142 



by next spring most of the trees would have to be cut back to mere 

 stumps. A few weeks before our visit the owner plucked up courage 

 and sprayed the trees with the resin-soap compound in a very thorough 

 and systematic manner, the whole operation costing for the 850 trees 

 $200. We spent an hour in observing the effects of the wash, and es- 

 timated that more than 95 per cent, of the scale had been destroyed, 

 while not one leaf in ten thousand had been injured in the least by the 

 wash. Mr. Hamilton informed us that resin was now being brought to 

 Orange by the car-load for the purpose of making the resin soap. For 

 the first time people are really taking heart, and were going at their 

 orchards in dead earnest to make them profitable once more. The plow 

 had been set to work to reduce the weeds and bring back the old-time 

 thrift in many cases, though some orchards were yet as desolate as ever. 

 Before speaking further in regard to remedies for the red scale, the de- 

 struction of the cottony-cushion scale should be noted. 



In studying this insect we first visited the place of Mr. William Niles, 

 in Los Angeles, where the "lady-bug'' [Yedalia cardinalis) was being 

 propagated by the county insect commission for dissemination among 

 the orange groves infested with the cottony cushion or white scale. We 

 found five orange trees standing about 18 feet high inclosed by walls of 

 cheap muslin supported by a light frame- work of wood. The orange 

 trees inside this canvas covering had originally been covered with the 

 white scale, but the Vedalia which had been placed on these trees were 

 rapidly consuming the last of the pests. Entering one of these canvas 

 houses we found the Vedalia, both larvae and adults, busy consuming 

 the scale ; here and there on the canvas were the beetles endeavoring to 

 escape to other trees. These insectaries were in charge of Mr. Kirche- 

 val, one of the county insect commissioners, who kept a record of the 

 distribution of the beetle. It was indeed a most interesting sight to see 

 the people come, singly and in groupes, with pill-boxes, spool-cotton 

 boxes, or some sort of receptacle in which to place the Vedalias. On ap- 

 plication they were allowed within the insectaries and each was per- 

 mitted to help himself to the beetles, which were placed in the boxes 

 and carried away to be placed on trees and vines infested by the 

 white scale at their homes. Mr. Kircheval kept a record of the parties 

 and the number of beetles carried off. The number coming for the Ve- 

 dalia was surprisingly large — scores in a day — and each secured at least 

 a few of the helpful beetles. That the supply should hold out under 

 such a drain was a great surprise, and speaks better than words the ra- 

 pidity with which the Vedalia multiplies when there are scale insects 

 enough to nurture the young. 



We visited other points : Lamanda Park, Santa Anita, Sierra Madre 

 Villa, Pasadena, etc. At the time of our visit to Sierra Madre Villa, 

 August 23, the white scale had already disappeared before the Vedalia. 

 At Santa Anita, the ranch of Mr. E. J. Baldwin, we examined a 350- 

 acre orange orchard, in which the white scale had started a most de- 



