232 State Horticultural Society. 



If the orchard is large, you will have to begin earlier. But if you 

 spray in January, for instance, you will not kill quite as many in- 

 sects as at the time given. Apply with a force pump and spray 

 thoroughly. Remember that in order to kill the scale you must 

 touch it with the spray. You can't poison it, and this means that 

 the work must be done thoroughly. You will find scale on any 

 part of the tree above ground; you can find it on the leaves and 

 the fruit. 



If you will use the above spray next spring, just before the 

 buds swell, you need not fear this insect. You need not lose any 

 trees or aiiy fruit, and the chances are that you will not need to 

 spray every year. 



After using this wash the trees become very smooth and 

 glossy. They look almost as if they had been varnished. As to the 

 cost of this mixture, it is not very expensive, about one cent per 

 gallon, but is more annoying and troublesome to use than ordinary 

 sprays. We must fight and try to keep this insect down and not 

 let it get on the fruit. 



Take these apples here, with live scale on them; the chances 

 are decidedly against carrying the scale home and disseminating 

 it in that way. You would have to place the infected apple in your 

 tree and leave it there till next summer. You are pretty safe in 

 buying stock from nurseries. Especially if the nursery has a cer- 

 tificate of inspection, though this does not guarantee against the 

 scale. It is impossible to do this. If you want to be absolutely 

 certain, fumigate your trees. See that stock is fairly dry, abso- 

 lutely dormant, and fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas. For 

 a room about 10 by 10 by 6, put about two pounds of water in an 

 eathen jar; add one pound of good sulphuric acid, then drop in 

 half a pound of cyanide potassium. When you drop the latter in, get 

 out of the room just as soon as possible. Shut the door and leave 

 it for thirty or forty minutes, then air thoroughly before enter- 

 ing. You must use this with great care, as this gas is a deadly 

 poison. One full breath is liable to kill you. Get everything ready, 

 then drop in the cyanide potassium and run. Don't stop an instant 

 to see if it is going to work. You want to have the potassium 

 cyanide just as pure (98 to 100 per cent.) as possible. Know of 

 two firms where they may be purchased and get pure — Merck Com- 

 pany and Baker Adamson Company. These are the only firms I 

 know who put out the pure cyanide potassium. Of course, you will 

 not all buy direct from these firms, but you can see that the first 

 purchase came from there. I sometimes hesitate about giving this 



