10 Jan., 1919.] 



Apple Culture in Victoria. 



37 



tlie rapidity with whicli these insects multiply. If au occasional small 

 number escape contact with the spray, serious infestation again quickly 

 follows. The oil emulsion, 1 in 15, may be used as soon as the leaves 

 have fallen, with a second application later, if necessary. The best 

 time to spray is while the scales are young, and, by commencing at the 

 fall, advantage is taken of this condition, and ample time is aSorded 

 for the satisfactory completion of the work during the dormant period. 



In 1909 the writer discovered that about 50 old apple trees in one 

 corner of a 10-acre orchard in a certain fruit-growing locality were 

 infested with this scale, the other orchards in the district being free 

 from the pest. As soon as the leaves had fallen, the whole of the 

 orchard was sprayed with red oil emulsion, 1 in 15, and the infested 



Plate 187. — London Pippin Apple showing San Jose Scale. 



trees received a second application at the same strength later. The 

 following year it was seen that a small number of the scales on the old 

 trees had survived the spraying ordeal. These were then grubbed out 

 and burned, and the remainder of the orchard was again sprayed with 

 the 1 in 15 emulsion. Frequent careful inspections since have failed 

 to reveal the presence of the scale in this or the other orchards in the 

 district. When this pest becomes more widely distributed through a 

 fruit-growing district, however, the greater difficulty experienced in 

 keeping it within reasonable bounds, or accomplishing its eradication, is 

 mainly due to the growers' lack of maintaining a uniformly drastic 

 method of treatment. 



(To he continued.) 



