REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 77 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



There is no spraying mixture which can be used against this pest because the eggs 

 are inserted into the flesh of the fruit by the females with their sharp ovipositors. 



Sax Jose Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus, Comstk.) . — There are few insects which 

 have caused so much loss where they have established themselves as the now notorious 

 San Jose Scale. So much has been written about it that it is now pretty well known, 

 not only by its work upon trees, but also by its appearance to fruit growers in the 

 small corner of Ontario where only in Canada it is found in injurious numbers. 



Two small colonies were found in British Columbia last year, but were promptly 

 dealt with, and it is believed that they are now wiped out. The minute, almost circulai-, 

 scales, one-thirteentli of an inch wide, shaped like an inverted saucer, with a depressed 

 ring around a central point, are sufficiently different from other scales to be recognized 

 at sight after a little experience. One very good diagnostic character for the young 

 scales which are found on nursery stock in winter is the black or dark coloured hue in- 

 side tlie ring. One of the great dangers of this insect is that when only in small num- 

 bers it is so inconspicuous that it is easily overlooked, and should this happen, its enor- 

 mous powers of increase during a summer, when press of work as a rule prevents fruit- 

 growers from examining their trees very carefully, enable it to increase sufficientlj'^ 

 to do serious harm and spread to many other trees. 



Remedy. — Frequent inquiries are made as to whether there is a practical remedy 

 for the San Jpse Scale. I believe that it may now be justly claimed that the lime and 

 sulphur wash made by any of the recognized formulae is a reliable remedy for this 

 insect. Orchards -vhich have been carefully treated are in better condition than they 

 were a year or two ago, and have borne during the past summer satisfactory and 

 profitable crops of fruit. No remedy, however perfect it may be, will give good results 

 unless great care is taken in applying it; even with the lime and sulphur wash, it is 

 not claimed that a single application will always give perfect results. Any remedy 

 which does not cost too much for labour and materials, and which will ensure a paying 

 crop, is certainly a practical remedy. All remedies will vary in the degree to which 

 they secure the ends aimed at, and all that is claimed for the lime and sulphur wash 

 for the San Joss Scale is that up to the present, all things considered, this has proved 

 ike best remedy, and is, at any rate, as successful in its results as any known remedy 

 which is used in medicine for controlling the diseases of animals or human beings. 

 Succes.s with any remedial treatment will necessarily always depend on the thorough- 

 ness with which it is carried out. 



The Canadian wash is made by mixing lime and sidphur together in the proportion 

 of twice as much lime as sulphur, and boiling these together in an iron kettle for two 

 hours (or not less than one hour). The quantity of water added to make up the 

 requiretl amount of wash is largely a matter of convenience in using. When boiled 

 with steam, barrels may be used, and to begin with, should be one-quarter filled with 

 water and the steam turned on until the water is boiling; then turn off the steam and 

 put in the lime and suli^hur together as quickly as this can be done without making 

 the mixture boil over. When the lime is all slaked, turn on the steam again, and leave 

 the mixture boiling for at least an hour. 



Oyster-Shell Scale (Mytllaspis ulmi, L.). — This well-known and destructive 

 enemy of fruit trees, particularly of the apple, has now been complained of from almost 

 every part of Canada where fruit trees are growm. There is only one brood of the Oys- 

 ter-shell Scale in the year. The young bark lice emerge from beneath tlie old mother 

 scales in Ontario and British Columbia about the end of May, and in the Maritime 

 Provinces towards the end of June. At that time they are small six-legged insects re- 

 sembling mites. After emerging they wander about the trees for a few hours, looking 

 for a suitable place to attach themselves to the bark, which they do by means of their 

 slender beaks. Trees upon which this insect occurs are weakened by being robbed of 

 their sap by thes^ insects. Frequently the scales occur in such enormous numbers as to 

 almost coat the trees and entirely hide the bark. In southwestern Ontario excellent 



16—6 



