176 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



host. These are the West Indian peach-scale {Aidacas[?is pentagova 

 Targioni) and the Peach-Lecanium {Eulecanium nigrofasciatiim Pergande). 

 Neither, however, is very troublesome as far north as New York and both 

 are kept well under control by the treatment for the more common San 

 Jose. The Lecanium is responsible for the discolored, sooty peaches 

 occasionally found in parts of the State; for, though the discoloration 

 is caused by a soot-fungus, the fungus lives in the honey-dew of the 

 scale. 



The black peach-aphis {Aphis persica-niger E. F.Smith) is sometimes 

 a serious pest in light peach-soils in New York but is not nearly as trouble- 

 some here as it is in states having a larger proportion of sandy land since 

 it seems to find life easiest in light, warm soils. The insect is an intensely 

 black, shining louse with brownish legs. It lives underground m.ore than 

 above ground, maintaining itself for most part on the tender roots of newly 

 set or nursery trees, being found only occasionally on shoots and foliage. 

 An expert eye detects the presence of the lice by the sparse and jaundiced 

 foliage of young trees which an untrained eye would say were down with 

 incipient yellows — indeed countless numbers of young trees have been 

 sacrificed to the yellow's pyre when they suffered only from lice on the 

 roots. The pest is easily detected on stock received from niirseries — the 

 chief source of infestation — and the trees may be dipped or fiunigated 

 as for San Jose scale, thus completely exterminating the aphids. Good 

 culture and a dressing of some fertilizer will help to carry young orchards 

 through an infestation though treatment to a dose of a pound of ground 

 tobacco stems worked in the soil about the roots may be necessary. 



There is, too, a green plant-louse {Myzus persicae Sulzer) more or less 

 common on peaches in the State every season. It is very similar in appear- 

 ance to the green aphis of the apple and other plants and makes its presence 

 known by much the same effect on the leaves. It works on the under- 

 side of the leaves along the veins, causing the leaves to pucker, curl and 

 crinkle much as with leaf-curl. This green louse, however, is seldom 

 numerous or liarmful enough on peaches to require treatment. Should 

 treatment be required, no doubt nicotine, now the standard remedy 

 for aphids on foliage, would keep the pest under. 



The frtiit-tree bark-beetle {Eccoptogaster rugulosus Ratzeburg), known 

 in New York as the shot-hole borer, is often a serious menace to old or 

 decrepit peach-trees. The beetle is a small, cylindrical insect an eighth 

 of an inch long, one-third as wide, the body uniformh- black and the surface 



