568 ANNUAL REPORT OF THK Off. Doc. 



covered witli the waxv coat, concealing and protecting it from the 

 elements, etc. Fii this condition it remains and developes to full 

 maturity in about one month. It in turn performs the same func- 

 tions of reproduction. Thus we have several broods, in this lati- 

 tude, about four, sometimes five in favorable seasons. During the 

 past season, 1903, they continued very late. I found living young 

 uncovered as late as December 4. These late progeny does not seem 

 to have much ambition and I doubt if any survive the winter north 

 of latitude 40 degrees. 



My first experience with this insect was in the winter of '98-'91) 

 while attending the annual meeting of the Peninsula Horticultural 

 Society held at Smyrna. I had the satisfaction of listening to Prof. 

 Johnson, Cap. Emery and others who had several years experience 

 with the scale in their own orchards. Upon examination I found 

 three trees in my own orchard that were infested. These I treated 

 with a twenty-five per cent, mixture of crude petroleum applied 

 with a kero-water sprayer. I gave the trees a thorough spraying 

 and effectually cleaned them of the scale. They are clean to this 

 day. My next experience was in the summer of 1901. I found a 

 Magnolia pear tree, pretty well covered, both limbs and fruit. As 

 I was about to spray the tree, I saw a few black, twice stabbed lady 

 bugs busy at work on the scale. I watched them and found they 

 were turning over the scale and eating the lice. I delayed spraying 

 and had the satisfaction of seeing that the lady bugs were making 

 clean work as they went. By fall this tree was comparatively clean. 

 I saw nothing further until the summer of 1902. Then I found sev- 

 eral trees in different parts of the orchard which were infested. 

 Some of these I marked for special treatment and decided to use the 

 lime, sulphur and salt, using the California and Oregon formulae. 

 Each of these seemed to me to be faulty. In the Oregon formula. 

 50 pounds of lime, 50 pounds sulphur, 50 pounds salt to loO gallons 

 of water, there being an unnecessary large quantity of salt; as the 

 salt is considered a useless factor except to make the lime adhere. 

 The salt can be greatly reduced without destroying the efficacy of 

 the w'ash. The substitution of blue vitriol gave me very good satis- 

 faction, but required more agitation to keep it from separating and 

 floating on the surface. With this wash formula, 50 pounds fresh 

 lime, 45 pounds suli)hur, 4^ pounds blue vitriol prepared as lime, sul- 

 phur and salt wash by boiling one and one-half hours, I sprayed a 

 block of fifty Elberta peach trees eight years old. When spraying 

 it was very windy and I could spray one side only. I completed the 

 other side a few days later, giving every tree a complete covering. 

 Considering the large size of the trees, we did excellent work. 

 These were sj)rayed about one week before the blossoms opened. 



Ri'sults. No buds were injured. Mlossoms opened very uniform 



