698 Bulletin 83. 



Number of applications. — Not one fruit grower in ten will kill 

 half of the scales with the first application of the emulsion. And 

 yet it is only a question of taking the time to do the work thor- 

 oughly enough. Fortunately, you have nearly six months in which 

 to do a thorough job. If possible, get in one blow at the pest be- 

 fore winter closes in. Then be ready to strike again whenever 

 the weather is suitable during the winter. And get in another 

 blow early in the spring before April i. In other words, spray 

 with the emulsion diluted 4 times, at least once in the fall, once 

 during the winter if possible, and once or twice in March ; two 

 very thorough sprayings, may suffice in some orchards. To own- 

 ers of badly infested orchards who failed to get in a blow this fall, 

 we would say, do not let a suitable spell of weather pass this win- 

 ter or in March without drenching your trees with the emulsion. 

 We are not putting the case too strongly ; for if 25 per cent, of the 

 scales, that are now to be found on 50,000 of the best plum trees 

 in our state, are allowed to develop in May, 1895, these trees 

 will be literally overrun with the pest before the year ends. 



The cost. — The Kerosene Emulsion is the most easily made and 

 the cheapest of the insecticides used against sucking insects. The 

 I/ime, Salt and Sulphur Wash is not so effective, and the Resin 

 Wash is more troublesome to make. Fruit growers who sprayed 

 this fall, bought kerosene for 43^ cents, per gallon, and soap for 

 from 3^ to 8 cents, per pound ; the soap is a small item in any 

 case. 



One man made 125 gallons of the diluted emulsion (diluted 

 four times) for $1.12, with soap at 8 cents per pound. With this 

 125 gallons, 80 trees were sprayed in 40 minutes. Another man 

 sprayed 8000 trees with the emulsion diluted only twice at a total 

 cost for labor and material of less than $70. The work in the 

 latter case was done with horse power sprayers, but not nearly 

 so many scales were killed as in the former case where more 

 than four times as much liquid was applied to each tree. 



The labor necessary to do thorough work will cost about as 

 much as the materials used. So that, on an average we believe 

 that one thorough application can be made to a tree 10 or 15 

 years old for a total cost of not over 3 cents. This may seem a 

 large expenditure to a fruit grower with several thousand badly 

 infested plum trees. But let him recall how much time and 



