2l6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



it is literally true that the odor of the various preparations used 

 to destroy insect life is universal for miles and for days at a 

 time. Nine tenths of the discussions in the innumerable local 

 clubs of fruit-growers that are doing so much for the practical 

 advance of the industry in California are discussions upon meth- 

 . _ ods for the destruction of these 



pests. Sometimes one sees 

 luindreds of acres of orchard, 

 in February, snow-white over 

 every inch of twig, with " salt 

 and lime wash," or other acres 

 are brown with sulphite of 

 soda or oil and alkali. Now 

 and then comes an orchard 

 where the remedies have been 

 used in too great strength, and 

 the buds and tender bark seem 

 blighted and blackened. 



The prevailing enemy of 

 the orchards is the insect fam- 

 ily Coccidm. The species that 

 do most harm are the oyster- 

 shell scale {Mytilaspis pomo- 

 rum), the pernicious scale {As- 

 pidiotus perniciosus) , the yel- 

 low orange scale {Aspidiotus 

 citri7ius), the red orange scale 

 {Aonidia aurantii), and the 

 apricot scale {Lecanium ar- 

 meniacum). The Florida red 

 scale {Aspidiotus ficus) and 

 the mining scale {Chionaspis 

 biclavis), a very dangerous 

 species from Tahiti, are being 

 quarantined against by the horticultural commissioners. A cargo 

 of 325,000 orange trees infested with the Tahiti species was once 

 destroyed by Mr. Craw, the quarantine officer of the State Board. 

 Another group of scale insects known as " cottony scales " {Icerya 

 and Dadylopius) are among the worst enemies of the orchardist. 

 Ai)hides, canker worms, caterpillars, and fungoid diseases are as 

 yet of much less immediate danger to the fruit-growers than 

 the various Coccidm of which I have named only the prominent 

 species. 



Many valuable formulas for summer and winter washes, for 

 kerosene emulsions, and other preparations were first used in Cali- 

 fornia. The hydrocyanic-acid-gas method is also a Californian 



Almond Bough in July. 



