The Bulletin. 13 



tion. Growers sometimes make serious and ridiculous mistakes on this 

 point and give up hope because they imagine that the "scale is in the 

 woods," or they try to destroy the forests which they suspect, or spend 

 hours in a fruitless search for it on the forest or shade trees, and then, 

 when they find a scale (which is some other species in nine cases out of 

 ten) they think that they have surely found it. 



Let us repeat, then, with greater emphasis, that : the San Jose Scale is 

 primarily a pest of orchard fruit trees; it may also occur, hut less fre- 

 quently, on rose, grape, currant, gooseberry, mockordnge, and Japan 

 ivalnut, hut forest trees are not appreciable factors in harboring or 

 spreading it. 



How Long Before it Kills the Tree? — The answer to this question will 

 depend upon the kind of tree and the age at which it first Ijecomes 

 infested. Let us consider a few examples: 1. If the tree becomes in- 

 fested as soon as budded, peach and plum are likely to die in from 

 one to two years; apple, pear, and cherry in from two to four years. 

 2. If they become infested when five years of age, peach and plum will 

 usually die in three or four years, pear in four or five years, and cherry 

 and apple in four to six years, or perhaps not at all. 3. If they become 

 infested at the age of eight years or over, our observation has been that 

 apples are not likely to be killed outright, though peaches, plums, and 

 pears may be. Of course, an infested tree should be regularly and 

 thoroughly treated whether it is going to be killed or not, for otherwise 

 it becomes a center from which the scale may spread to other trees or 

 orchards. Furthermore, though a tree may be too hardy to be killed out- 

 right, yet the younger branches where the fruit should be borne may be 

 injured to such an extent that the tree cannot mature a crop. 



The San Jose Scale in North Carolina. — A study of the^map in Figure 4 

 shows that this pest is widespread in this State. An examination of our 

 data on March 1, 1915, shows that we have office records of its occur- 

 rence in eighty-five counties (out of the one hundred counties of the 

 State), these records representing 512 localities (counting each post- 

 office and each different rural route as a locality), and they embrace 

 1,176 different orchards, farms, or premises. New records are added 

 almost every week, often several in one day. In April, 1912 (three years 

 ago), our records included less than 900 premises. It is perfectly evident 

 that there must be many hundreds, and even thousands, of orchards, town 

 lots, etc., upon which this scale is present, but of which we have no record. 

 It is positively known to occur at sea level in Brunswick County in the 

 extreme southeastern part of the State, and on the high mountain ranges 

 (over 4,000 feet) of Watauga County in the northwestern part of the 

 State, and it is destructive in both places. As these points represent the 

 two extremes of altitude and temperature to be found in our State, it is 

 plainly seen that there is no section of North Carolina where it will not 

 thrive. It is also known in the eastern counties of New Hanover, Pender, 

 Carteret, Hyde, and Pasquotank, and in the western counties of Chero- 



