[BETHUNE] RECENT WORK IN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 5 
importation from America of fruits or plants of any kind; this was after- 
wards modified so as to apply only to fresh fruits and living plants. 
Somewhat similar enactments were passed in Austria-Hungary and 
official investigations were made regarding the scale by the governments 
of Sweden and the Netherlands. From these national measures it will 
be seen how wide-spread was the alarm created by this minute insect and 
how serious a menace it was believed to be to the interests of fruit- 
growers in all lands. 
During the summer of 1898 the Ontario Department of Agriculture 
proceeded to put into active operation the provisions of the Act of the 
Provincial Legislature. A competent inspector, Mr. George E. Fisher, 
was appointed, with a staff of assistants, and a careful investigation was 
made through the affected districts. Wherever trees were found with 
any San José scales upon them, their destruction by burning was in- 
sisted upon, and any trees in close proximity were rigorously destroyed 
as well. As an instance of the thoroughness of the work it may be men- 
tioned that some nurserymen, it was found, had unintentionally intro- 
duced infested American plants; from them lists were obtained of all 
the persons to whom the stock had been sold and every tree was traced, 
sometimes after it had passed through two or three hands, and carefully 
examined where it had finally been planted. This involved an immense 
deal of labour as the trees had been distributed to every county in On- 
tario, and in about a hundred cases they were found to be infested with 
the scale and at once destroyed. Thus about a hundred centres of pos- 
sible infection have been freed from all danger and in most of the locali- 
ties there is now no likelihood of any fresh importation of the insect. 
But for this prompt action, the scale would in a few years have spread 
from these centres in steadily widening circles until it covered a series of 
areas so extensive as to render impossible any efforts for extermination 
or control. The Ontario Department of Agriculture certainly deserves 
the highest praise for the promptness and the energy with which it en- 
tered upon the work of fighting this most pernicious insect and the 
efficient manner in which its wisely directed operations were carried out. 
The most dangerous localities have been cleared of the pest to such an 
extent that any surviving infestations can be easily controlled and in 
time completely eradicated. 
The application of these drastic measures, however, was not received 
everywhere with enthusiastic approval. Many owners of orchards were 
much exasperated when they found their fruit trees condemned to in- 
stant destruction and that only a meagre compensation would be given 
to them for their loss. The opposition thus aroused became so serious 
that the Ontario Government deemed it advisable to appoint a special 
