DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 138 



ORCHARD INSPECTION. 



The work in this line has been along three principal lines: (1) watch- 

 ing orchards in sections adjacent to counties which are known to be 

 infected or infested; (2) helping farmei's whose orchards are injured 

 by insects or diseases and aiding local inspectors; (3) interesting the 

 fruit growers in townships in which the San Jose scale or other dan- 

 gerous insects or diseases are kno^vn to exist, or in which there is danger 

 of their appearance, and securing the appointment of local inspectors. 



For some unknown reason the San Jose scale is spreading to the north 

 very slowly and on the east side of the state it has not been found north 

 of Ithaca/ although it was quite general in that village ten years ago. 

 Along the western side of the state no new infestations have been found 

 north of Mason county and it has only appeared in a few localities 

 there and these are being carefully watched. Although it was found in 

 1909 in two places in Benzie county it is not known to have spread from 

 the three trees upon which it was introduced. 



During the summer of 1911 peach yellows and little peach developed 

 to an alarming extent. The latter has been particularlj^ difficult to con- 

 trol, as in many sections of the state its appearance is not well under- 

 stood and the orchards become badly infected before its presence is sus- 

 pected. It is then too late to check the spread of the disease. 



For this reason it is particularly desirable that local inspectors be 

 appointed in all sections where the fruit growing interests are important. 



Considerable attention has been paid to securing the co-operation of 

 the officers and members of the fruit growers' associations in bringing 

 about the appointment of inspectors both in townships where dangerous 

 insects and diseases have appeared and in those with important fruit 

 growing interests in which there is a probability that they may develop. 



In the last year or two there has been a wonderful awakening regard- 

 ing the possibilities in the old apple orchards scattered over the southern 

 part of the state. For years they have been neglected and hence were 

 unproductive, but the appearance of the San -Jose scale in many of them 

 made it necessary to spray them and it proved so helpful in the way of 

 controlling other insects and fungi that the trees are now bearing regular 

 crops of fine fruit, at a comparatively small expense. That this could 

 be done was conclusively demonstrated by the writer 20 years ago when 

 it was shown that by three or four applications of fungicides and insecti- 

 cides the bulk of the crop could not only be increased but the injury 

 from scab could be reduced nearly 90 per cent and a similar decrease 

 would be made in the number of the codling moth. 



INSPECTION OP EUROPEAN SHIPMENTS. 



Several hundred cases of nursery stock have been imported into Michi- 

 gan from Europe during the year. A vei*y large proportion of them, are 

 of species subject to the attack of the gypsy and brown-tail moths, and 

 these have been inspected. During the last year or two there has been 

 a great improvement in the condition of this class of stock, since the 

 work of inspection was taken up four years ago. At that time it was 

 not uncommon to find from 15 to 25 nests of the brown-tail moth, con- 

 taining from 6,000 to 10,000 larvae in a single box of trees, but for the 

 last two years they have been quite free from them. 



