STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 463 



than anywhere else. The cold sea winds evidently counteract the spread 

 of the insect. 



Third. — That high table land or plateaus will be easier to keep free from 

 the insects than on bottom lands where there is more moisture in the soil, 

 and generally more humidity in the atmosphere. 



Article IX. — Remedies for the Diseases. 



Pruning is the most essential thing and the remedy of the greatest vital 

 importance. If trees are properly pruned, so as to admit of free circula- 

 tion of air and the sunlight, more than half the battle is made; in fact, 

 trees in such condition where the ground is well tilled and kept free from 

 rubbish are not so liable to the attack, and if attacked each scale insect 

 can readily be seen and should be removed without delay. 



Orchardists who adopt this plan will have very little trouble, even in 

 badly infected districts. A casual examination of several different parts 

 of each orchard should be made as often as once a month. This can be 

 done on horseback, or in a light wagon; and in the event of the appearance 

 of scale insects, then a careful examination in that part, and a remedy 

 applied to exterminate them. The insects will be found to inhabit that 

 portion of the tree where the foliage is most dense, where the sunlight is 

 shut out, and free circulation prevented. There is not so much in the 

 remedy as in its application. While certain remedies may be effectual in 

 the hands of some, in the hands of others they will not be sufficient. " Eter- 

 nal vigilance is the price of success." Constant watching and constant 

 fighting is the only sure plan to prevent the spread of insect pests in locali- 

 ties where trees are affected. 



Tbere are doubtless very many remedies that if properly applied would 

 accomplish the work; and the expense would not be so great as to absorb 

 the profits to be derived from the products of well-kept orchards. On young 

 olive trees not badly affected, whale-oil soap can be applied with a stiff 

 brush very successfully, and at cheap cost; but on large trees this plan is 

 impracticable. 



I find in French books, where the subject is treated at great length, 

 numerous remedies advised, which I translate as follows: "Scraping off, 

 powdered sulphur, petroleum, boiling water, lime water, hyposulphite of 

 lime, wash with alkaline, smoking with coal tar." Also, "proper drainage, 

 the tillage, removing rubbish, the lopping off of every useless twig are neces- 

 sary precautions; the application is difficult and the success uncertain, 

 where there are millions of insects. The pruning is of the greatest impor- 

 tance, and the orchardist who neglects this important part will find that 

 the pests will resist all efforts at extermination." 



In my correspondence several years ago with Professor J. E. Planchon, 

 President of the Horticultural Society of Montpelier, France, the following 

 was recommended: " Syringe the trees with a solution of sulphate of soda, 

 and powder them immediately after with powdered lime — a caustic soda is 

 then produced which destroys the insects." Bisulphide of carbon has been 

 used with deadly effect on the most dangerous enemy to citrus fruit that 

 was ever known. The cost is moderate, and the application not difficult, 

 so that it should attract the attention of fruit growers as an insect de- 

 stroyer. 



Tbe remedies that I have experimented with are whale-oil soap, a decoc- 

 tion of tobacco, phenyle, and pyroligneous acid. 



First. — Whale-oil soap, as I have already stated, can be used effectually 

 on small olive trees, at very cheap cost. 



