an 



HORTICULTURE. 



April 20, 1907 



PRATT'S ii 



SCALECIDE 



99 



Soluble 

 Petroleum 



WILL POSITIVELY 

 DESTROY 



SAN JOSE, COTTONY MAPLE SCALE, PEAR PSYLLA, ETC. 



Without Injury to the Trees, with LESS COST AND TROUBLE than Lime, Sulphur, or any home made or commercial 

 preparation on the market, AND WE CAN PROVE IT. Our reputation backs this statement. 



lgg'e?lgfjn^^k%ytigSggn"''A°,;g?ga%'l^n°^ B. G. PRATT CO., MTg. CHeniist. Dept. 0, 



Broadway, NEW YORK GITY 



THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 



Doubtless one of the worst insect 

 pests with which the fruit-growers of 

 the United States have to contend is 

 the San Jose scale. It is scattered all 

 over the country, from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific, and from the Gulf to the 

 northern tier of states. This little in- 

 sect, less than one-fourth the size of 

 an ordinary pinhead is causing mil- 

 lions of dollars of damage to our fruit 

 plantations, and hundreds of thousands 

 perhaps to a variety of ornamental 

 trees and shrubbery. 



In Rhode Island it is found in every 

 section where nursery stock has been 

 planted in the last ten or twelve years, 

 and where special precautions have not 

 heen taken to guard against its intro- 

 duction. Many of our people feel that 

 It is a great deal worse than the notori- 

 ous gypsy moth, but they should re- 

 member that we have not yet experi- 

 enced a real attack of the moth such 

 as it is capable of making, and that 

 this pest is omniverous in its appetite, 

 besides causing a great deal of person- 

 al discomfort in crawling over and 

 into everything while the scale has 

 very few food i)lants and remains un- 

 noticed except in so far as It destroys 

 the trees. 



The scale is a tremendous factor and 

 it is revolutionizing fruit growing. 

 The old-fashioned way of planting 

 orchards and expecting them to bear 

 good fruit without care is disappearing. 

 Jfruit growing is becoming one of the 

 intensive lines of agriculture. The 

 professional fruit grower with a good 

 up-to-date spraying outfit, a knowledge 

 of how to spray and of other factors of 

 culture and marketing, is going to 

 succeed in spite of the scale, and we 

 may perhaps be compelled to say, will 

 succeed better because of the scale. 



There are vast tiuantities of facts 

 and principles yet unlearned or undis- 

 covered regarding fruit-growing, and 

 the San Jose scale is a force that will 

 compel the fruit-grower to learn many 

 of them. The small fruit-grower and 

 the householder who has only a few 

 trees for his own use is the one on 

 whom the struggle will bear the hard- 

 est, but even he, by adopting some of 

 the principles of the large grower and 

 substituting perhaps dwarf trees for 

 standards, will be able to succeed. 



The San Jose scale was imported 

 from China into the San Jose Valley, 

 California, about thirty-five years ago 

 and from there it has been carried all 

 over the country in nursery stock, 

 almost before its dangerous character 

 was realized. Unlike the Scurfy and 

 Oyster-shell scales which have troubled 

 the fruit-growers for a century or 

 more, and which lay eggs in the fall 

 of the year that hatch at some definite 

 time the following summer, the San 

 Jose scale lives over the winter in the 

 larval stage, and after maturing in 

 the spring produces young which hatch 

 eggs inside the body of the female. 

 This process may go on for five or 



six weeks before the insect dies. The 

 larvae soon settle down, insert their 

 sucking tube into the bark and, in a 

 few days, secrete a waxy covering or 

 scale which protects them from injury. 

 The young mature in about 35 or 40 

 days and then begin to give birth to a 

 new generation. 



The Oyster shell and Scurfy bark 

 scales can be treated with an ordinary 

 kerosene emulsion at the time when 

 the eggs hatch in early summer, and 

 if thoroughly done, every one of the 

 young scales will be destroyed. This 

 method cannot be used for the San 

 Jose scale. Solutions which would 

 destroy the female scales would be too 

 strong for the toliage of the tree. It is 

 possible to kill the young larvae with 

 the same solutions as used for other 

 scales, but it is evident from the life 

 history already given that applications 

 would have to be made once or twice 

 a week throughout the summer in or- 

 der to reach all that are born before 

 they have time to form the protective 

 covering. 



As the insect has few enemies, most 

 of the young scale live to mature and 

 reproduce and with the several genera- 

 tions which appear during one season, 

 it is possible for one female which 

 winters over to have more than 

 three billion descendants at the end of 

 the season. This illustrates the force 

 of what we wish to impress upon all 

 who expect to battle with this insect 

 on fruit and ornamental stock, that 

 spraying, as ordinarily carried on, is 

 ineflicient and almost certain to lead to 

 disappointment and the idea that the 

 scale cannot be controlled. A very few 

 scales which may escape a careless ap- 

 plicatiorf of the spray remedy may 

 have progeny enough to lead the fruit 

 grower to think, when the fall comes, 

 that the application of spray remedies 

 the previous season was of absolutely 

 no avail, when, as a matter of fact, 

 he may have killed 95 per cent of those 

 wintering over. 



The precaution is obvious. Every 

 portion of the tree must be covered 

 with the spray to the very tips of the 

 twigs, and from all sides. This can 

 only be accomplished with a good 

 spraying outfit. The first requisite is 

 a good spray puiup with which a pres- 

 sure of 75 to 125 pounds can be main- 

 tained at the nozzle If the Vermorel 

 type of nozzle is used, this pressure 

 will produce a fine, mist-like spray, 

 which, if intelligently directed, will 

 strike and adhere to all parts of the 

 tree. As an illustration of the efficiency 

 of a misty spray over a coarse one, 

 notice how much more thoroughly a 

 tree is dampened by a heavy fog than 

 by a brisk shower. 



The best remedy today is the lime- 

 sulphur wash prepared as follows: 



Slake 20 pounds of good stone lime in 

 a small quantity of hot water. While 

 the slaking is in progress, sift into the 

 lime 15 lbs. of Flowers of Sulphur and 

 mix the mass thoroughly. When the 

 ebullition has ceased, add 20 to 25 gal- 

 lons of hot water and boil from 40 to 

 TjO minutes. Pour through a strainer 

 having 20 to 24 meshes to the inch 

 into a tank or barrel and add water, 

 hot preferably, enough to make fifty 

 .gallons. The mixture should be ap- 

 plied while hot, and if any of it is left 

 standing over night, it should be heated 

 before being applied. 



M^here boiliug is impracticable, a 

 good spray mixture can be produced 

 without it by adding five pounds of 

 caustic potash to the lime and sulphur 

 above mentioned when the slaking has 

 ceased. This will, of course, make the 

 mixture more expensive and it also 

 renders it more disagreeable to handle. 



When it is impracticable to make the 

 lime-sulphur wash in any of these 

 forms, fairly good results can be ob- 

 tained by the use of one of the mis- 

 cible oil sprays now on the market. 

 Scalecide. is one of the best of these 

 and Kill-o-Scale is another which is 

 quite highly recommended. These oil 

 sprays mix readily with cold water and 

 are very easib applied. 



To recapitulate- Fruit-growing is 

 becoming a business which will require 

 close attention and thorough knowl- 

 edge of all facts and principles where- 

 upon depend a successful fight against 

 fungous diseases and injurious insects 

 and the ))roduc1ion of first-class fruit. 

 Eternal vigilance is the price of good 

 fruit, and we may well add, "To the 

 victor belong the spoils." 



The spraying must be done with good 

 spraA- mixtures and up-to-date ap- 

 paratus. The work luust be thorough. 

 If a wind blows, only one side of the 

 tree can be sprayed. The other side 

 must be treated when the wind is from 

 the opposite direction. Have pressure 

 enough to produce a fine mist as the 

 spray leaves the nozzle. Cover every 

 spot on the tree to the very tips of 

 the twigs. A good sprayer will do 

 this without deluging the tree so that 

 the liquid runs down the stem or drips 

 from the branches. 



Use the boiled lime-sulphur vt'ash if 

 poRsiblt. If not. use lime-sulphur 

 potash; or one of the miscible oils. 

 Spray as soon as the leaves have fallen 

 in the autumn, and if the trees are 

 Vadly infested, a.gain just before the 

 leaves come out in the spring. 



A. E. STENE. 



Rhode Islaud College of Agriculture and 

 Mechanic Arts, Kingston, Rhode Islaud. 



John P. Cleary has accepted a posi- 

 tion as auctioneer at the Fruit Ex- 

 change, Jay street. New York city. 



SLUG SHOT 



KILLS INSECTS in Garden or Green- 

 house. Sold by Seed Delivers. For pamphlet 

 address 



B. HAMMOND, Flshkill-on Hudson, N. Y. 



