510 ' ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



in a shoi't time were ruined. Instead of trying the known remedies, 

 the owners of the orchard, thoroughly discouraged, concluded to de- 

 stroy the trees, and so they gave orders to their employes to root out 

 and burn them. This was done at a loss of thousands of dollars. 



Now this is one case. What are we going to do to-day in regard 

 to the thousands of other cases in Pennsylvania? In reports which 

 your pomologist has received within the past month he has found 

 that the San Jos6 Scale is distributed generally throughout the 

 State. In several counties it is only in isolated districts, but it will 

 not be long before each and every district in the county will be 

 infested. 



It needs but little inlluence to aid in the dissemination (if that is 

 the right word to use) of the San Jos6 Scale. For whether dissem- 

 inated, as is the case with the sowing of the seed of the ox-eye 

 daisy or other wild weeds, or whether transported by the winds or 

 carried by the birds, and thus fastened upon the twigs of the trees 

 which are to become its prey, it is certainly a most grievous pest, 

 the worst which the fruit growers of this or any other country have 

 experienced. 



At the outset your pomologist stated that he would not have 

 much to say in regard to the San Jos^ Scale, but as these lines have 

 been written, he feels that there is a certain duty which he should 

 perform, and that, while it is true, another more able than he 

 (the Economic Zoologist) is to follow, there are many of his friends 

 who would be glad to know his views. Shall we have Pennsylvania 

 fruits on exhibition at the World's Fair at St. Louis, for instance? 

 Yes, if our fruit trees are, meanwhile, not destroyed by the San Jos6 

 Scale. Why so pessimistic? r)ecause it is known that trees have 

 been destroyed in three months from the time that they have been 

 attacked. 



W^hat, then, shall we do to combat this dreadful pest? The Eco- 

 nomic Zoologist will tell you w^hat to do. He favors the lime, sul- 

 phur and salt solution, to be sprayed upon the trees. The disad- 

 vantage of this is that it is disagreeable to handle and requires pro- 

 longed boiling. The more difficult that it appears to farmers to 

 prepare a remedy, especially in the busy season — the spring of the 

 year — the less likely they are to make use of it. 



The lime, sulphur and salt solution is prepared as follows: Lime, 

 unslaked, 40 pounds; sul])hur, ground, 20 pounds; salt, 15 pounds; 

 water, 60 gallons. This is known as the California wash and has 

 proven very effective wherever used. It is recommended by the 

 Experiment Stations of nearly all the states and by the leading 

 horticultural societies. 



A cheaper and, perhaps, more effective wash was discovered by 

 your pomologist in a sojourn of two months last fall in Virginia. 



