522 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



the finished road was |27,971.00, oi- $17,088.00 per mile, $8,400.00 

 more than the contract price and an advance of just about 70 per 

 cent, over the estimated cost as prepared by the Highway Depart- 

 ment and presented to the township supervisors to secure their 

 sanction for building the road. 



SAN JOSE SCALE. 



By CYRUS T. FOX, Reading, Pa. 



The discovery of the San Jos(S Scale's presence in Pennsylvania 

 was first made known in December, 1894, and in a report to the 

 State Board of Agriculture made by the writer in the follow- 

 ing month, remedies were given whereby it could have been suc- 

 cessfully resisted. Copies of this report were ordered to be printed, 

 but there was the usual delay that is experienced in getting out 

 State documents, and a fire in the State printery aggravated the 

 matter. When the reports finally reached the writer's hands they 

 were sent to every newspaper in Pennsylvania, with the request that 

 the facts concerning the scale be published. Many editors courte- 

 ously acceded to the request, and some called attention thereto in 

 their editorial columns. 



Had there been a general compliance with the instructions given 

 in the information sent out at that time (14 years ago), the present 

 very general warfare that is being waged in Pennsylvania against 

 the pest would be unnecessary. It would seem, however, that it 

 takes a long time to secure an awakening in such matters. Where 

 only three cases of the presence of the "scale" were reported iu 

 the winter of 1894-95, and these were comparatively isolated, the 

 progress of the insect was so rapid that in the course of a year it 

 had made its appearance in 12 counties. This was largely due to 

 the fact that scarcely anything was done to combat it. At the end 

 of the next three years there was scarcely a county iu the State that 

 was exempt from its ravages. 



Even now the San Jos^ Scale is not being fought by growers 

 as it should, and it has been found necessary to start a special train 

 throu.uh the State with spraying material and outfits and a corps of 

 instructors to arouse farmers and fruit growers on the subject. 

 Thousands of dollars are thus being spent for the giving of "ex- 

 pert" information. Notwithstanding all these efforts, it is doubtful 

 if the farmers of the State will unite in maintaining the warfare of 

 their own accord. For that reason we have answered question No. 

 2, on spraying, by saying that the work is being thoroughly per- 

 formed "when done by the representatives of the State." 



There is no question as to the efficacy of the work of that section 

 of the Department of Agriculture known as "Economic Zoology," 

 but it is to be feared that too much reliance will be placed by farm- 

 ers upon the prospect that this movement will be continued by the 

 State authorities, and that to secure the preservation of their or- 

 chards all that will be necessary will be to request the Economic 

 Zoologist to send along a spraying "expert," with his outfit, when 

 the work will be done without any expense to the petitioners. 



This would be well enough if a sufficiently large appropriation 

 could be obtained from the Legislature for each season's operations, 

 so that plenty of men could be employed to spray all the orchards — 



