The Bulletin. 47 



each county, can see what proportion of the places were found to be 

 infested with scale, and can get an idea of whether the county grows 

 most of apples, peaches, etc. 



It is important to note, however, that our inspections have been 

 largely in neighborhoods where San Jose Scale is known to be preva- 

 lent, and persons who have scale are most urgent in wanting their 

 orchards (and their neighbors') examined. So it may be that our figures 

 show a higher percentage of infestation than is true for the State as a 

 whole. Approximately two-thirds of the premises inspected were found 

 to be infested. There are only about six counties in which our inspec- 

 tions have been complete enough to give a fair basis for an estimate of 

 the counties as a whole. In the counties of Alexander, Guilford, Hay- 

 wood, Surry, Wilkes, and Yancey a total of 221 premises have been 

 inspected, and of these 108 (less than half) were found to be infested 

 with scale. 



We believe that in the counties which seem to be the worst infested 

 a complete inspection of all premises in the county would show a 

 less proportion infested than our figures indicate. On the other hand 

 the county of Yancey has been inspected to fair extent without finding 

 any scale at all, yet it is almost surely present to some degree some- 

 where in the county. So we can not draw too sweeping conclusions 

 from the figures here given. They are perfectly true to our records, 

 but they are not an infallible indication of the exact conditions in the 

 counties nor in the State as a whole. 



A number of our largest orchards have been inspected several times, 

 but in our figures we have counted each only once. Should we count 

 every orchard each time an inspection were made our figures would 

 be much larger, but we have not done this. 



A Large Task.— While the figures given in the table may look dull 

 and uninteresting, yet they represent a large amount of work, both by 

 the Inspector in the field and by the Entomologist and clerk in the office. 

 It means that thousands of trees have been carefully examined, that 

 hundreds of miles have been tramped over hill and swamp in the inspec- 

 tions, that hundreds of reports have been filled out and mailed to the 

 office, that hundreds of letters have been written, and that thousands of 

 circulars and bulletins have been sent to the growers. And it is in order 

 that we may do more of this work in counties where we now know of 

 few (or no) commercial orchards that we want all interested persons to 

 put themselves into communication with this office. 



SUGGESTIONS TO PURCHASERS OF NURSERY STOCK. 



It is well for persons who intend to buy trees (especially if they are 

 planting large orchards) to take such precautions as they can to get 

 only good healthy trees. Much of the trouble with unprofitable orchards 

 arises from the fact that inferior or diseased trees are planted, and as 

 little or no attention is given them, they soon decline or perish alto- 

 gether. The following information should be of interest to prospective 

 planters : 



