No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 97 



1. EXAxMINING SPEriMENS AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS SENT 



During the past year we bave made 1,220 accessions (comprising 

 many more specimens) to the collection of specimens, most of which 

 have been contributed by correspondents in this State, as well as 

 others, chiefly for the purpose of requesting examinations and gain- 

 ing information concerning the material sent. These are acknowl- 

 edged in that portion of this Report entitled, ''Making Collections." 



The correspondence has been remarkably large. During the one 

 year 7,732 letters have been written and copied in this office, which 

 does not include the minor correspondence not copied, nor a great 

 number of circulars sent out. Of these letters, 603 have been to the 

 field inspectors and demonstrators of the office, and, like all the 

 others, have been in response to inquiries received, or for the pur- 

 l)ose of acquiring all instruction possible, or disseminating official 

 information. 



To relieve considerable of the correspondence, we made a particular 

 effort to prepare timely articles in a terse and practical manner as 

 Press Bulletins, to be sent to the newspapers of the State. Extra 

 numbers of these were printed and kept on file under a systematic 

 method, and sent in answer to inquires on the topics they treat, 



2. PERSONAL WORK: INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTATION 



The investigations of this office have been conducted along those 

 line-s that were most needed in the practical suppression of pests, 

 particularly in Economic Entomology. Of the destructive insects, 

 the chief one, because of its wide-spread importance, has been the 

 San Jose scale. Fortunately, the ravages of this fearful destroyer 

 in our orchards are now well checked, and the pest is under control 

 in those orchards where the methods have been adopted which we 

 have recommended. 



By reference to the Annual Eeport of this office of five years ago, 

 page 130, it will be seen that we then made the emphatic statement 

 that ''tJie lime-sulfur wash doiled for one Iwur, and applied ivhile the 

 leaves are off the trees, or when the trees are dormant, is positively 

 the hest means of killing the San Jose scale, the safest and leas^ 

 injurious to the infested, trees, and the least expensive material that 

 can he effectivGly applied fo^- this pest.'' Five years of active warfare 

 against the pest, in almost every county of this State by us, and in 

 almost every state in the Union by others, have proven beyond all 

 controversy the emphatic truth of the above statement. 



Eight years ago we commenced to experiment with various ma- 

 terials for the San Jos^ scale, and soon arrived at the conclusion that 

 the best, cheai)est and safest was the lime-sulfur solution. Unfor- 

 tunately, we had the op])osition of those persons who advocated 

 certain other materials, and especially of the agents and manufac- 

 turers of the oil solutions, and there was altogether a lack of uni- 

 formity in the recommendaticms of the Economic Entomologists of 

 the country. 



At the present time j)ractically all are agreed upon the truth of 

 the above statement in every regard. The lime-sulfui' solution is 

 not only made very extensively by commercial and smaller orchard 



7—7—1910 



