22 The Bulletin. 



begun to drop, or soon after they have dropped. For fall spraying we 

 believe there are special advantages in using the soluble oils, as they will 

 penetrate more of the small crevices and reach a larger percentage of 

 the small young scales which pass the winter. On the other hand, the 

 lime-sulphur solutions leave a coating on the branches so that when they 

 are applied in late winter this coating acts as a considerable protection 

 to the trees during spring and early summer. So, if one wants to come 

 as near as possible to exterminating the scale, we believe that the best 

 plan would be to use soluble oil in fall and lime-sulphur in late winter. 

 But we want to emphasize the fact that the insects are so small that 

 absolute extermination is impracticable (if not absolutely impossible), 

 and even at the best we must expect, and plan, to treat infested trees once 

 each year. 



Can We Occasionally Omit Winter Spraying? — As a general rule, we 

 should say that when once the San Jose Scale is found in an orchard, it 

 should be the plan and policy to give the orchard the winter treatment 

 for scale every year thereafter. This is a safe rule, and any careless 

 departure from it may result in trees being killed by the scale. But if 

 the grower has become thoroughly familiar with the scale, so that he 

 knows positively the condition of his trees, then when he finds that he 

 has reduced the scale to very inconsiderable numbers, and if his orchard 

 is fairly well isolated from other neglected orchards or trees around, we 

 believe that he might then occasionally omit the scale-spraying for one 

 winter and not seriously lose in consequence, especially if he uses some 

 of the milder lime-sulphur solutions during the growing season. Let us 

 not be misunderstood on this point : it would be very unwise to omit the 

 winter scale-treatment in an infested orchard for two winters in succes- 

 sion, but in orchards that have been so thoroughly sprayed that the scale 

 is almost eliminated we believe the winter scale-spray might be omitted 

 once in a while as a matter of economy. As we write this we have in 

 mind well-kept, vigorous young apple orchards on steep mountain land 

 where spraying is very laborious and very expensive, where scale-spraying 

 has heen practiced until only the most searching inspection will reveal the 

 presence of scale. In such orchards, where time, labor, and money cost 

 are serious factors, we believe that a careful and observant grower might 

 omit the winter-spray for one year and not lose by it ; it might be that 

 he could omit it regularly every third winter. But in this he must use 

 judgment and discrimination, and must be sure of conditions before 

 relaxing his vigilance. Apple trees can withstand attacks of the scale 

 longer than peach trees, hence the apple-grower in the mountains can 

 try this more safely than the peach-grower in the central or eastern parts 

 of the State. 



Preparing the Trees for Treatment. — If the trees are to be treated in 

 summer, it is not necessary to give them any special preparation other 

 than to cut out those branches that are already dead ; but for winter 

 treatment some preparation is desirable to get the best results. It may 



