1902.] QUESTIONS. 179 



injurious insects, especially those in the orchard, if it is left 

 there through the nights of the early summer. There is no 

 question but what it will destroy quite a large number of in- 

 jurious insects, but the claims made for it are altogether too 

 great. Not' only does it destroy some of the injurious in- 

 sects, but it also destroys their parasites, which are beneficial 

 to us. Prof. Steadman of Missouri has been the unfortunate 

 victim of these lantern manufacturers. A lantern was sent to 

 him to be tested and he gave it a very careful test and sub- 

 mitted his report to the manufacturers. The manufacturers 

 then proceeded to cut out certain parts of the report and 

 pubhshed the rest, making it appear that he endorsed the 

 lantern for destroying nearly all of our injurious insect pests, 

 which was something which Prof. Steadman did not do. He 

 did endorse it for some species of caterpillars, and he endorsed 

 it for the squash vine borer and a few others. In all of his 

 experiments he failed to catch more than two or three speci- 

 mens of the Codlin, and this was one of the insects which the 

 manufacturers said could be controlled by the use of the 

 lantern. Moreover, the manufacturers claimed that it would 

 kill a great many other things, among which was mentioned 

 one which has proven to be a parasite of some of the injurious 

 species, and therefore should not be killed. Prof. Steadman 

 thought that the indiscriminate use of the lantern at all times 

 and in all places did more harm than good. 



Secretary Brown. From the same source I get this ques- 

 tion : " What is the best treatment for orchards infested with 

 the San Jose Scale?" 



Prof. Britton. The experience of Connecticut, as well 

 as other states, shows that all worthless or badly injured trees 

 should be cut out at once. They are not worth treating. 

 Where you have good varieties, however, and the trees are 

 not very badly injured, the best treatment seems to be to 

 spray them thoroughly in ihe spring, just before the buds 

 open, with either a mixture of kerosene and water containing 



