132 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



REPORT OF STATE INSPECTOR OF NURSERIES AND 



ORCHARDS. 



To the State Board of Agriculture: 



Gentlemen — During the past year this department has been called 

 upon for more than the usual amount of work. This has been due to 

 a number of causes, among which are : First, the establishment of several 

 new nurseries; (2) the appearance of peach yellows, little peach and 

 the San Jose scale in new localities; (3) the unusual virulence of these 

 diseases and the rapid development and spread of the scale in regions 

 already infested; (4) increased interest in fruit culture and a more 

 general desire to control the more dangerous insects and diseases, and 

 (5) a great increase in the number of importations of nursery stock 

 from Europe which have required inspection in order to prevent the 

 introduction of the brown-tail and gji)sy moths and other dangerous in- 

 sects and diseases, 



INSPECTION OF NURSERIES. 



For the first time the number of licensed nurseries in Michigan ex- 

 ceeds 100. The stock grown by all of these has been inspected at least 

 once during the season. Besides this, fully as many plantations of 

 small fruit plants have been inspected; as, although the growers are al- 

 lowed to sell surplus plants without taking out a license, the plants 

 cannot be handled by the nurseries, to whom they are generally sold, 

 until they have been inspected. 



The improvement in the condition of several of the Michigan nurseries 

 referred to last year has continued. This has been brought about in 

 several ways. The trouble is for the most part due to the San Jose scale 

 spreading to nursery stock from neighboring infested orchards, as, 

 however thoroughly the orchard trees may be sprayed in the spring, 

 there will always be enough scale upon the trees before fall to cause 

 any nursery trees growing in the vicinity to become at least slightly 

 infested. 



Great care in choosing locations for the growing of nursery stock to 

 have them as far away as i>ossible from orchard trees, has always been 

 advised and each year the nurserymen have become more and more 

 convinced of the wisdom of this advice. Among the other preventive 

 measures which have been adapted are, the spraying of nursery stock 

 before growth starts with lime-sulphur solution (1 to 8) and again with 

 more diluted solutions (about 1 to 25) when the larvae of the scale can 

 be found upon the trees in greatest numbers, which will generally be 

 about the 10th of July, and again early in September, depending upon 

 the season and location. 



This is followed by careful inspection of the nursery trees before they 

 are dug in October, All infested trees are destroyed and the others 

 fumigated with hydrocyanic acid gas if they have been grown within 

 a half mile of where the San Jose scale has been found within two years. 



