165 



of the circulars sent out by tliem was secured. ^Nearly 1,000 letters 

 were mailed, each iiiclosiug- a circular, each separately written on the 

 typewriter, and signed by myself, in order to avoid any "circular" 

 look. A large number of replies was received, aud guided by them I 

 visited nearly 100 orchards, spending twenty-one days in the field, and 

 examined many thousands of trees, covering very completely all the 

 central and southern portion of the State. 



It is worthy of note that in not a single point north of New Bruns- 

 wick has the scale opread, though I believe scaly trees have been set 

 out; in fact, so far as I have been able to ascertain, it has propagated 

 only soutb of the red shale which extends diagonally across the State 

 from a point a little north of Perth Amboy in the east to Trenton in 

 the west. That it will maintain itself north of this point, for a time at 

 least, is proved by the fact that an orchard in Columbia County, N. Y., 

 is very thoroughly infested. Throughout New Jersey, south of the red 

 shale, the scale is distributed here and there, but nowhere in sufficient 

 numbers to spread from the orchard into which they were originallj^ 

 introduced. In fact, in many cases the trees are yet so small aud the 

 scales are comparatively so few that extermination will be an easy task. 

 On the other hand, a considerable number of trees were found so badly 

 infested that they were decidedly dangerous, and they were in all cases 

 cut out and burned at my suggestion. 



I feel positive that no spread has yet been made in New Jersey except 

 by means of nursery stock. I feel safe in saying that no further infested 

 stock will be sent out from our nurseries. I am reasonably sure that 

 all the growers that I have seen will adopt any measures suggested by 

 me, and will get rid of the scales — in fact, I will make it my business 

 to follow them up until they do it — aud, finally, I see no reason why it 

 can not with us be completely stamped out. 



The history of the importation of the scale into New Jersey is the 

 same for the two nurseries from which it has been distributed. In 

 either 1886 or 1887, in their search for a Curculio-proof plum, their 

 owners were advised that the " Kelsey," an improved Japanese variety, 

 grown in California, filled all requirements, and a lot of Kelsey trees 

 was ordered from the San Jose district. In both cases the trees looked 

 bad, grew very little, and after remaining in the ground for two years 

 were, most of them, taken out and burned. Other trees had been 

 grafted and budded from them, however, and from the appearance of 

 the few remaining trees it is certain that this importation brought in 

 the infection. Idaho pears have also been imported from the Pacific 

 coast for several years i^ast, and it is certain that many of them were 

 also infested. At all events, a start was soon made, and in 1891 aud 

 1892 several blocks of young apjile trees were badly infested — so badly, 

 indeed, that many were not considered up to the standard, and were 

 destroyed. Since that time few apples have been grown at these 

 nurseries, and no distribution of the scale has been made on them. 



