1900 ] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 87 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE SAN J0S6 SCALE IN ONTARIO. 

 By Prop. Wm. Lochhead, Gdelph. 



It will be remembered that the Government relaxed its strong policy of extermina- 

 tion in May of 1899, owing to the great opposition which was encountered. Nothing 

 was done by the owners of the infested orchards to prevent the spread of the scale until 

 the spring of the present year, 1900, when the Government came to their help and offered to 

 provide whale oil soap and crude petroleum at half price. While many orchard men took 

 advantage of the liberal offer, it is yet a regrettable fact that many failed to buy soap or 

 crude petroleum, or to use any other remedy. Inspection of the treated orchards, more- 

 over, reveals the fact that the spraying was often done carelessly, or too little of the 

 soap was used per tree. As a result of such careless treatment the scale is even more 

 abundant at the close of this season than it was at the close of last season and the in- 

 fested trees are more plainly detected. It may be said with a great deal of truth that in 

 the infested areas of Guilds and Niagara no orchard is free from scale, and orchards 

 which had not more than ten per cent, of the trees marked for scale last year have now 

 scale on nearly every tree. While careless treatment has done so little to check the 

 spread of the scale, yet some good results have been secured by careful spraying with 

 good whale-oil soap and crude petroleum. Where whole blocks were tre?ted carefully 

 the intensity as well as the spread has Vjeen checked appreciably, and some of the best 

 fruit was picked from trees which had been marked for one or two years. 



In the Niagara and St. Catharines districts the owners are, as a rule, indifferent, and 

 the impression seems to have spread that the scale is not any worse, if a^ bid, than some 

 other evils against which the fruitgrower has to contend, and which are infesting 

 orchards, such as Yellows, Rose-Leaf, small peaches, BUght, etc. A cursory inspection 

 fails to show many apple trees which have given way, but many dead limbs can be 

 found, as well as many dead peach trees. 



In the Guilds district, Kent county, the scale has gained great headway and mod- 

 erately infested orchards of last spring are now badly infested, for no spraying ^ag 

 done to check the progress of thi pest. There, however, the owners are beginning to 

 realize the necessity for action, and several have already purchased spray pumps and are 

 preparing to combat the scale with vigor this coming winter and eany spring. Time is 

 evidently required to educate the fruit growers to give their orchards proper care. 



It is difficult to state with any degree of certainty the extent of spread of the scale 

 to new districts since the work of inspection of orchards wag discontinued. Two new 

 locations, however, have been discovered accidentally — one noted in London Eist by Mr. 

 J. Dearness, and another at Essex Centre by the writer. The latter case was a very 

 severe one, and it is probable that the scale has spread a considerable distance from this 

 new centre. 



Opinions diff'er as to the relative merits of good whale-oil soap, and crude petroleum. 

 Some consider the latter a too dangerous remedy to be applied by careless sprayers, and 

 prefer to continue the whale-oil soap treatment. Others, again, maintain that crude 

 petroleum has given better results, both in controlling the scale, and in invigorating the 

 trees. As a result of the experiments this year some valuable points have been gained. 

 The whale-oil soap must be of a certain standard of quality to give results at all eff'^jctive, 

 and in the application of the crude petroleum good results depend on the method of 

 spraying — i.e , in the handling of the norzle, rather than on the percentage of oil, as Mr. 

 G. E. Fisher has already explained to this meeting, 



A PARASITE OF THE SAN J036 SCALE. 



By John Deaeness, London. 



Last year I received a packet of twigs bearing scale insects, mostly San Joe^, from 

 Mr. John Gordon, Guilds P.O., Kent Co , on some of which there were paraiiti: mites 

 preying at least on the well-grown females of the species of scale insect named. On some 



