SIXTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 595 



in our opinion when we believe that we have advantages certainly equal to 

 those of any part of this continent. 



It is true, we are meeting with some disadvantages; we have to exercise 

 ingenuity with wisdom to overcome some serious drawbacks; and as I have 

 a great love for fruit farming and have given it much thought, it may not 

 be out of place to give some theories which have grown out of observation, 

 for it is by the small accumulation of observation of various individuals 

 that remedies may be found. 



Two of the most serious drawbacks, which have developed themselves in 

 this county, are the cottony scale, endangering in many localities the grow- 

 ing of the orange and lemon with profit, and some unnamed disease, which 

 is causing the dying of vineyards in some localities in this county. This 

 cottony scale insect is a most astonishingly prolific multiplier, and much 

 experimental work has been done by intelligent horticulturists and scien- 

 tists, as yet with no practical success. 



I, myself, have expended several thousand dollars spraying and fumi- 

 gating trees, and as yet with more injury to the trees than benefit, until I 

 despair of any success in either of these modes. But I have learned, how- 

 ever, a habit of this scale bug which is never varied from. The scale always 

 goes up, and never down. This is valuable knowledge, for we have only 

 to guard one direction. It may fall off the tree, and they do in thousands, 

 and many will hide and live for a time in the ground. But in the end 

 they find the trunk of the tree and go up again. My cure would be to trim 

 the tree, stripping it of all foliage and small branches, leaving only some 

 of the larger branches, and well cut back at that. Then to thoroughly wash 

 the trunk and branches that are left to form another top with sal soda 

 dissolved in warm water. Care must be taken that no egg or bug escapes, 

 for in this thorough washing success lies. Immediately after washing, and 

 before any bug can crawl up, an inverted cone must be tied around the 

 trunk of the tree, so that as they crawl out of the ground up the trunk they 

 crawl under this cone-shaped bandage, and when they come to the end 

 they will stop, for their instinct of never going back answers here a good 

 purpose. As they accumulate they will have to be killed, and if this is 

 carefully attended to there will be no more in a short time, for they can 

 only live by sucking the sap of the tree. It is easily seen that this is a 

 radical cure, if thoroughly done, and if the orchard is not too large it can 

 be done with a comparatively small outlay. To make these cones various 

 expedients will suggest themselves. Dr. Conger, of Pasadena, says that 

 he can make them by taking old worn-out barley sacks (burlap) and wrap- 

 ping around the tree, tying with a fencing rope around the lower portion, 

 then stripping the upper part over this tie, and pulling it out so that the 

 lower edge will not touch the tree, say by at least half an inch or more. 

 This will be a convenient material to press against, thus killing the bug, 

 when the edge can be again adjusted by shaping it out away from the 

 trunk. A cone can also be made by taking tarred paper, and cutting it in 

 such a way that when tied the lower part will stand away from the tree. 

 In that case cotton or wool would have to be used to fill up the inequalities 

 of the tree, for there are generally valley or flute-like gutters in large orange 

 trunks. 



As regards the disease which is killing our grapevines in some localities, 

 it is the more annoying, as no satisfactory reason can be given for it. Dig 

 up a vine which has died, and the bark and wood both in the roots and 

 top of the vine are entirely free from imperfections or mars, no insect, no 

 decay. In fact, no reason for the trouble can be given. Professor Morse, 

 of the University, who was sent for to make examination, found nothing, 



