
ing cases known and dates back to somewhat remote geological epochs.

The capri fig tree bears fruits that, at first sight, much resemble
ordinary figs, and which though seldom edible, finally soften and fall
off. If a capri fig be cut open before it ripens fully it will ‘be seen to
be full of grains that look much like seeds. These grains are minute
galls, each one of which contains a fig insect. Finally, when the insects
are ready to cut their way out of the galls, the mouth of the capri fig
opens, and a ring of male flowers, situated just below, begins to shed
pollen abundantly. The female Blastophagas (which alone issue from
the capri figs) get coated with this pollen as they crawl out, and carry
it to the female flowers which line the young budding figs on the female
trees. The dusting of the female flower with pollen causes the fruit to
set and to bear fertile seeds.

Now the capri fig tree in order to support the Blastophaga must bear
a succession of capri figs; in most fig-growing countries there are three
generations of capri figs, called respectively the winter, spring, and
summer generations, often known by their Neapolitan names—mamme,
profichi, and mammoni. Though it is a deciduous tree, the capri fig
must carry a crop of nearly ripe but dormant capri figs through the
winter on its bare branches.

The true nature of the fig and capri fig trees as outlined above has
been obscured by the fact that many varieties of the female or ordinary
fig tree bear abundant crops without any pollination, and hence the
Blastophaga is not needed in growing such varieties (which happen to
be just the ones which alone are grown in central and northern Europe '
and in the New World). Ordinary figs are analogous to navel oranges,
which, having no pollen, likewise produce fruit without being pollinated,
and, like navel oranges, have no fertile seeds.

It was only when “the culture of Smyrna figs was thannp ted in this
State, a quarter of a century ago, that it was realized that something
Was wrong, and it was only eighteen years ago that it was finally proved
that figs of this class set no fruit unless pollinated.

In the orchards about Smyrna, in Greece, about Naples, in Algeria,
in Portugal, and in many other localities in the Old World capri figs
containing Blastophagas ready to come out are suspended in the
branches “of the fig trees to facilitate the transfer of pollen by the
insect. This operation is called caprification.

180 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF CAPRIFICATION.

The operation of caprification dates back to remote antiquity.
Already in the time of Herodotus, in the fifth century B. C., caprifica-
tion was so well known as to be used as a self-evident example in
explaining (falsely, as it happened in this case,) the artificial pollina-
tion of the date palm as practiced in ancient Babylon.

Aristotle, in a little-known chapter of his History of Animals (Bk. 5,
Ch. 26), written about 340 B. C., gives a short account of the process
that could scarcely be improved to-day. He said:

The fruits of the capri fig contain small animals called psenes. These are at
first small grubs, and when their envelopes are broken, psenes, which fly, come out;
they then enter the fruits of the fig tree and the punctures they make there prevent
these fruits from falling before they are ripe. So the countrymen take the trouble
to put branches of the capri fig in the ordinary fig trees, and also plant capri figs
near the common fig trees. r

Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, gave a still fuller account of the
operation, and was the first writer to mention that some sort of figs
set fruit without being caprified. All of the later Greek and Latin
writers on natural history refer to caprification as a well-known horti-
cultural process.

Recent studies of Solomon Reinach, the celebrated Oriental scholar,
20 to show that caprification was very well known in the earliest Greek
times before written history began. His researches led him to think
that in the earliest times there was a sacred mystery play—a cult of
the fig tree and of caprification analogous to the Eleusinean mystery
play, in which the wheat head played the principal réle. He thinks
that the word sycophant, still a part of all modern languages, originated
in these rites, and was, indeed, applied to the priest who at the eritical
moment during the ceremonies showed the fig branch (syco=—fig,
phanein=to show) just as the analogous priest, the hierophant, in the
rites of Demeter, showed the wheat head. The cult of the fig he
supposes to have degenerated in early times so that the sycophant, once
respected and feared, came to be a cheap charlatan; hence, the modern
significance of the word. If Reinach’s views are correct, the cult of
the fig must have been of great antiquity, for it to have become degen-
erated and almost forgotten before the classic Greek period.

Again, in ancient Rome, there are traces of important ceremonies
that date back to the semi-mythical times of Romulus and Remus
wherein capri fig branches were in a midsummer festival (about the
time caprification would be practiced in that latitude). Now eaprifica-
tion is unknown in central Italy, and has doubtless been forgotten for
many centuries about Rome,* yet at the very dawn of history we find
signs that caprification was once practiced there.

Strabo, the great Greek geographer, attended school when a lad some
2,000 years ago near the present town of Aidin, the center of the
Smyrna fig industry. Now, Strabo reports that in his day the figs of
that region were highly esteemed and brought the highest price in the
markets. This record goes to show that fig culture has been the princi-
pal industry in this region for two millennia, the oldest fruit industry

*The great naturalist, Pliny, did not have any personal knowledge of caprification.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 181

of which we have any record, for the date orchards that were the
admiration of Herodotus at Palmyra and Babylon perished ages ago.

These few examples suffice to show that in beginning the practice of
eaprification the fruit growers of California are reviving an operation
older than the recorded history of mankind.

HISTORY OF CAPRIFICATION IN CALIFORNIA.

As noted above, it was not until the culture of Smyrna figs was
attempted in California as a result of Mr. G. P. Rixford’s introduction
of cuttings in 1880 and 1882, that it was realized that something was
lacking, and not until Mr. Geo. C. Roeding, in 1890, and Dr. Gustav
Eisen and Mr. E. W. Maslin, in 1891,* first artificially pollinated
Smyrna figs that it was proved that caprification was absolutely neces-
sary with this type of figs. This new Californian point of view was
first published in convincing form by Dr. Gustav Eisen in a bulletin
of the California Academy of Sciences issued January 11, 1896,+ which
attracted wide attention both in this country and in Europe. It should
be noted that after the elaborate investigations of Gasparrini made at
Naples from 1845 to 1865, which resulted in his denying the efficacy
of caprifieation, botanists and edutated men generally the world over
had come to consider eaprification to be merely a peasant’s superstition
analogous to the hanging of horseshoes in favorite fruit trees to make
them fertile.

The result of Eisen’s memoir was to change all this and convince
the scientific world that caprification was after all no idle folly, but a
vitally necessary operation in the culture of drying figs of the Smyrna
type. As I shall show later on, the successful introduction of the
Blastophaga into California was brought about largely through Dr.
Eisen’s memoir.

INTRODUCTION OF BLASTOPHAGA INTO CALIFORNIA.

The first introduction of the Blastophaga was made by H. E. Van
Deman, then Pomologist of the Department of Agriculture, who, in
the spring of 1890, imported eapri fig cuttings from Asia Minor, some
of which had fruits attached from which issued the first fig insects
ever seen in the New World. Some of these cuttings, and doubtless
some of the Blastophagas, were sent to California.

The second introduction was made in the spring, and the third in

*Dr. Gustav Eisen informs me, since this lecture was delivered, that as early as
1874 his attention was called to the necessity for caprification for figs of the Smyrna
type by Dr. John Bleasdale, a Catholic priest, who had been educated in Portugal,
and who was familiar with caprification. Becoming convinced of the need of capri-
fication, Dr. Hisen read a paper before the Fruit-Growers’ Convention as early as
November, 1885, describing the operation. His views led him into a controversial cor-
respondence with Dr. H. H. Behr of the California Academy of Sciences during the
years 1881 to 1885. The artificial pollination of Smyrna figs was discussed as a
means of proving the necessity for caprification, then strenuously denied by Behr and
many others, including Mr. EK. W. Maslin. ‘

Dr. Eisen “had no opportunity of trying direct pollination (from want of capri fig
pollen) until 1891, in the last days of July.’’ At his request, Mr. E. W. Maslin
accompanied him to the orchard of James Shinn at Niles, California, where pollen
from a “Bulletin” capri fig tree (introduced in 1880 or 1882 by Mr. G. P. Rixford)
was transferred to young Smyrna figs, causing them to “come to perfection as large,
ripe and luscious figs, in every way perfectly developed, with numerous perfect seeds.”’
The experiments of Dr. Hisen at Niles were, therefore, the outcome of discussions
begun many years before.

7Hisen, Gustav, Biological Studies on Figs, Capri Figs and Caprification, in Bull.
Wal, Acad: Set (2) 5: 897-1008, Jam. 11; 1896:

182 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the summer of 1891 by Mr. James Shinn of Niles, who received from
a missionary resident in Smyrna capri figs from which the insects issued
after arrival. They failed to get established, though they were liberated
im a large “‘Bulletin’’ capri fig growing on Mr. Shinn’s place at Niles.

The fourth introduction was made in 1892 by Mr. F. Roeding of
Fresno, who received from Mr. Thomas Hall of Smyrna in June and
July several shipments of capri figs from which Blastophagas issued but
failed to get established.

The fifth introduction was made in the early spring of 1895 by
Mr. Geo. C. Roeding, who received from Mr. Anthony C. Denotovitch,
then traveling in Asia Minor, a package of capri figs in good condition,
from which, however, the insects never issued.

The sixth introduction was made in March and April, 1898, by me.
I was studying caprification at Naples at the time, and sent a number
of packages of capri figs to the Department of Agriculture at Wash-
ington, D. C., from where they were forwarded to Mr. Geo. C. Roeding
at Fresno. The earliest shipment reached Fresno on April 15th, but
though the Blastophagas came out, they failed again to establish them-
selves.

‘The seventh and last, the finally successful introduction, was made
by me in March, 1899, when I sent from Algiers a number of packages:
of capri figs, the first of which reached Mr. Geo. C. Roeding on April 6,
1899. These insects entered the young capri fig buds on a number of
trees, bred there and established themselves permanently in California.

HISTORY OF THE FINAL AND SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION OF BLASTOPHAGA
INTO CALIFORNIA.*

As there have been some misunderstandings as to how my introduec-
tions came to be made, I thought the fruit growers of this State would
perhaps be interested to know just how they happened.

I spent the spring of 1896 in Naples, and while there had the pleasure
of making the acquaintance of Prof. Paul Mayer, one of the foremost
European students of caprification. I was busy with other work at
that time, however, and did not attempt any detailed work on the fig.

However, in March of 1898, I was again in Naples, where I enjoyed
the facilities of the International Zoological Station through the
courtesy of the director, Prof. Anton Dohrn. In the mean time I had
read Dr. Eisen’s memoir on ecaprification, and, happening to see the
operation being carried out on a capri fig tree a day or two after my
arrival, I decided to study anew the whole subject of caprifiecation in
a region where it was a standard horticultural practice. At that ‘time
J had never been in California, and-all I knew about California condi-
tions I learned from Eisen’s paper. I was abroad on leave of absence,
paying my own expenses, and undertook the work wholly on my
own initiative and at my own expense. During the course of my
work J never received any suggestions from California or from any-
where in America, for the simple season that I did not myself know
when I sailed, early in March, just what I would do at Naples. and

*In this sketch I have not considered the introduction of the fig insect, which
occurs in the wild figs of Mexico, as these insects can not live in the capri fig.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’? CONVENTION. 183

after I went into the work there was not-time for my letters to reach
me even if any had been sent. I had, at that time, not yet seen the
now famous letter of the State Board of Trade, signed by Mr. KE. W.
Maslin, Mr. J. A. Filcher, and Mr. B. N. Rowley, and received no
instructions from the Secretary of Agriculture or any one else. J am
forced to make this public disclaimer in view of the mistaken state-
ments that have been published in this State as to the inception and
conduct of my work.

While working at Naples I did have the benefit of the advice of
Prof. Paul Mayer, and of Count Solms Laubach, also a famous student
of figs and eaprification.

After looking into the matter for a few days I decided to try to send
the Blastophaga to California in the firm winter generation capri figs,
which could be shipped in March when the weather at Naples was still
eool. My first shipment, containing capri figs whose cut stems had
been waxed and which were wrapped simply in tinfoil and shipped by
samples post, were sent to Washington and reshipped from there,
reaching Mr. Geo. C. Roeding in Fresno orf April 15th. Insects issued
from the capri figs, and as soon as I learned this I was sure I could
succeed in establishing the Blastophaga by my method, for I had found,
on studying the matter, that there was a great range in the time of
ripening of the winter generation capri figs, which could be had all
the way from the oases of the Sahara desert to Botzen in Southern
Tyrol. I did not hope to strike the right season in California the first
time, and as a matter of fact the winter generation capri figs from
Naples and Smyrna ripen too late in spring to reach California at the
proper time.

In July, 1898, I entered the service of the newly established section
of Seed and Plant Introduction. of which Mr. David G. Fairchild was
in charge.

My letter of instructions from Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson
authorized me to continue my work on caprification, and accordingly,
in March, 1899, I went to Algiers, where, with the amiable cooperation
of Dr. L. Trabut, Government Botanist of Algeria, I soon found
abundant capri fig trees laden with the nearly ripe winter generation
eapri figs. I shipped them in the same manner as the spring before,
and my first shipment reached Washington, D. C., on March 31st, when
it was reshipped by Dr. L. O. Howard, reaching Mr. Geo. C. Roeding
on April 6th. A capri fig tree at Fresno was covered with cheese cloth
and the insects liberated inside the tree.

- Little attention was paid to the tree after this until June 23, 1899,
when Mr. John C. Jones in collecting pollen from capri figs for the
artificial fertilization of a few Smyrna figs found a capri fig containing
male Blastophagas and still unopened galls containing female Blasto-
phagas. Of course, the tented tree was now given immediate attention.
Most of the insects had escaped, but a few capri figs were found still
full of Blastophagas, some more were found on an adjoining tree, and
a few distant parts of the orchard, proving that some of the insects
‘had escaped from the tent when liberated in April and had found other
capri fig trees in which they had bred.

The insects managed to get established in the summer generation
capri figs and by November 10th, when I visited the orchard, ‘thousands

184 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

of Blastophagas were present and were then entering and laying eggs
in the young buds of the winter generation capri figs. During the
following year, 1900,* the Blastophagas were abundant enough to be
of use in caprifying and producing the first crop of figs ever produced
by the splendid Smyrna fig orchard which had been for many years
kept up at a total loss—a standing monument to Mr. Roeding’s faith
in the ultimate success of the industry.

I might say that after making my first efforts to introduce the
Blastophaga, in the spring of 1898, I received many suggestions, but
neither the California growers nor the entomologists of Washington
had any faith in my system, being of the opinion that a small tree
covered with capri figs should be dug up and shipped over. The
trouble was, as I soon found, that it was impossible to find young and
small capri fig trees bearing winter generation capri figs. Only large
trees bore them, and the expense of moving them would have been
enormous. j

Another drawback, not realized by its adherents, of this plan, is that
for reasons to be given later only rarely if ever can the Blastophaga
breed the year round on a single tree, and the chances of its living in a
tree weakened by a long- voyage would be almost nil. The net result of
sending over a large rooted tree, bearing winter generation capri figs.
would, therefore, have been merely to land the Blastophaga in this
country. It would still have had to seek breeding places in other capri
fig trees, so that, after all, nothing more would have been accomplished .-
than by sending a half dozen capri figs wrapped in tinfoil by samples
post at a cost of a few cents.

‘““Tt’s an ill wind that blows nobody good,’’ and one good result of
the lack of faith in my method of introducing the Blastophaga and
subsequent neglect of the infected tree was that the principal parasite.
or, rather, messmate of the fig insect, Philotrypesis ficaria, which in the
Old World often takes up one third or even one half the space in the
eapri figs (and which can not caprify the figs at all), failed to get
established in this country, so California has the only simon pure
colony of Blastophaga in the world. It would be a calamity if any
further introductions were made, as there would be grave risk of intro-
ducing Philotrypesis, which if. once here could not be exterminated.

NEW .POINTS IN THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG AND CAPRI FIG.

In a lecture on Caprification, delivered before the Marine Biological
Association at Woods Hall, Mass., on August 14, 1899, and again in a
paper published in October, 1899,+ I called attention to the fact that
the Blastophagas that issue from the spring generation capri figs (in
June in most countries) enter the young budding figs of the female
or fertile fig tree, though they can not breed or even lay their eggs
there. However, if the female Blastophaga were intelligent enough to

*From the middle of March to the end of September, 1900, Mr. E. A. Schwarz, a
most competent and conscientious entomologist and naturalist, stayed at Fresno
studying the Blastophaga and caprification. These studies published in part only
in Dr. L. O. Howard’s paper “Smyrna Fig Culture in the United States” (Yearbook,
U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1900, pp. 79-106, pl. 1-8) are the most complete
ever made on the life history of the fig insect, and have also cleared up many points
in the natural history of the fig and capri fig.

7‘The Dicecism of the Fig in its Bearing upon Cap tees. in Science, New
Series, Vol. 10, pp. 570-574, No 251, 20 October, 189

eae

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 185

‘diseriminate between the budding eapri figs in which she can deposit
eggs and the ordinary fig buds in which she ean not, then no figs
would be caprified, no seeds would be formed, and soon the fig species
would die out, and with it the Blastophaga, that can breed only in
the capri fig.

EXPLANATION OF THE BREAK BETWEEN THE SPRING AND SUMMER GENERA-
TIONS OF CAPRI FIGS.

Just here is to be found the explanation of the decided break that
all observers have noticed between the ripening of the spring generation
eapri figs (profichi) and the budding out of the young summer genera-
tion eapri figs (mammoni). This break is so pronounced that when I
began studying ecaprification, one very acute observer, who had spent
several years studying horticulture in countries where caprification
was practiced, assured me that I must seek some other host plant for
the Blastophaga at this critical season, and suggested that it would be
found breeding in some of the bushes that clothe the hills in the
Mediterranean region. The ink-gall insect, somewhat related to the
Blastophaga, does go from one species of oak to another in its home
in Syria.

However, already, in 1882, Dr. Paul Mayer had pointed out that
the insects that issue from very late profichi or late varieties can enter
the very first mammoni buds to push on the earliest varieties of
eapri figs.*

Countless thousands of Blastophagas do, however, come out of the
spring generation capri figs too early to enter even the earliest summer
generation capri fig buds (mammoni), though just in season to enter
and pollinate the young buds on fertile fig trees.

BLASTOPHAGAS FORCED TO ENTER YOUNG FRUIT OF THE FERTILE FIG.

Natural selection has, therefore, brought about that even an intelli-
gent Blastophaga would find no suitable capri fig to enter, but must
finally in desperation crowd into an ordinary fig bud propelled, doubt-
less, by a powerful instinct prompting it to deposit its eggs.

The break between the spring and summer generations of capri fig
fruits has, therefore, the object of compelling the Blastophagas to enter
and pollinate the young buds of the fertile fig tree, then pushing in
the greatest abundance.

It must be remembered that in a state of nature wild fig trees of both
sexes would grow intermixed, and that the break between the spring
and summer generations of capri figs would in the absence of artificial

*Mayer, Paul, Zur Naturgeschichte der Feigeninsecten (The Natural History of
she Fig ig in Mittheilungen a. a. Zool.. Station zu Neapel, 3: 551-590, pl. 25, 26,

ov. 4, 1 :

yit was a realization of this fact which caused me to rely entirely on winter
generation capri figs (mamme) in attempting to introduce the Blastophaga into this
country. They arrive early in spring, and, if sent at the right time, find abundant
spring generation capri figs in receptive condition, whereas the spring generation
eapri figs if shipped to California arrive just during the break between the spring
and summer generation of capri figs and stand a very small chance of finding a
breeding place. Then, too, such spring generation capri figs must be shipped during
hot weather, whereas the winter generation capri figs make the voyage in March.

When I began to ship the winter generation capri figs to California I found there
Was no adequate realization here of the great advantage of sending this generation
rather than the more abundant and better known spring generation.

186 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

caprification be a powerful aid in causing the fertile trees to be polli-
nated.

Now, in orchard culture of figs of the Smyrna type, where all capri-
fication is performed artificially, the female Blastophagas have no choice
but to enter the Smyrna fig buds. In commercial fig culture it would
be an advantage to have capri fig trees that did not show, any break
between the spring and summer generations -of insects, as it would be
much easier to keep up a full supply of the Blastophaga.

NEW TYPE OF CAPRI FIG TREE ORIGINATED BY MR. E. W. MASLIN.

By a most curious coincidence, within a few days after I first thought
out this point, in August, 1906, and communicated it to Prof. S. C.
Mason, who was then studying caprification in California, he found
just such a capri fig in the Maslin orchard at Loomis, Placer County,
California.

In 1885, Mr. E. W. Maslin planted the seeds of the best grade of
Smyrna figs to be obtained in the market. Several hundred of these
seedlings were set out in orchard form on his place at Loomis. This
orchard was not a commercial success, and it was soon noticed that
many of the trees were more like capri figs than Smyrna figs. In the
fall of 1899 I found several promising capri figs there and in the
summer of 1906 Professor Mason found a very curious variety, a sort
of hermaphrodite tree, that had enough of the qualities of a capri fig
to support the Blastophaga and enough of those of the fertile fig tree
to produce an abundant crop of summer generation buds just as the
spring generation capri figs were ripening. It also bears numerous
fertile seeds mingled with the insect-bearing galls.

By planting this variety among the other capri figs the Blastophaga
will be able to breed uninterruptedly throughout the year and not. as
is now the ease, almost completely die out in midsummer.

THE CAPRI. FIG ORCHARD.

It is clear from what has preceded that the Blastophaga has a very
much better chance of breeding in a special capri fig orchard composed
of a number of varieties. Some sorts of capri figs not particularly
valuable for use in caprification, may, nevertheless, be extremely
valuable in furnishing suitable breeding places for the insect at some
critical season, as, for instance, the new variety noted above from Mr.
Maslin’s seedling fig orchard.

Since March, 1898, I have realized the importance of securing all
obtainable varieties of capri figs, and this object has been kept steadily
in view ever since. A number of capri figs were secured by me in
Naples in 1898 and others in 1899 in Algeria, Greece, and Asia Minor,
and in 1901 Mr. Carl S. Scofield made a special trip to the fig region
in the Kabylie Mountains of Algeria to secure the many eapri figs that
occur there. I secured some of the Italian sorts in 1902. In the mean
time the Maslin seedling orchard has pointed out a way to obtain still
more and ultimately still better sorts.

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 18

BREEDING NEW AND SUPERIOR FIGS AND CAPRI FIGS.

There is nothing to indicate that the Smyrna type of fig is very highly
bred or very widely different from the wild type of figs. On the con-
trary, among even the few dozen edible figs secured by Mr. Maslin,
there are several that are equal, if not superior, to the commercial
Smyrna variety.

This being the case there is every reason to expect to secure very
superior varieties of drying figs and of capri figs by growing large num-
bers of trees from seeds of the best varieties pollinated by all the differ-
ent capri figs. It must.be remembered that the hereditary character
of the capri fig come into play in this breeding work, and that we
might as well expect to improve the grade of Durham cattle with a
serub bull as to breed new and superior types of drying figs while using
a poor type of capri fig. The hereditary character of capri figs can be
seen only in the offspring, so we are forced to try as many different
capri figs as possible in the hope of securing one that yields progeny
of the highest order of excellence. This is another reason for securing »
all obtainable varieties of capri figs, as it by no means follows that the
eapri figs best adapted for artificial caprification on a commercial scale
will be those yielding the best new sorts among their progeny.

NEW TYPES OF FIGS TO FIT AMERICAN CONDITIONS.

It is confidently expected that within a few years many of the several
thousand seedling figs now growing will have fruited, and that compre-
hensive plans will be matured that will permit of the breeding of types
of figs and eapri figs especially well adapted to American conditions.
In such work use will be made of the seventeen species and subspecies
of figs of the Carica group known to botanists. Some of these wild figs
are hardy in the climate of Washington and others are extremely
drouth resistant. In other words, the improvement of the fig has only
just begun and fig culture is still in its infancy in this country.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. F. P. Hosp is not here, and his
paper will be read by Mr. Leonard Coates, of the northern part of the
State. J take pleasure in introducing Mr. Coates.

THE EUCALYPTUS, FOR USE AND ORNAMENT.
By F. P. HOSP, oF RIVERSIDE.

In the second half of the fifties the first Kucalypti were planted in-
California as well as in Southern Europe; the species used was mostly
Eucalyptus globulus or blue gum.

There are some 150 or more known varieties of this Australian tree,
which is bound to become one of the best assets before long in the
products of the Pacific coast.

Not only are our climate and soils the very best adapted for its suc-
cessful growth, but, as travelers and investigators say, they are superior
to that of its original home.

As may be expected of such a large number of species, some differ

188 THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

more or less in their local requirements, as they do in their individual
characteristics and merits as producers of timber, kino, oils, ete.

The Eucalypti are fast growing trees. Hucalyptus globulus, or blue
gum, is said to be the fastest growing tree in the world. Now, how is it
that all or most of the hills in California are lying bare and idle and
treeless? It is only of late, since a great railroad corporation has shown
by its enterprise and faith in timber growing, that the public is waking
up and taking an interest in this vast and highly profitable industry.

One asks, ‘‘ How long have we to wait for returns?’’ Ask them the
Same question when one takes a life insurance policy. It does not.take
a wizard to point out the best of the two investments. If it pays to
grow pine forests, how much more does it pay to grow Huealypti, requir-
ing only about one fourth of the time to mature to merchantable size,
and when cut it will grow up again two or threefold ?

An acre, when planted to trees, certainly doubles in value the first
vear. You need not pay one hundred dollars per acre for raw land to
grow trees on. You do not need to irrigate excepting far inland or
on high ground. Prepare the land by plowing; plant 8 by 5 or 7 by 6
feet apart; water each plant; this will be sufficient. ‘Cultivate once or
twice the first and second years. The third year the trees should meet
‘and cover the ground completely and thus protect themselves; the
- sooner you attain this result the better. Young plants being easily
and cheaply raised, it would be poor economy to plant sparingly. By
the time the grove or forest is five years old, cut out every other tree.
These will furnish posts, poles, barrel hoops, fuel, ete. After this
thinning 500 or 600 trees will be left to the acre.

The varieties of Eucalypti differ as much in regard to extremes of
temperature as to their requirements of humidity. Hucalyptus rostrata
(red gum) is about the hardiest in this respect. It succeeds in tempera-
tures ranging from 10 degrees to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It grows in
dry as well as low and swampy lands. Eucalyptus corynocalyx, or
sugar gum, one of the best, is more tender, and while young suffers if
temperature goes below 26 degrees. It hkes high ground, and stands
drought. Hucalyptus resimfera, E. tereticornis, E. citriodora, E.
pilularis, are good growers, and furnish excellent, durable hard wood
for ship building, bridge and railway ties, poles, carpentering, floor-
ing, ete.

The wood of Eucalyptus globulus, or blue gum, is not durable under
eround; checks and twists easily; is much used as fuel, and numerous
instances testify to a yearly return of $200 per acre.

The ironbarks, Eucalyptus orebra, E. paniculata, and E. sider Evian:
are not as fast growers as the above named, but their wood is the very
best and almost indestructible.

The Eucalyptus also takes a front rank as an ornamental and decora-
tive tree. For larger parks here it really is the backbone of plantations.
The varieties greatly vary in size, many. shadings of the bark and
foliage, and, finally, the gorgeousness of the brilliant flowers of some
of them, make it as great a favorite with the plant lover as with the
landseape gardener. .

It is a peculiarity with fine flowering kinds that they are mostly of
smaller growth, ranging from a bush to a small tree, thus making them

THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 189)

well adapted for undergrowth of the larger growing species. The
varieties of this class include: Eucalyptus foecunda, E. ficifolia, E.
miniata, E. tetraptera, E. calophylla, ete.

As a street tree Eucalyptus polyanthema leads, while Eucalyptus
viminalis, E. rudis, E. corynocalyx and others are shapely growing trees,
well adapted to grace our public highways.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I wish to thank the people of the Con-
vention for the kindness shown your Chairman. I thank you all. The
meeting is now adjourned.

J. W. JEFFREY,
President.
JOHN ISAAC,
Secretary.

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