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HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT
GRANVTLLE LOWTHER, Editor, North Yakima, Wash.
Any information regarding this department answered free by the editor.
BLIGHT
This is a disease that has been ex
ceedingly damaging to pears; in some
sections of the country destroying
the pear industry, and is therefore
commonly called pear blight. It has
certain manifestations which in the
growing season causes the leaves Jto
turn to a light brown color, and to
present the appearance being
scorched by fire. For that reason it
has been called fire blight. Its
scientific name is bacillus amy
lovorus; but the word bacillus may
not convey to all the idea of the class
to which it belongs, for that means
that it is a genus of bacteria.
Considerable controversy has waged
around the question as to whether it
is a bacterium or a constitutional or
physiological disease. Scholars and
experts have worked, experimented
and discussed the question for several
years, and have pronounced it a
bacterial disease; that it is com
municated from one tree to another
by birds, bees, insects and other
agencies and that wherever the ooze
or exudate from the sap, containing
the germ bacillus amylovorus is com
municated to a healthy tree that tree
•will become infected.
Remedies
There seems to be no remedy except
to cut it out and burn it. Many rem
edies have been proposed, and many
have been tried, but at the present
time nothing has been discovered
that can be placed before the public
as trustworthy, although a number
of intelligent and conscientious men
are experimenting with certain prep
arations to be injected into the sap
of the tree. These preparations are
supposed to become absorbed and
mixed with the sap and either kill
the germ or render the tree immune
from the disease. We shall be exceed
ingly glad if these men succeed, but
until their preparations are proven
effective, it is unwise to trust them.
The disease attacks apples, quinces,
hawthorns and services as well as
pears. In fact we have seen it on
plums, yakamines and apricots; but
this group is not sufficiently suscepti
ble to be in any particular danger.
The main difficulty is with pears and
through them it is communicated to
the apples, some varieties being very
susceptile to its ravages. Cut it out
and burn it.
Blight Resisting Varieties of Apples
Word comes to us from Kogue
River, Oregon, where they have bad
so much trouble with blight, and
•'fought so good a tight," that they
have discovered a method ot develop
ing ' 'blight resistant varieties.'' The
nurserymen of that section are con
vinced and are advertising and prop
agating varieties that they say are
immune to that disease. They say
that the Yellow Newtown, White Win
ter Carmain and Winter Banana vari
eties are blight resistant. They say
that if we graft upon the root of one
of the resistant varieties the whole
tree is resistant. Further, that to
graft a resistant variety onto a non
resistant variety, the graft only is
resistant. Since the Yellow Newtown
is not a vigorous grower, and the
Winter Banana is, or is said to be, a
vigorous grower, it would seem wise
in making experiments to use the
latter.
BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND
ORCHARD
Entomologists estimate that insects
yearly cause a loss of over $700,000,000
to the agriculture of the United
States. Were it not for our birds
the loss would be very much greater
and it is doubtful if agriculture
would be possible. A knowledge of
the birds that protect the crops is
therefore as important as a knowl
edge of the pests that destroy them.
Such knowledge is the more import
ant because some birds are injurious,
some are partly useful and partly in
jurious and others, a few, are always
useful. For instance, there are in
sects that are parasitic and predatory,
feeding upon other insects that in
jure the crops; but insectivorous
birds, destroy the useful and harmful
alike. However, the good they do by
the destruction of harmful insects,
is far greater than the harm they do
by the destruction of useful kinds.
Even the birds called noxious, pos
sess some redeeming qualities. The
crow, for instance, is mischievous in
spring, pulling up the newly planted
corn, and destroying the eggs of use
ful birds. But on the other hand it
eats insects, grubs, cut-worm, mead
ow mice, gophers and other rodents,
so that it is more useful than harm
ful.
Because their powers of flight en
able them to gather rapidly at points
where there are abnormal outbreaks
of insects, birds are especially useful
in protecting certain localities from
scourges of grasshoppers and other
pests; for an unusual number of in
sects in any particular locality at
tracts the birds and they never leave
until the insects are under control.
America is greatly favored in the
number and character of its birds,
which not only include some of the
gems of the bird world, as warblers
and humming birds, but on the whole
embrace but few destructive species.
During the last 25 years our biological
survey has examined 50,000 birds.
Among their discoveries are the fol
lowing:
A tree swallow's stomach was found
to contain 40 entire chinch bugs,
fragments of many others, besides 10
other species of insects. A bank
swallow in Texas devoured G8 cotton
boll weevils- Tbirty-tive clitf swal
lows had taken an aveiage of 18 boll
weevils each. The stomacbes of pine
siskins from Hayward, California,
contained 1,900 black olive scales and
300 plant lice. A killdeer's stomach
taken in November in Texas contain
ed over 300 mosquito larvae A
flicker's stomach held 28 white grubs.
A night hawk's stomach contained di
May beetles, the adult form of white
grubs. Another night hawk from
New York state contained 21 clover
leaf weevils and 375 ants. Still
another night hawk bad eaten 340
grasshoppers, 52 bugs, three beetles,
two wasps and a spider. A boat-tailed
THE RANCH
International Harvester
Binders, Mowers and Twine
The IH C Line T 00 over your binders and mowers
machin£ ay -*-' now while you have time to examine
HMdm.%o£ln them thoroughly. If you need repairs, order
Hjt oaker * them now while the dealer has plenty of time
Hay Presses to get them for you. If you need new machines,
CORN MACHINES place your order now for machines bearing one of
Planters, Picker. these names:
Binders, Cultivator! UieSO names. • w\ # mm /> i
a£s£? Matters Champion Deenng McCormick
oneuers, Shredders ,. . __ _ *•» ■
p« tillage ,i. Milwaukee Osborne Piano
res?, spring-Tooth, <-. 1 ■ . , . . __ .
•nd Disk Harrow* Good binding requires good twine. The twine
rcMrD\i i imp made for use on IH C binders is sold under the
Oil and Ga. Enife. trade names —Champion, Deering, McCormick, Mil-
Oil Tractor* waukee, Osborne, Piano and International and I i
Manure Spreaders comes in five grades—sisal, standard, extra manila,
F.rmW.g'o'n* manila and pure manila. All are strong, and run .
Motor Truck* smoothly from the can to the knotter. i:
rhr?ihnr!ii Local dealers handling I H C lines of harvesting
' F»d Grinder* and haymg machines and tools can supply you with is
' Knife Grinder* catalogues of any of the above mentioned machines, ;
Binder Twine J or, if you prefer, write to us and we will send them.
Lg«^ International Harvester Company of America
iff Is| Ml Denver—Helena—Portland—Spokane—Salt Lake City—San Francisco (I 33 2 fStt
\ssl^dty Champion Deering McCcrmick Milwaukee Osborne Piano v^^«^(||
Ground Phosphate Rock
The Natural Plant Food and Permanent Soil Builder
1000 lbs. per acre once in each four years will cost about $1.60 per acre prr year.
At Perm State College ?1.05 invested in Rock Phosphate gave increased yields of $5.85—
over 500%. At Maryland Ex. Btation $1.96% gave $22.11— over 1000%. At Ohio station each
dollar paid for itsplf and gave $5.68 profit. At Illinois Station $2 50 gave the same return
as $250 invested in land.
Each ton contains 280 lbs of phosphorous, not rendered available artificially by
high-priced destructive acids, but so finely ground as to' become available in nature's
own way.
UNITED STATES PHOSPHATE CO., Salt Lake City, Utah.
Write for literature.
"Perfection of fineness in grinding," our motto.
KINGIOIF THE WOODS' DRAG SAW 'Kg
I With or Without Buzz Saw Attachment Operated k /
I Will saw 20 to 40 cords of wood per day at a cost of By 1 Man %lr"|ll B 8
I $1.00. PULLS ITSELF up the steepest HILL and I ]$%/%
I over the roughest ground. Costs less than other makes. I I WtiH Wk
I One man writes he sawed 56 ricks in 10 hours. ,__JLAiI iL'wfell*.
I Another sawed 40 cords in 9 hours. There's | ,\ | V*'~< mXh
I more you ought to know. Write for FREE cat- 1 |. ;|fij '^ai
I aloe containing full description with testimonials Wfj££KWk *V ~ ;#3s RJEH*
I from enthusiastic users. WRITE TODAY^^^BBHI "'I»^L :\
""^Z"*"*^ THIE GASOLINE DONKEY
FRANK KRAUSKOFF. ARLINGTON, WASH. —J
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