672 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



less one can conceive that it was blown by a very strong wind, as 

 by whirlwind, which is possible — but improbable. 



"South of this and separated by a strip of woodland, probably 

 twenty rods wide, is another peach orchard belonging to this same 

 man, containing about 250 trees. This orchard is situated on a 

 mountain side and is surrounded on three sides by dense forest. No 

 sign of the Scale was found except quite a distance up the mountain 

 side, near the edge of the woods, there was a four-year-old tree 

 which had only one limb on the side toward the forest badly in- 

 fested. The remainder of the tree was only slightly infested and 

 the trunk was almost clean, showing that the first infestation must 

 have been started on this tree by a bird alighting on the branch 

 nearest the forest. Again the spread of a radius of from two to 

 four rods of slight infestation was found around this tree but no 

 other point in the orchard." 



This point shows decidedly that in those regions where the San 

 Jose" Scale is bad and generally distributed it is impossible to work 

 out such interesting points as this report contains. This locality 

 was especially valuable for the purposes which we had in mind. 



"In the orchard of J. M., two miles west of here, containing 450 to 

 500 peach trees, I could find no Scale. 



"This morning I made an inspection of the town and found it to 

 be in a very bad state, probably the worst of any town I have yet 

 been in. Trees fifty years of age, as well as young trees, grape vines, 

 and quince bushes are covered with it. So bad is it indeed that 

 many trees were dead and the bark of many others cracking open, 

 and last summer's growth shriveling up, and it was impossible to 

 tell which was the worst infested tree. However, proving that the 

 Scale does travel across lots in spite of Doctor G's statement that it 

 does not, I went into the field of A. N. C, one-half mile west of P. O., 

 and at least 100 rods from any trees, and there I found about six 

 good-sized apple trees infested with the Scale." 



From the fact that Mr. Heiss found the Scale covering a branch 

 of the tree but not the trunk, he is justified in his conclusion that 

 the Scale was carried to this particular branch, doubtless by a bird, 

 and that it started at this place. It must have been there not more 

 than a year, or the trunk itself would have been covered. Thus in 

 this case we have evidence of the spread of the scale over a circle of 

 at least a diameter of eight rods or over 130 feet within the year, 

 and, of course, the rate of spread would become much larger as the 

 infested area increased in extent. It is possible that a few individual 

 Scales were carried a much greater distance; but, of course, an in 

 spector cannot be expected to find all the pests, especially when 

 they are so small and are likely to find concealment beneath buds 

 and scales. This portion of the report is remarkable as it proves 

 conclusively that the Scale was carried here, at least ten rods or 165 

 feet, from one orchard to another over a strip of woodland. 



"To find how far it had traveled I took a trip of about six miles 

 east of here and could trace the Scale for a distance of three miles 

 from town, although no trees, except one about a mile from town, 

 were badly infested. The remainder of the infestation at a distance 

 of two to three miles from town had apparently just started this 

 summer and so far as I could find was entirely removed from any 

 case of serious infestation and on such trees upon which it could not 



