IT
Museum
Bv EVA HAMILTON
By EVA HAMILTON
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
The Rogue River Valley has
no "Silent Spring."
Outdoor life this fall has
been pretty noisy, too, in val
ley orchards with robins chirp
ing while feasting under pear
trees. The shortest crop in
history of the fruit industry
still provides food for the
birds and they express their
thanks in song.
This doesn't mean that
members of the Fruit Grow
ers League are not concerned
about spray poisons and the
side effects of some toxic in
secticides. They may not go along with
the warnings of Rachel Car
son's book but they are con
stantly contributing to the
study, which all hope will de
velop a selective chemical to
destroy their enemies and not
their friends of the insect
world. (To be specific, for in
stance, the spotted mites but
not the lady bugs.)
Much progress has been
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Miss Mary Hnnley, curator of the Jacksonville Museum, recently accepted diaries and docu
ments, portraying history nf the fruit industry, from Stephen G. Nye (left) and Don Root, presi
dent of the Fruit Growers League.
Already entered in the fruit industry exhibit at the museum is this cut from the trunk of a
peach tree on the pioneer Peter Britt estate. The tree was 56 years old when destroyed by a
windstorm in 1910. The trunk as the ruler shows was 12 inches in diameter.
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This pressure trlrr nf pears, now nn exhibit in the Jack
sonville Museum, is the onc nal Oregon pressure tester. It
was built in Mrrtford m p'l'i hy the late Bill Young. Spenfira
tion were developed hy horticulturists at Oregon State col
leg in ronpemiinn with County Agenl C. f. Cate. It was Usd
as a mean of determining when pears were ready for harvest.
A similar teMer has been in lW since invi.
Documents Review the History of Orchard Spraying
m.,h .Win. ,k -n.. i ....... ...... .
made during the years. The
request of the Jacksonville
Museum for equipment used
in early horticulture in Jack
son county and for documents
relating the history has
brought positive proof of this.
Because the pear industry
is an integral element in
southern Oregon living and
its history inseparable from
the history of Jackson county,
the museum is seeking exhib
its to demonstrate each opera
tion in the production of fruit.
Spraying is an accepted oper
ation and has been as long
as records have been kept
here.
The manner in which spray
ing is done has undergone
many changes, however, and
so have spray formulas. These
changes have been for the bet
er, according to county
agents and growers.
Accomplished by Research
This has been accomplished
through research and experi
mentation in spite of the fact
that as the culture becomes
more intense more pests ap
pear and at the same time
the people demand more per
fection in fruit.
Until 1880. orchardists used
something like a whisk broom
for spraying. It was dipped
into the solution and whijked
about the trees. In 1R94 power
spray rigs came in. They
were powered by steam. In
1900. gas replaced steam, and
in 1911 a pressure regulator
was devised. The spray gun
was adopted in 1014. Before
that the rod, made of steel or
bamboo with light aluminum
lining, had done the work nf
distributing spray through the
trees on branches and leaves.
Aerial spraying was initiat
ed as a commercial project in
1!M6 by Central Aircraft of
Yakima. Wash. The company
sent Harold Conner to Med
ford to launch the project.
Test work in this medium had
been done earlier.
Before adoption of the air
blast sprayer which has been
in use since 1944, orchardists
Aerial spraying is used for th application nf many formu
las. Rut the leading uses here are for applying rnpper riu4 in
the spring for blight control and to stop the dropping nf fruit
by application of hormone spray at harvest lime.
(KnarksteHt Photo)
tried using stationary sprav
stations and thousands of
acres were piped for this in
novation. The pumper and
tank were placed at a central
station in the orchard and the
pipe lines were laid in a man
ner to accommodate eight
tree rows from one pipe with
200 feet of hose attached. The
invention of the air blast
sprayer made all this invest
ment obsolete.
The air compressed sprayer
used in the early lOUOs had
two tanks. There was also a
barrel sprayer with tower at
tached. One workman manned
the tower to spray the tops of
the trees.
The one cylinder gas en
gines used in spraying in 1914
and 1915 often limited the or
chardist to throwing the spray
no more than three feet.
Trees Were Banded
In addition to the work in
volved in crude spraying
methods, the orchardist band
ed the trees to kill moth lar
va. The bark was scraped
and a treated band placed
around the tree. The worms,
hatched from the moth eggs,
sought refuge for the winter
under the treated band and
were killed. The whole opera
tion in the beginning took one
man one hour to each tree.
They became more adept aft
er practice.
The old spray formulas con
tained carbolic acid, powder
ed lie and snuff, frequently.
Paris green and arsenate of
lead, which were commonly
applied, were more poisonous
than the chemicals being used
today, orchardists insist.
Lead was accumulative and
permanent. Present day in
secticides deteriorate. DDT,
which is being cancelled out
by the orchardists, is less
toxic but persistent. They are
now substituting Guthion.
Black leaf 40 with 40 per
cent nicotine also was high in
toxidity.
Favor Regulation
Today the chemical industry
is in favor of regulation, ac
cording In the Fruit Growers
League. The chemists present
no argument against regula
tion. But they do object to
what they refer to as "stale
menls that have no confirma
tion through scientific investi
gation. Industry fights regula
tion on surmise."
It costs from $1 to $2 mil
linn to produce a new insec
ticide. The major portion of
this cost is in the investiga
tion which must be made for
the protection of the public.
The companies put up the
money and it takes about five
years to get clearance on a
new formula. If the chemists
find indications that the prep
aration is too toxic, it is aban
doned along the way.
Tolerance Is Granted
The industry is now granted
a tolerance of five parts of
DDT to 1,000,000 of produce,
according to C. B. Cordy,
horticultural agent for Jack
son county. It has been found
that up to 5.000 parts can be
used without liver damage
through research of the toxi
cology section, technology
branch, communicable disease
center of the Public Health
Service.
The Pure Food department
picks up samples of fruit ev
ery year for analysis. The
federal representatives come
to the valley unannounced.
The tolerances allowed are
not the levels at whirh dam
age occurs, Cordy emphasiz
ed. There is a level of toler
ance and a level of safely.
The danger level is frequently
100 times higher. The orchard
ists always operate within the
level of safety.
The federal food and drug
Features
SECTION
5.- V-.- w . .
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I r i
This is the first spray rig to be photographed in the Rogue River Valley, according to information given the Jacksonville Mu
seum, where the photo is on display. The picture was taken by the late Vinton Bcall. The two-man hand f limp sent spray into the
bamboo pole. H look three men to do (he job.
administration and the grow
ers are of one mind in want
ing In give the public I h e
cleanest, safest and most at
tractive food in the world.
Artificial K.nvinmmcnt
When working with a com
mercial crop, Dr. Pete Wes
lergarri, entomologist at Ihe
experiment station, emphasiz
ed, the agents are working in
an artificial environment.
Pears are not native to this
area. Neither are the natural
enemies of the pests which
would destroy the fruit.
Scientists are trying lo de
velop means of using biologi
cal agents for control. This
has been successful in some
crops, particularly alfalfa and
cotton. So far attempts have
not been successful in dealing
with apples and pears. The
chemical that kills the un
wanted, also kills the wanted,
such as lady bugs, lace wings
and others.
California growers, howev
er, were able lo combat scale
hy importing lady hugs. The
SI. .lohnswnrt beetle, import
ed in Jackson and Josephine
counties in 19.r(), has destroyed
Ihe wort, also known as goat
weed, on thousands of acres.
The need is to find predators
and parasites native to t h e
pear's natural environment.
Pests Are Productive
Most of the pests are very
productive, a pair of two-spotted
mites have a 50 billion
potential. Scientists have
learned that they can make
some of these bugs sterile hy
treating them with radioac
tive material. In Canada and
Europe they radiate the in
sects in the laboratory, then
release them in the field. They
mate with fertile females and
fail to produce offspring. Brit
Medford
B
MliDFORD, OREGON.
-
ish Columbia and Y'akima are
doing this in their coddling
moth experiment.
The spider mites have heen
here since the 1020s. After
DDT was brought into use 10
lo 15 per cent more, fruit was
saved from worms. One nf
the objectionable side effects
of DDT, however, is destruc
This high pressure
arranged to function.
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(.fciita r i 'f if t-Tiib, in mitm if' itr-f-r n '' " "' " 11 '" '' M
This is the mrhlast sprayer commonly used in
the tractor. (Knackstcdt Photo) ,
'. 1
Tribune
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1MB
tion of Ihe henefirial preda
tors. Ciiilhion is being used
more and more in this valley
although it is much more ex
pensive.. After using these synthetic
materials for more than five
years, growers find that Ihe
pests have developed an im
munily in their struggle for
spray rig could be operated by one
'(Knackstcdt Photo)
orchards today, All it requires in the
Sports
PAGES 1 to 8
survival. Mutation Is random
and a never ending process.
But as it continues, so does
the research.
It is all a constant battlfl
of man against nature or with '
nature, depending upon wheth
er you are making judgment
'from the viewpoint of the bug
or the man.
man, Ihe way the spray nozzles were
way of man-power is someone lo driv
)