Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], July 01, 1951, Page 29, Image 29

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Gardens and Orchards
Gardeners' Busiest
' Month Is July
By LEONARD A. YAGER
JULY IS THE month that many
gardeners would rather rest the hoe
and sit under the shade of the near
est tree and be content to let the
garden grow. But it's actually the
time of the year when plants need
a lot of attention. Tomatoes will
need pruning, plants will be thirst
ing for water, pesky weeds will in
sist on poking their ugly heads
above ground, and the bugs and
blights may be having a merry old
time behind the gardener's back.
Fireblight is one of those exasper
ating diseases on apple and pear
trees. If there's plenty of cool, wet
weather during the time the fruit
trees are displaying their beautiful
array of blossoms, fireblight will be
spreading lilçe wildfire. You can
readily tell what the disease looks
like as infected twigs, leaves, blos
soms, and partially formed fruits
appear as if they had been singed
with a blowtorch.
It's a perplexing situation when
we realize that the bees unwittingly
spread the disease in the act of cross
pollinating flowers. No use eliminat
ing the bees, because they are the
only insect that will take pains to
transfer pollen from one flower to
the other. Of course, they get their
reward in the nectar they gather
from each flower and store up as
honey. If there were no bees, there
would be little or no fruit, and no
honey.
Spray, Prune for Control
soms are % open and once when
they are % opened Is claimed to
be effective in reducing disease in
fection. The spraying is not fool
proof, as the disease shows up worst
m cool wet year, and sprays lose
their effectiveness quickly if there
is very much rain.
Priming infected limbs well below
the point of infection is one method
suggested to keep the disease from
spreading in already infected trees.
In making the pruning cuts, one
should disinfect the pruning shears
, or saw in appropriate solutions aftdr
each cut.
Spraying with a weak Bordeaux
mixture, 1-3-50 once when the bios
Best method of control is to plant
varieties that have a reasonable
amount of resistance against the dis
ease. Duchess, Gano, Ben Davis, •
Hibemal, Haralso nand the crab ap
pie Florence have considerable re
sistance. The varieties McIntosh,
Jonathan, Wealthy have somewhat
a lesser degree of resistance. .
Rather susceptible varieties are
Yellow Transparent, Fameuse, Deli
cious, Wealthy, and the crab apples
Whitney, Martha and Hyslop. The
Alexander apple and Transcendent
crab apple are very susceptible to the
disease. Unfortunately, no pear vari
ety has high resistance to this dis
ease, so they should not be planted
in areas where fire blight is än an
nual problem.
Many kinds of fruits are self-un
fruitful. Occasionally gardeners
wonder why their lone apple tree
does not bear fruit. If there is not
another apple tree in the vicinity,
it will not bear, as it needs a mate
to effect cross pollination and the
.formation of ■ fruit. Of - course, there
are numerous other reasons why
.... *
v
(0
£>>*
V
tv.
trees fail to bear. Blossoms that are
caught in a late spring freeze are an
other common result of failure. Poor
weather during blossoming that re
duce bee activity may be responsible
for a poor set of fruit
Tomato Diseases
It may not be tomato season yet,
but now is a good time to start
thinking* about tomato growing prob
lems. No doubt you have experi
enced having tomatoes develop a
blackish-brown leathery rot on the
under side or blossom end, of the
fruit. Many are the times a gardener
has picked what was thought to be
a beautiful, ripe tomato only to find
that the bottoi* end rotted.
This condition is known as blossom
end rot. >
Blossom end rot is not caused by
a disease organism. Tomato plants
are heavy feeders of water. If the
plants don't ' get enough water a
breakdown occurs at the weakest
point of the entire plant—and that
is at the blossom end of the fruit
An abundant supply of water,
pecially while the tomato fruits
developing will reduce this condi
tion.
es
are
Where irrigation water is scarce,
mulching with grass clippings
straw will help to conserve moisture.
Plants that are pruned will develop
more blossom end rot fruits than
unpruned plants under dryland con
ditions, For this reason, the self
pruning varieties of tomatoes suit
the dryland gardener best. Another
symptom of dry weather on tomato
plants is the upward curling of the
lower leaves of the plants. This con
dition is especially noticed
pruned, staked plants,
or
on
Insecticides
Do you have trouble raising worm
free cabbage heads? All the mem
bers of the cabbage family—cauli
flower, broccoli, brussel sprouts,
tadishes and turnips—are attacked
by similar insect pests. Flea beetles
and the cabbage butterfly are two
important pests. They need not be
serious if the plants are carefully
dusted at weekly to 10-day intervals.
Use 3 or 5 percent DDT dust on
the plants while they are small. But
a month before the heads or plants
are ready to harvest, change to
pyrethrum or rotenone dusts as
these do not leave poisonous res
idues like DDT. Keep on the watch
for insect pests and apply control
measures as soon as the first signs
of insects occur. Know what you are
trying to control before applying
any pesticide.
Poultry Department
HOW TO USE ALFALFA
IN LAYERS' DIET
By H. E. CUSHMAN
Q. I would like to reduce my feed
bin by using a good alfalfa pasture.
However. I have a very particular mar
ket and 1 am fearful that the yolks
will get too dark. What would you
suggest?—A. P. F. Cascade county.
A. There are two ways in which
this can be accomplished. One is to
house the birds until late in the aft
ernoon and then let them run on the
pasture tor an hour or two. The dis
advantage of doing this is that the
birds may fuss around all day trying
to get out. When they are housed
at all times they don't know any
better than to be satisfied with a
life of incarceration. Further, with
only a few hours a day, they may not
make best use of the pasture. They
may not stray far enough afield to
keep the alfalfa well eaten down.
The other method of handling lim
ited amounts of green feed is to cut
so much daily and feed it to them in
a self-feeder. The big disadvantage
here would be the labor involved.
You could not afford to skip a day
once you begin the practice. You will
have to watch your egg yolks to find
out just how much green feed you
can get into them without causing
any perceptible darkenin.
Highway accidents kill nearly 100
Americans every day, which means
that the average young American
faces greater danger in an automo
bile than in carrying a gun into
battle.
wC&re tawa
CALF FINISHING
Pellets
to put the finishing
touches on show
stock
szn
i
fa'T'
•s'
'4
5S5S*
• For fitting purebred stock for show ond sole.
* Start feeding these pellets 120 doys before show.
• Food with rolled'barley and oats, and good quality hay or alfalfa.
* No additional protein, mineral feed or vitamin supplement is noeessory.
* High in corn, linseed meal and mol oases.
• Supplies everything you don't raise on your own land.
Get excellent and economical results! Start feeding CERETANA CALF
FINISHING PELLETS at the rote of 1 pound per animal per day ond
increase gradually until you are feeding 3 to 6 pounds per animal per
day, depending on the size of the calf and condition. For the 90 to 100
days immediately preceding the show or sale, use a controlled ration of
approximately '/ 3 CERETANA CALF FINISHING PELLETS, Vs rolled
barley ond Vs rolled oats.
This is another Ceretana feed line specialty rounding out Ike emit feeding Une:
CERETANA CALF STARTER
CERETANA CALF GROWER
CERETANA CALF FINISHING PELLETS
See Your Local Ceretana Dealer er Contact
/'urr us
~ SI NR i
YOU A /
55?
FREE
GUIDE i
Pam Service Dept.,
Great Falls. Mont.
-Branches: Billings, Bozeman: Butte, Harlowton,
_ Lewis town, Miles Citr. Missoula
■ •; V 19S1-—29
Til!
'V
:{ij it
nrfi
REVOLVING
SPRINKLE«
SYSTEMS
>»
^W'ABC
COUPLERS & VALVES
N« books—No latches)
^P>
.., portable one-man
ROTO-RAIN cuts labor
costs, saves water...
assures bigger and
better crops. Ideal for row crops, pastures,
orchards. Aluminum or galvanized. Self-locking
"ABC" COUPLERS and VALVES for speedy con
nections and control. Systems engineered to
your needs.
Other AMES Irrigation Systems:
PERf-O-RAIN
low pressure
sprinkling
RATED PIPE
Also SYPHONS for furrows; SURFACE PIPE for
flooding; TOW-A-LINE power moves for pastures.
ON BAND AT THE FOLSOM COMPANÏ
Missoula, Montana
Complete Sprinkler Systems
RAINBIRD
AMES
Power Units
Be assured of a maximum crop
by ordering now from
Electric Motor«
Tumps
THE FOLSOM COMPANY
Box 18»
Phone tlM
Missoula, Montana
When you advertise in MONTANA
FARMER-STOCKMAN you reach
more than 32,000 farm families.