﻿252 POMONA COLLEGE JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY 



The first work was done, with this spray, in January, before the new 

 spring growth began to appear. A careful watch was kept to see that no 

 injury was being done to the leaves or fruit of the trees, and at this season 

 no damage whatever was noticed, in the packing house or in the field. The 

 mealy bugs at this period were massed upon the trunks of the trees, on the 

 foliage, and between the touching fruit. Two applications were necessary to 

 destroy these large masses of insects, for the first simply killed all on the 

 outside, while the second, some time later, killed what remained. Then, too, 

 the first application removes a great deal of the smut from the foliage and 

 exposes the insects hiding under it. These are killed with the second applica- 

 tion. The egg masses on the trunks were absolutely eradicated by the first 

 application, while it was necessary to make many applications to clean up a 

 dirty tree. In our work here three applications practically cleaned up an entire 

 orchard. At the present time, some three months since the last application, it 

 is hard to find a single mealy bug in the orchard so sprayed, but this is not due 

 to the lime-sulfur spray alone — in fact the spray discussed as the Carbolic 

 Acid Emulsion proved to be the most efficient. 



In March, with the coming of the new and tender growth on the lemon 

 trees, we found a serious objection to this spray. It stuck particularly well 

 to this new growth and was so strong that it killed wherever it struck. Every 

 tree thus sprayed was deprived of all the new growth which it touched, and 

 further work with this spray had to be given up. Perhaps when the growth 

 becomes more hardened it may again be used, for it has never injured the 

 buds or the fruit in any way. Fortunately, however, the Carbolic Acid 

 Emulsion Spray has all of the advantages of this spray, and does not injure 

 the tenderest growth, and is perfectly harmless to the men using the nozzles. 



CARBOLIC .\CID EMULSION. 



The most satisfactory of all the sprays tised in combating the citrus 

 mealy bug is the Carbolic Acid Emulsion. This is probably due to its pene- 

 trating qualities which enables it to dissolve the waxy covering of the mealy 

 bug and to come in contact with the naked body. 



The formula used in mixing up this spray is as follows : 



Crude Carbolic Acid 5 gals. 



Whale Oil Soap 40 lbs. 



Water (Hot) 40 gals. 



The 40 gallons of water are first poured into the cooking kettle and 

 allowed to boil. While the water is getting hot, the whale oil soap is cut 

 into fine pieces, so as to make it dissolve easily, and added to the water. 

 When the soap is all dissolved in the hot water, the carbolic acid is added, 

 and all is allowed to boil for a short time to insure thorough mixing. The 

 whole operation requires less than one hour. The contents make about 43 

 gallons of rich stock solution. For spraying, the stock solution is diluted one 

 to twenty of water, thus making approximately 860 gallons of spraying 

 material. The stock solution will keep indefinitely, but is preferable fresh 

 When diluted with water it makes a perfect emulsion and can be applied 

 with any spray pump, since an agitator is not needed. When the stock 



