9 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 674. 
season if properly sprayed to protect them from thrips. On the 
other hand, many nursery trees have the leaves and stems so badly 
scarred and twisted as to give them a blighted, unsightly appearance, 
and are so retarded in growth that they must be held in the nursery 
for a year or more beyond the proper time for sale in order to meet 
the size requirements, thus decreasing the nurseryman’s profit by the 
cost of the extra care. It sometimes happens that this class of stock 
is sold along with better trees, and the thrips injury continues for 
Fic. 1.—Injury to young oranges by the citrus thrips (Scirtothrips citri). (Original.) 
several years in the orchard. The writer knows of 5-year-old and 
7-year-old groves in the foothills of Tulare County which have been 
held back, principally by thrips, to such an extent that the trees are 
no larger than 3 and 5 year trees in less infested situations. From 
the general appearance of such trees it seems evident that they will 
never attain the size and bearing capacity of trees which have escaped 
severe thrips infestation in the nursery and during their early years 
in the orchard, 
