25 



not meant to take the place of, but to supplement, fumigation with hydrocyanic 

 acid gas. Each fumigation house is carefully inspected and tested by the Pro- 

 vincial inspector and the local inspector before the fumigation begins, and in order 

 to be sure that the chemicals used are not adulterated, nurserymen are required to 

 purchase them only from certain reliable firms who guarantee the purity and 

 strength. 



Conclusion. 



We have seen that the San Jos^ Scale is a very destructive insect. The method 

 of combating it successfully has also been described. Some may thmk that the 

 amount of labor involved is great. It sometimes is, especially in neglected old 

 orchards the first year, but it should be remembered that an old orchard may often 

 be made the most valuable part of the whole farm. Many of the best paying 

 orchards of to-day were neglected until a few years ago. The steps outlined for 

 putting them into shape for spraifng for San Jose Scale are those that luould have 

 to he followed in renovating the orchard even ivere there no scale. Of course these 

 have to be supplemented by two later sprayings to control the various insect pests 

 and keep off disease so that the fruit may be clean and the foliage healthy. The 

 orchards also require either to be cultivated or fertilized, or often both, to supply 

 plenty of food for growth. Any man who will take the trouble to combat the scale 

 in earnest will naturally go farther and do the extra spraying and fertilizing to 

 insure a good return for his labor. Often the first year his crop will be poor, because 

 the trees if badly infested have been too starved and weak to produce fruit buds, 

 but the second year he may ordinarily expect a crop. San Jose scale is being satis- 

 factorily controlled all over North America to-day, and no man really interested is 

 losing any trees by it. Many growers claims that the insect in their particular dis- 

 trict has been more of a l)lessing than a curse to them, because it has shown them 

 the value of spraying and of thoroughness. 



