FARM ORCHARD Notes and Instructions from Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations of Oregon and Washington, Specially Suitable to Pacific Coast Conditions IIow to Handle Peaches. '.' Oregon Argicultural College Cor yallis The Stanfield district of Ore gon as well as several other parts of the state, is loaded with a heavy peach crop, which many of the growers do not know how to handle profitably, Prof. C. I. Lewis, head of the division of horticulture at the college, gives the following advice. "All in all the peach is one of the poorest established fruit crops ' in the .Pacific Northwest, says Prof. Lewis. "With us it is largely a case of feast or famine. During the years of heavy crops it is often hard for us to dispose of the crop with profit, while in California, to the south of us, the peach industry, many times as large as ours, is handled very profitably, They ship only a small percentage of the fruit in the green state, but dry and can a large portion of the crop, "One reason why we have not done better with the peach for many years is that we have not handled it well. If peaches are not handled skilfully they arrive in the market in a very ' poor condition, and consequently bring low prices. There is no fruit upon which it is harder to give good advice in handling than the peach. It is a fruit where personal experience is necessary. The careful handling should begin at the time the fruit is taken from the trees. "It is always desirable to have as much color on the fruit as possible. . With some varieties that must be shipped long distances, of course, it is impossible to let them develop much color, but for short shipping distances more color can be allowed to develop before the fruit is picked. When shipped the fruit must never be in a ripe condition. "The color may or may not be an index as to the time to pick the peach. Many rules are given. With the yel low peach, it is generally picked when the greens begin to lighten and traces of yellow begin to show. The touch is sometimes used as an indication, the peach being pressed lightly with the thumb on the suture side. Care must be taken, however, not to press too hard, and the thumb and finger nails of the packers should be trimmed down closely. It is easy to ruin the shipping quality of your peaches by jabbing the finger nail into them or pressing so hard that they are bruised and turn brown and black. "Take great care not to get the peaches soiled. If dirt gets on the fuzz it is almost impossible to get it out. Pick in small receptacles, bas kets or small pails lined with burlap. Do not handle the peaches more often than is absolutely necessary. Plan to pack directly from the picking basket to the boxes. If picked in too large receptacles and allowed to stand around, they will tend to become mel low and ripen too rapidly. In hauling them from the orchard to the packing shed be sure not to get them shaken up much. If you do not have a pack ing house, use some shed or put up a tent or sheet so as to shield the fruit from the sun. Handle the fruit as rapidly as possible. Do not allow the peaches to become over-heated if you can help it. As soon as packed in boxes,get them placed in a cool loca tion. In shipping carload lots, send under refrigeration. It is sometimes better to pick in the late afternoon and pack the boxes in the cool of the evening. In most parts of the North west the nights are cool, so that the fruit would generally be in good condi tion in the early morning. "In your packing shed you should make room for three boxes. Three packing boxes, a cull box and a basket which contains the fruit, should be provided for every packer, as there will probably be about three grades of peaches to be packed, and the packing should be done directly from the pick ing receptacle. Do not dump out and pour out the peaches onto tables and into boxes, for you can't do much of this without getting them bruised. If the fruit is damaged certain moulds and rots will soon start and the entire box of peaches will be ruined before they arrive in the market. Cull out carefully all damaged fruit. "In ordering your boxes you will want to get various sizes, probably, according to the size of your peaches. The length and width of the boxes are all the same, 18 by 11 inches, inside measurement, but the depth varies. There are seven different peach boxes used on the Coast The 21 inch, 3 inch, 31 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch and 61 inch. The reason for this variation in the depth of the boxes Jis that they never pack peaches with more than two layers and the 61 inch depth is used for extra" large peaches. The 'sides, tops and bottoms are generally made of J inch material, and the ends of I inch material. "There are various grades used in packing the peaches. Such terms as extra fancy,' 'fancy,' 'choice,' etc, are aften used. ' Unfortunately these terms are misleading to the buyer. A system of grading that has been used in Ashland formerly, I believe, is very satisfactory. Their peach grade known as 'fancy' contains 64 or less peaches to the box. The second grade, known as 'Al' contains from 61 to 80 to the box. The third grade, known as 'B,' grade, contains 80 to 92 peach es to the box. All the fruit in these grades must be free from fungi, split pits and worms, and all are very care fully wrapped in paper. "In many sections of the United States they pack smaller peaches than the 92s. Some as small as the 108s are used, but there is very little money in such small peaches, and one had better not try to Bhip them to the open market. There will be more money made by leaving them at home. Smaller peaches and peaches contain ing some imperfections are often put in boxes without being wrapped and are sold for pies and canning, or dis posed of to advantage locally. ' I would recommend that smaller peaches than the 92s be not shipped, as I doubt if it would warrant the freight and ex press charges. There might be sea sons when the peach crop . was very light that one could realize profit on such small peaches, but only under such conditions. "In packing peaches in boxes, avoid what is known as straight pack. In the straight pack each peach in the second layer comes directly above the peach in the bottom layer. This makes considerable bruising. Pack what is known as the diagonal pack, the 2-3, 3-3. These throw the second layer into the spaces left in the first layer The 4-5 is used with some smaller grades. The 4-6 pack, ' how ever, has not received much favor in the market, too many open spaces be ing left on the sides of the boxes. "The 2-3 pack will be put up in the following way. Start with the end of the box, bottom layer, and put three peaches down against the end of the box, the first peach going up against one side of the end, the second touch ing the opposite side and end, and the third peach will be directly between the second and first. Then take the two peaches for your second row and fit them in between the three. Your third row will have three fitting in against the two, etc. So every other row in the box will be 8-2, 8-2, 3-2, etc. The second layer will be just the opposite, starting two and fitting them down into the little spaces that are left by placing three in the first row of the bottom layer. When your box 1b done if you count your rows the long way of the box you will have seven peaches in every row and there will be five such rows in each layer. "ine 3-3 pack differs from the for mer in only one respect; every short layer of the box has three peaches and yor long rows will vary. The first row will have 9 peaches, the second 8, tnira , fourth 8, fifth 9 and sixth 8. Be sure that your peaches are so packed that when the covers are nailed on the boxes they cannot rattle and move in any way. If you can run your hand in under the covers and rat tle the peaches around, you can rest assured that they will -arrive in the market in poor condition. The fact that you can use this test of your box allows you to get a good firm pack. Cleat your covers securely. . In warm sections of the state it will not be a bad plan to have small holes bored in the sides of the . peach boxes. This will allow a little better ventilation. "In wrapping your peaches with pa per, wrap them as smoothly as. possi ble. The first layer you put into the box, put the smooth side down. In the second layer, put the smooth 'side of the wrapper up, so that no matter whether the bottom or top of ' the box is opened, It will present an attrac tive appearance. - The paper that you use in wrap ping peaches should be rather heavy tissue, and the size varies, 7x7 and 7x8. This paper is of great assist ance in keeping the peaches clean and absorbs the extra moisture and will allow you to make your pack firm. I'eaco packing is something in which you will easily become skilfull, with little experience. The points which you will need to emphasize most, how ever, are to grade carefully, throw out an cuus, leave the small peaches at home, and be sure your pack is firm." Dry Quarters for Swine. A nervous, irritable sow has no place in the breeding herd. It is absolutelv nei-Aniinrv in nmvlifa clean drinking water for the sheep. a sneep win stand a long while before taking a drink of dirty water. A warm, dry pen for the pigs is needed for best results. Give them plenty of dry bedding and a place to sleep that is free from drafts. While ground shelled corn is some what more valuable for fattening hogs than is whole corn, it is not. an a rule. I economical to grind corn for hogs. BIRDS AID TO FARMER Most Efficient in Controlling the : Codling Moth. Does More Damage to Apple and Peara Than All of Other Insect Pesta Combined Things Some of Songsters Devour. Weather conditions, parasites, fungi, Insect disease and mechanically ap plied poisons (moBt of which are both dangerous and . expensive) togethei are insufficient to check the multipli cation of insects without the aslst ance of Insectivorous birds. Edward H. Forbush records seeing a pair oi grosbeaks visit their nest 450 times in eleven hours, carrying to their young two or more larvae at a time. Spar rows, chickadees, vlreos, martins and The Purple Martin. warblers made from forty to sixty trips ah hour to their nests with all kinds of insects for their young. One of the reports of the biological survey records the finding of sixty grasshop pers in the crop of one nighthawk and 600 mosquitoes in another; thirty eight cutworms in the crop of a black bird and seventy canker worms in the crop of a cedar bird. Professor Tschu dl estimates that a song sparrow de vours 1,500 larvae a day, and Profes sor ForbUBh says that a single yellow throated warbler will consume 10,000 tree lice a day. A scarlet tanager has been seen to devour gypsy moths at the rate' of thirty-five a minute for eighteen minutes at a time. It is known that more than fifty species of birds feed upon different kinds of cat erpillars, while thi. -eight species live largely upon destructive plant lice. "By far the most efficient aids to man in controlling the codling moth are the birds," says the "Year Book" (1911) of the department of agricul ture. A report of the bureau of ento mology says that this Insect does more damage to apples and pears than all the other insects combined, this dam age being estimated at from $12,000, 000 to 115,000,000 a year. Thirty-six species of birds attack this insect, these species representing thirteen families, of which the three most im portant are the woodpeckers, the tit- mlse and the sparrows. In some lo calities these birds destroy from 66 to 85 per cent, of the hibernating larvae of this insect Review of Re views. ' ' ' Chick Rations. Rolled oats, plnhead or steel-cut oats, cracked wheat, bran, broken rice, millet seed, kafflr corn, corn bread and parched corn (to which list a lit tle cracked corn may be safely added) are good to start chicks on, and a mix ture of all Is better than any one. The tested-out eggs, boiled and crum bled or merely cut in two, are a good addition always, so is cottage cheese squeezed dry and green stuff of some kind should always be added. Little chicks will eat dry alfalfa leaves read ily, and chopped vegetables also. Noth ing is better than dandelion leaves for green food, and they come early and stay late. Like alfalfa, they are good dry. Corn for Chick. While corn is not regarded as the best thing on which to start chicks, hundreds of strong, thrifty chicks have made an excellent start on dampened corn meal. We must remember, though, that the people who have not used much except corn for feeding chicks usually do not attempt to start them at all until the season when grass and flies and worms are avail able for the hunting, and chicks bal ance their own ration with what they pick up. The same method of feeding little chicks that are hatched very early and kept Indoors for weeks ii apt to prove disastrous. Pea Crop More Popular. In the last federal census year the United State, was credited with 1,805,. 000 acres given over to dry peas, com pared with 968,000 acres ten years earlier. But a recent federal census bureau casta some doubt on this total, because it says a considerable proportion of the area returned li probably duplication of other crop acreage; this is particularly true of the South Atlantlo coast and a num ber of the state Id the middle south. XT - - s Haiipjlwifai v - V ONb f the THE Coast Range culminates in . the peaks of San Gorgonio and San Bernardino of the San Bernardino mountains, with San Antonio and San Jacinto only a little lower on either side. Then the range makes a decided drop to the south and shows heights of quite a different character, with blunt tops Instead of sharp peaks. Palomar and Cajon mountains are bold and conspicuous but not high, as moun tains on the coast eo. Still farther south, however, in the peninsula of ixwer California, the range makes an other lunge upward and produces the great San Pedro Martir mountain, more than nine thousand feet high. That is its last great effort, for In its more southern reaches it is much broken, with plenty of peaks, to be sure, but no high ones. While some of the mountains of the upper part of the range are higher than San Pedro Martir, none other presents so huge a bulk. Seen from San Telmo, it is an unbroken wall forty or fifty miles long, which at the north end is first cut down sharply and then beyond is almost completely demolished, as mountains rank; and at the south end Is torn Into gaps and has had its crest knocked off. There are two picachos, sharp, needlelike, of pure white granite, but they are so near the eastern side of the mountain that they cannot be seen at all from the west, and not from the south till one has reached San Juan De Dios, then they appear pointing heavenward, shining white like great Icebergs. Almost Perpendicular. The western side of the mountain is abrupt, with very few places where it may be climbed, but the eastern side Is still more so and makes an almost perpendicular drop to the desert On that side one may descend, in scarcely more than an hour's time, from snow and freezing temperature to a spot where the sun Is warm and birds are nesting. And then from beneath the feathery crowns of tropical palms he may look back to where, almost di rectly overhead, stand the rugged pines he has Just left It is miles across the top from east to west and with its great length the dimensions of the mountain are such as to almost entitle it to be called a high tableland, with hills and valleys and streams of its own. As it Is high enough to catch winter snows and summer rains, the pasturage on the top Is always good, and when the low er lands between the mountain and the Paclflo are parched with drought here Is a haven for starvin herds. They come from as far away as San Juan De Dios and grow fat on the sweet grasses and the delightfully cool summer air. When winter grips the mountain, however, the herds must descend, for then the climate is too rigorous to be borne without suf ficient shelter. The cattle and horses are not the only ones that grow fat from a sum mer residence on San Pedro: thn horA. era also are In clover, for the great forests are the home of Innumerable deer, and bighorn as well, though not In so great numbers as the deer. Two Mexican friends of mine who were tending a herd of cattle on the sum mit In two weeks shot fifty deer and might easily have shot more. . . Another man had a standing offer from a San Francisco firm of S25 for very head of a male bighorn, and he Camps shipped a good many. That traffic of course was stopped when Mexican law declared a closed season for mountain sheep. It was high time, too, for they were wantonly destroyed, sometimes not even for their heads and skins, but merely for the pleasure of slaugh ter. I think if American nlmrods had understood how easily those marvel ous hunting grounds might be reached by boat to San Quintin, where an effi cient Mexican guide with excellent saddle and pack mules was to be pro cured, the slaughter would have pro ceeded more merrily still. I heard of one American, and he from distant Boston, who had discovered this hunt er's EI Dorado, and who made peri odical trips to it. That was before Mexico, in fear of lnsurrectos, forbade the importation of firearms Into the peninsula. It Is not strange that San Pedro should harbor so much game, for It Is the only really wooded mountain on the peninsula, and the timber here is very fine. Deer and bighorn are not the only game; other animals there are, not so harmless, and that may even play the roll of hunter in stead of hunted. Mountain lions are so numerous that young colts, which they consider the most delicious of tidbits, have a hard time trying to be come horses. A man living on the western slope of the mountain showed me a corral fully five feet high from which a mountain lion took a three-year-old filly, leaping the fence with ease with the colt in his mouth, and dragging the carcass a mile up the side of the mountain before he stopped for his meal. , Raging Torrents. On the eastern side there are streams that start bravely from the mountain, but they are Immediately sucked up by the sands of the desert Canyon Diablo is an excellent example of this; in the time of rains the water rushes from the mouth of the ex tremely narrow, rocky canyon, which is a mere slit in the mountain wall, in a tumultuous flood. It entirely fills the narrow opening so that the can yon cannot be ascended beyond Its mouth, and it cannot be crossed, Such a raging torrent Is it Yet in less than a mile it has disappeared, and not only is there no stream, but the rounded arroyo sides are of smooth sand as though years had passed since water flowed between them. Many streams of abundant flow start out In this way, but all promptly disappear. And as the mountain acts as a barrier to check the rains that come in from the Pacific, the strip of land between San Pedro and the Gulf of California remains absolute desert On the western slope, however, the streams flow with greater assurance. One of them is turned from ita chan nel and is carried along the skirt ' of the mountain for twenty miles to wash the gold from the soil of Socor ro. . : San Antonio creek Is a fairly typical mountain stream, a rushing little river flowing through its own den. growth of alder, and alamo., it prove, the mountain quality of It. water? too. sheltering speckled trout that reach Sche.ery re8pectab,e " ot twelve In one fertile little cove In It. deep rocky canyon it nourishes an oasis of really tropical verdure, a tiny half moon of land set thick With flgf grape lnntrudPeesaCh' JflC"