secretary's budget. 443 



FIGHTING OUR INSECT BOES. 



The lecturer at the third evening meeting held in connection with 

 the recent State Fair at Rochester, Thursday, September 13, was Prof. 

 J. Henry Comstock of Cornell University, who took for his topic the 

 "Insect Enemies of the Fruit Crop," and urged the necessity of system- 

 atic and combined action by horticulturists, requiring, for the best re- 

 sults, "concert of action over a considerable area." To show what may 

 be accomplished in this manner, the speaker gave an interesting ac- 

 count of recent operations in California, Three years ago, many mag- 

 nificent orchards in that State were found completely overrun by in- 

 sects. "So great was this scourge in some sections that the price of real 

 estate was seriously affected." 'The beautiful Santa Clara valley espe- 

 cially, in the vicinity of St. Jose (one of the finest fruit sections Prof. 

 Comstock has ever seen in journeys extending the whole length and 

 breadth of the country) "was so overrun by scale insects and other 

 pests that the residents were greatly discouraged, and people from 

 other sections were loth to invest there." 



- Prior to this time, the grape growers of the State, aroused by the 

 discovery that Phylloxera had attacked their vines, had secured the 

 establishment of a board of "State Viticultural Commissioners," charged 

 with the duty of studying the enemies and diseases of the vine, and ad- 

 vising proper means of combatmg them. It was found, however, that 

 no part of the law creating this body could be made exactly available 

 for the benefit of the scalebug-infested orchards of San Jose, and the 

 fruit-growers of that section took counsel as to what they could do for 

 themselves. "The most serious pests they had to contend against were 

 scale-insects. These creatures at that time had been studied but little 

 in this country; in fact the two most common species that were over- 

 running the San Jose orchards were unknown to science until Prof. 

 Comstock described them a year later." Various means of destroying 

 them had been suggested, but practical experience was lacking. The 

 growers determined to experiment., and did so, by a committee, on a 

 large scale and with great care, noting the effects of the washes tried, 

 both on the insects and on the trees, and finally deciding pretty defi- 

 nitely on the best treatment. 



Meanwhile, fruit-growers in other sections of the State had become 

 aroused, and had secured a great enlargement of the duties of the 

 State Viticultural Commissioners. This body was now empow- 

 ered to prevent the introduction and spread of fruit diseases and fruit 

 pests of all kinds, by enforcing quarantine regulations, with heavy 

 penalties for their violation. A law was also enacted providing for 



