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Show 1 0 BOX ELDER Fruit trees in focus JOURNAL, Brigham City, Utah Thursday, February 19, 1976 Expert tackles plant diseases By Cleon M. Kottor USU Agricultural Information Specialist Unless a new disease appearing in Utah is stopped, there may not be enough pear trees for partridges to pearch in on future first days of Christmas. - Dr. Neal Van Alfen, the new extension plant pathologist at Utah State university, is quite certain he has identified in Utah the disease called pear decline. This disease has killed thousands of pear trees on the Pacific Coast. Dr. Van Alfen was born at Ogden, Utah and grew up in the Central Valley of California where he helped with the harvest of fruit. He said, "I became very interested in plant pathology from seeing the drastic loss caused by fruit tree diseases. There I saw the devastating power of a plant pathogen. It really distressed me to see farmers have to go and dump ton after ton of peaches that' could not be marketed because a brown rot had developed on peaches harvested when rains occurred at the peak of the harvest season. I remember two years when those farmers lost half their crop from brown rot. GladtobeBack He will have plenty of opportunity to do just that as he helps It causes an incompatibility at the point where the graft combat the great variety of union is made and literally plant diseases that appear in starves the tree to death. It is farm crops and plante that more severe on some rootstocks beautify both homes and public than others. grounds throughout Utah. "Acutally, there are two stages, quick decline and gradual decline. In the first, a tree Appreciate Experience Ray Turtenshaw and Harold known to be healthy at the Lindsay, USU county extension agents in Cache and Box Elder counties, say they are real happy to have a specialist on the staff who has had experience with shade tree diseases and can also help with the fruit tree disease problems. "Ive been plagued with shade tree problems I just couldn't find answers to, Lind-la- y commented last summer. Concerning the pear problem, Dr. Van Alfen noted that he and area horticulturist, Fullmer working in the Provo area, have found evidence of pear decline disease which can be a Serious problem. He said, I believe it has All-re- d, spread fairly extensively throughout that area. We once thought it was caused by a virus. We now believe that a micoplasma like organism, similar to the pleuropneumonia type organisms in animals, gets into the phleom (inner bark) area of the plant that conducts He added, Im glad to be nutrients from roots to the back in Utah. I hope that here I can be of much service in identification of plant disease problems and making recommendations for control procedures. Actually, Dr. Van Alfen, who joined the USU staff in August this year, has a three-wa- y split extenassignment: one-thir- d one-thiresion pathologist, search with the agriculture experiment station and one-thifor the The resource teacher with the biology depart- Sunday meeting person of People Who ment. He admit; it's a rather Care will be Earl Bassett, hard split. regional supervisor of the Utah He said, I am responsible for Division of Family Services. PICTURED ARE MEMBER of the Truck'in Tractors 4-club. The organization, made up of diseases of all crops. I am much The will take place at officers. new elected old in from the 16 to meeting nine area, recently City Brigham youths years interested in fruit tree paththe Family Services building, Shown are, bottom from left, Chet Jeppson, demonstration chairman; Bonnie Jeppson, as as other well ology crops and 545 South Main, 8 p.m. chairman; Rea Jeppson, secretary; Leslie Chlarson. song leader; Ronald Coburn ornamentals. I hope to be of real Bassett received his master tr, and Bill Davis, sponsor. Top are Chris Reeder, vice president; James Jensen, service to crop growers, nur- of social work degree at the refreshment chairman; Danny Coburn, reporter; Sil Jeppson, safety chairmgn, and serymen and home owners. of Utah and has University Dr. Van Alfen received his BS served Fayelene Jensen, president. Aosent was Scott Smuin. in various and MS degrees from Brigham countiesprofessionally the state. throughout Young university and his Ph.D.- .in plant pathology from the - He has served in his present University of California at position for more than five Davis. Food and England years in Brigham City. Bassett His responsibility during jhe will share information perThe first food law of England past three years before return- taining to the scope of family was the Assize of Bread of 1203. It ing to Utah was researdfctJM, services in Box Elder, Cache, dealt with false weights: Offenshade tree disease problems had Rich counties, describe how ders were driven through the with the Connecticut Agricul-- 1 Title 20 will effect residents in streets with loaves of bread tied tural Experiment station. this region, and respond to any .round their necks. Cheddar The new extension plant path- - questions that those attending 'heese is named for the village of ologist says he loves working may have, An old vintage movie club will begin on with people, especially when he Cheddar in England where it is a People Who Care can help them with solutions to monthly gathering of people originated Friday, Feb. 20, at Heritage Theatre in Perry. some places. It involves about three years of successive treatments of injecting the infected trees right after harvest with an antibiotic which is effective against the organism causing the disease. However, both Dr. Van Alfen and Dr. Don W. Davis, USU entomologist, point out that it will do no good to treat the trees unless the insect vector, the pear psylla, that spreads it is beginning of the season will begin to show symptoms in the summer and be dead by the mid of the season. This normally is a problem where the pear trees are grafted onto oriental rootstocks. It is evidenced by a brown line forming at the grafting union and very rapid decline of the tree. ' SnuuOcc Oo rd a Heritage sets vintage movies Utah cherry growers who have been plagues' for many years with Western X disease killing their trees also may take encouragement. Dr. Van Alfen said, Ws believe we can treat Western X disease the same way. Tests seem to show it would be very promising. Its caused by the same type of organism that is also susceptible to antibiotic .treatment. Sow for Spring Can Be Affected The pears on other rootstocks can also be affected by the pear decline organism, though not as severely. t The gradual decline is evidenced by a gradual loss of production, reduced shoot growth, a bright crimson red coloration of the leaves earlier than expected in the fall, an upward curling of the leaf blades, often a premature defoliation, a premature leaf fall and smaller size of leaves. Dr. Van Alfen and the extension horticulturists are setting up some trials. They will employ an experimental treatment Teny Cbth Stretch 1 00 60" wide A H. All of our Spring Fabtick are In Dacron and Cotton Prints y2 Reg. 3.98 yd. SALE i2 gf Price Now for V We're on sale Vi of that Fiskar PcopDo tj2lO eaoo rd controlled. that has worked successfully in leaves. their problems. O Reg. 8.00 Scissors session We are Now Authorized Dealers for who are interested in the quality of life in Box Elder county and Universal Sewing Machines. button Fully Automatic, Zig Zag, Straight Stitch, Throe Naade Position ana Stretch Stitch. want to become better informed about the variety of helping professional services available. Anyone interested in participating in these gatherings of concerned persons is invited to attend. As l with Built-i- . n holer, a Introductry offer, receive a FREE Cabinet' 3394 Purchase of Machine at Reg. Price . dotct & mm T remonton, Utah bler The initial showing is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. and is open to all interested persons. The film will be Mr. Roberts. Suggested donation for adults is $1.25 and for students, 75 cents. Gub memberships will be available at the theatre. This is one in a series of Friday movies at Heritage Theatre. The Feb. 27 film will be A Star Is Born featuring Judy Garland. Over-regulatio- n GF a 'hidden tax' desperately need to run our factories. The sudden oil shortage of 1973 was brought about by shortsightedness on the part of government by requiring import quotas on foreign oil during the 1960s which encouraged development of foreign oil sources to the detriment of new American sources. Energy is only one example. Congress also passes laws with no knowledge of their local or economic impact. A good example is the amendments to the Fair Labor Standards act which force federal requirements for employment on local governments. Government a "hidden tax on our economy. Senator Jake-Gasaid in a Senate speech. The Seantor participated with other Republicans in a colloquy on regulatory reform. The cost to American taxpayers of excessive and over-regulati- is wrongheaded is federal placed from a regulations conservative estimate of $60 billion per year to an estimated $130 billion per year, Senator Gam told his colleagues. That is about $2,000 per American family, according to White House statistics. The number of federal employees needed. to man this regulatory monster is Despite Opposition They were passed by Congress despite overwhelming opposition from local governments. This move alone cost Salt Lake City taxpayers $50,000 in overtime, which city employees previously voluntarily and enthusiastically took in the form of compensatory time off. "Because the city was forced to pay firemen on a straight 40 hour week, whether they were working, sleeping or whatever, it cost Salt Lake's taxpayers another $3 million. estimated to be from 63,000 to over 100,000 - government bureaucrats; and the number is growing every year. Congress is constantly considering and passing new legislation placing more controls on our lives. From the 1870's laws affecting or regulating commerce were passed with great care, and up to the mid 1960s, relatively few laws were enacted to regulate our lives. But since the mid 60s there has been a virtual explosion of legislation to regulatory hamstring and hinder the dynamic but fragile force known as the free enterprise system. Costs Are Up because of government interference in the energy market, it costs us more to heat our homes, drive our cars and cook our meals. The government set artificially low prices for natural gas, which hindered new ex- For example, ploration; it slapped price controls on and discouraged development of domestic oil we i - To show you how ludicrous it is, the Feds give Salt Lake City $4 million in revenue sharing, then virtually take away $3.5 million with laws that nobody wanted in the first place. The Fair Labor Standards act amendment is only one example of the millions of dollars taxpayers are forced to pay because of shortsighted federal regulations. Multiply this example by the number of regulations we have and you can easily see why is, government in fact, a hidden tax on our economy," Senator Gam said. over-regulati- . ism- - BUM DISHWASHERS a diseased plant is Dr. Neal Van Alfen, Utah State University Extension plant pathologist. He is attempting to identify organism causing the trouble. EXAMINING CULTURE from is your fuel bill higher? 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