78 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



doubts as to the possibility'' of the species thriving there, Mr. Merchant 

 soon gave me proof that he had not been misled, and among other 

 communications which he was kind enough to make, I give the fol- 

 lowing for the facts it contains : 



Dear Sir : I have taken the trouble to ascertain something with 

 regard to the depredations of the Oyster-shell Bark-lice in this part 

 of the country. I first went to Mr. Wm. Hendrix, who has had them 

 longer than any one else I know of. He informed me that they had 

 been very bad in his orchard; but that they had, now, nearly disap- 

 peared. He thought he had one tree, however, which was still liber- 

 ally supplied with them ; so we went to that tree ; but, lo and behold, 

 they had disappeared from it also. I found a few, however, on another 

 tree near by. Mr. Hendrix informed me that he had discovered the 

 lice in his orchard at least ten years ago. He first found them about 

 the center of his orchard, from which they spread very rapidly, until 

 they covered all his trees — many of which they killed. Finally, they 

 began to disappear, and last spring he could only find them on one 

 tree, which he trimmed closely by cutting off the infested branches ; 

 and he then scraped off all the "shells" that he could find. This is 

 the tree we first went to, which resulted as stated above, Mr. Hen- 

 drix has grafted pretty extensively for his neighbors, taking the scions 

 from his own orchard; and by this means,! suppose, the lice have 

 been spread, but to what extent I can not tell. 1 next went to J. D. 

 Eads, as I had heard that his orchard had been ruined by the Bark- 

 }ice. He informed me that they had been in his orchard and remained 

 there in "force" until his apple trees all perished, when they became 

 scarce ; but he has a few on his pear trees yet. He thinks they will 

 not hurt pear trees. I next saw Mr. Howard. He said he could show 

 me any amount of Bark-lice; but we looked over one orchard and 

 found none — that, too, where there had been " plenty" of them. We 

 then went to another place, and you can judge, by the limbs I now 

 send, whether or not we found Bark-lice. I saw '"shells" on several trees 

 here. Finally, I went to Dr. J. L. Plunckett; he carried me over his 

 orchard, and 1 saw more "• shells " in his orchard than anywhere else. 

 The lice are on a great many of his trees. I found even the apples 

 on one tree covered with " shells." Mr. Hendrix informed me that he 

 had seen the Bark-lice in the woods on Black-gum Elm, and perhaps 

 other trees. He has never found any efl'ectual remedy for Bark-lice 

 except sulphuric acid, and that is only efiectual v/hen applied with- 

 out dilution. Eads expects to keep them from his young apple trees 

 by frequent applications of soap-suds. Howard thinks an application 

 of potash is beneficial, and that carbolic acid ""does the work for 

 them." Mr. Hendrix says there came a late frost one spring, and the 

 Bark-lice have not been bad in his orchard since. 



J. W. MERCHANT. 



Carthage, Miss., Seiitemher 8th, 1870. 



Later advices from Mr. Merchant inform me that it has done great 

 damage to the orchards in Attala county. 



It also occurs in Georgia, and 1 have received the identical species 

 from Mr. J. Kufus Rogers, of Waynesborough, Burke county, with the 

 ibllo wing history : ..':;•,*- 



