162 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA : 



matter enables him to speak with authority on the gas 

 tents, and their practical use for orchard work especially. 

 Having written to my good friend Mr. C. P. Louns- 

 bury, Chief Entomologist in the Agricultural Department, 

 at tiie Cape of Good Hope, asking for some notes on his 

 experience re the cyanide treatment, this gentleman has 

 kindly sent the following, which will be of interest to all 

 concerned in the fruit-groAving industry of Victoria : — 



Fumigation Treatment for Scale Insects, 



Orchard Fumigation. — The work began two years ago iu furthering 

 the fumigation method for the destruction of scale insects on orchard 

 trees has been vigorously prosecuted at every opportunity throughout 

 the period covered by this report. In districts where the growing of 

 citrus fruits ranks as a commercial industry, the endeavour has been to 

 get the local fruit-growers' association to operate a fumigation outfit or 

 to have a few growers unite privately for this purpose. On the con- 

 ditions that these co-operative fumigation clubs consist of not less than 

 five members, representing at least a thousand trees requiring treat- 

 ment, that this number of trees be fumigated within ten months, and 

 that the facilities be extended to non-members on reasonable terms, the 

 Government has made each a ^irant of £2o towards the purchase of the 

 initial outfit. Where co-operation has seemed impracticable, private 

 parties have been urged and encouraged to procure small outfits for the 

 independent treatment of their orchards. 



There are now nine co-operative clubs with outfits at work, and of 

 these eight started operations during 1898. In the sequence in which 

 they commenced these are : — Trappes Valley (Bathurst), Paarl, Oudt- 

 shoorn, Stellenbosch. Cathcart, Kei Road (King William's Town), 

 Ncera (East London), Graaff-Reinet, and Van Staadens (Uitenhage). 

 The covers and most of the other special apparatus required for these 

 co-operative outfits and for fifteen private outfits were made to order 

 under my direction and supplied to the respective parties practically 

 ready for use ; this step was of great assistance to all, and without the 

 promise of it the attempt to form most of the clubs would have been 

 a vain task. A few private parties have bought cloth and made covers 

 for themselves as directed in letters to them, and it has been learned 

 that some have made covers from the instructions published in my " Gas 

 Treatment '^ pamphlet. Most of the fumigators depend on the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for their supplies of cyanide, this being sold to 

 them at its cost to the Government. Parties resident in the South 

 African Republic, the Orange Free State, Natal, and Rhodesia, and 

 such outlying parts of the colony as Namaqualand and the Transkei, 

 have written to get full particulars regarding the treatment, and in a 

 few instances have availed themselves of the information given them 



