REPORT OF OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS 
By J. @. Neat, M. BD. 
: ARCHER, FLA., October 10, 1882. 
Sir: I respectfully submit reports of experiments upon cotton and 
orange insects, nade under your direction during July, August, and 
September, 1882. 
_ Allowing me to express my appreciative thanks for valuable aid ren- 
dered by you during the progress of the experiments, yours, &ce., 
J. C. NEAL, M. D. 
Prof. C. V. RILEY, 
Entomologist. 
REPORT OF EXPERIMENTS UPON SCALE-INSECTS AFFECT- 
ING THE ORANGE. 
In my experiments, under your direction, with kerosene emulsions, 
upon scale-insects, I have tried to find the maximum of destructive 
value and the minimum of cost. 
The Lecanium hesperidum and Mytilaspis citricola are both abundant 
in this section, the latter being by far the most destructive. Last winter 
the cold was so slight that the growth of the scale was not affected, and 
trees are seriously harmed by these insects that have not been known 
to be infested since 1853. 
I made a series of experiments to determine the value of certain com- 
mon or native plants alleged to be useful for emulsions. The most of 
these gave negative results. The Pteris aquilina (root), Sesamum indi- 
— eum (leaf), Hibiscus esculentus (pod), Jatropha manihot (root), and Ma- 
ranta arundinacea (root) were discarded, as being not generally dis- 
tributed over the State or involving extra labor or expense in prepara- 
tion. But one proved of value—the root-stem of the Zamia integrifolia. 
Another set of experiments to find the best proportions of each in- 
gredient of the emulsion, and also the cost, was made. 
A large number of experiments were made upon infected trees, with 
different grades of emulsions to test effects upon trees and insects. 
Every effort was made to eliminate errors, and I endeavored to make 
each experiment as complete as possible by repeating it under various 
conditions. 
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