EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT. 641 



covered with scale as any I ever saw, and do not look at all 

 thrifty, but are dark and sickly looking. Mr. H is pre- 

 paring toi have the trees taken out and destroyed, as he con- 

 siders it a waste of time and money to spray with caustic soda 

 and he does not think they are worth experimenting on with 

 other spray mixtures." 



A somewhat similar case occurred at Greenwich, where a 

 small orchard of plum trees were very thoroughly treated in 

 March, with 98 per cent, soda, at the rate of i pound in 5 gal- 

 lons. Writing to me on June 6th, the owner believed the scale 

 "to be dried up and killed," while his trees were making an ex- 

 cellent growth. July 7th, I saw the trees after the insects had 

 begun tO' breed, and there was a different tale to' tell. Quite 

 a number of trees looked as if a considerable quantity of scale 

 might have been destroyed, yet in nearly all cases the larvae 

 simply swarmed and recent sets were abundant. On some 

 trees it seemed almost impossible that any scales had been killed. 

 On a few there seems tO' have been a distinct check; but there 

 is no way of determining whether or not it is due to the soda. 

 Most of the trees were heavily loaded with fruit ; but a few were 

 almost bare. This was charged to' the soda and, as the trouble 

 was confined to Red June, unsprayed trees of which had a fair 

 set, the charge may be well founded. There is certainly nothing 

 in this orchard tO' favor the soda as a scale remedy. 



On an orchard at "Bacon's Neck" the same owner had a good 

 sized peach orchard — (3ne of the finest in the State. In that 

 orchard some half a dozen trees, badly, infested by the scale, 

 were discovered last year, and most of them severely cut back. 

 The entire orchard of oi\'er 600 trees was sprayed at once with 

 the caustic soda, i pound to 5 gallons of water, just as the trees 

 were about tO' start. The infested trees were sprayed every 

 time the wagon passed that way, the first application being in all 

 cases the most thorough. In all cases the app'lication seemed to 

 have been an almost complete success. No' injury had been 

 caused to fruit buds and trees by any of the applications. 



It will hardly serve any good purpose to^ multiply instances of 

 failures observed in my trips through the State or communicated 

 by growers. In general it may be said that the results were 

 not sufficient to check the development of the scales tO' any ap^ 

 preciable extent. There may have been, and undoubtdly were, 

 many insects killed ; but on the other hand not enough to pre- 

 vent a complete reinfestation by midsummer. 



