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Olives Oranges And Peppers

Categories: Fruit Growing

We have been told that olive trees easily become infested with a fungus

disease which they then impart to the orange tree. The same objection is

raised to the planting of pepper trees. May this be true in some parts

of the State and not in others?



The fungus of which you have heard is the "black smut." It is a result,

not a cause. It grows on the honey dew exuded from scale insects and if

your trees have no scale they have no fungus. The olive trees and pepper

trees may communicate this trouble to citrus trees, or vice versa -

whichever gets it first gives it away to the other. If you will work

hard enough to kill the scale wherever it appears you can have all these

trees, but, of course, it costs a lot to fight scale on big pepper

trees, and it is, therefore, wisest usually to choose an ornamental tree

not likely to accept the scale.



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