686 Bulletin 83. 



four or five years ago. We saw it at Lockport in 1893, but as no 

 such scale had before ravaged fruittreesin theeast, we did not antici- 

 pate any such injury as the pest wrought in this orchard this year. 

 The destruction wrought by this scale the past summer has been 

 considerable in most of the orchards mentioned above. One fourth 

 of Mr. Hooker's crop from over 2000 trees was so badly damaged 

 that it was not picked at all, while the remainder was more or 

 less dwarfed or presented a smutty appearance. Much of the fruit 

 in these orchards either had to be washed or sent to the market 

 in a " mussy " condition. Many bushels of plums were also 

 "under-size." Thousands of trees made but little growth during 

 the season, and from present indications it would seem as though 

 some of these orchards must succumb in the near future unless 

 this insidious foe is soon checked. 



INDICATIONS OF ITS PRESENCE. 



One form of the insect itself is so conspicuous, as shown in the 

 figure on the title page, that it may be discovered before it has 

 made its presence felt by any visible effect on any part of the tree. 

 This year, in the worst infested orchards, the trees showed 

 scarcely any visible signs of the presence of the pest until July. 

 During this month the young scales hatched and went onto the 

 leaves and fruit stems where they at once began sucking the sap. 

 So many thousands of these little pumps at work drawing out the 

 sap soon began to tell on the vigor and health of the trees. In 

 consequence, many of the leaves curled considerably, and the 

 trees made but little growth. 



But the most noticeable indications of the presence of the pest 

 was caused by the immense quantities of a clear, sweet, sticky 

 liquid known as "honey dew" which the little scales secreted in 

 July and August. A black fungus always accompanies this 

 honey dew, growing in and spreading all through it; and as the 

 sticky fluid was secreted in such quantities as to literally cover 

 the whole tree, the consequence was that badly infested trees pre- 

 sented a disgusting black appearance, as if treated with a thin 

 coat of a sticky smutty substance. This blackened honey dew 

 covered the leaves, doubtless closing up many of their breathing 



