Timely Hints for Farmers. 8d 



So, again, the pear leaf blister-mite has been introduced from 

 the eastern states on trees, and is now common in Mesa and Tempe. 

 It li\ es in a brown thickening of the tissue of the leaf, and is so 

 protected from the excessive heat and dryness. 



The soft scale has been introduced on ornamental plants, and 

 is abundant on certain oleanders in the streets of Phoenix. Now 

 this scale is a well-known pest of the orange, and while it might 

 not live on young orange trees, it is more than likely that it would 

 flourish in the dense shade afforded by trees of larger growth. 



From Dewey, Arizona, we have received specimens of the 

 woolly aphis, reported as injuring the apple trees. The owner of 

 the trees mentions that he got them from a certain nursery in 

 Missouri. 



It is not always easy to detect pests on plants. Scales, when 

 few in number, are very easily overlooked. Similarly, eggs of 

 moths or of mites are extremely inconspicuous in many cases. Little 

 cigar-shaped case-worms, which may be found on trees from New 

 York state, are quite the color of the bark, and practically invis- 

 ible unless one examines closely. Woolly aphis, from its mildew- 

 like secretion, is much more easily seen than most things found 

 on imported tress. 



Just because it is so hard to see these things, it is best to have 

 all imported trees examined by a man who knows what he is look- 

 ing for, and is an expert at the business. The Salt River Valley 

 should certainly have a horticultural quarantine officer with a suit- 

 able law giving him power to destroy infested plants. The Valley 

 is isolated, and plants can only come in by rail; the interests in- 

 volved are large and daily increasing, and the valley at present re- 

 markably free from pests. 



It is a good precaution, in case of insects being overlooked, 

 to apply some insecticide to imported plants before they are set 

 out. When there is a suitable official to do the work, the gas 

 treatment is doubtless the best. Unfortunately, however, scales 

 will get into minute cracks and crevices in such plants as palms, 

 and the gas does not always reach them. 



Kerosene emulsion, however, is a good insecticide for domes- 

 tic use. This is made with kerosene, soap and water, in the pro- 

 portions of two gallons of kerosene to one gallon of water and one 



