This discovery created a general alarm thruout the country; and 

 state legislatures were asked to enact laws for the prevention of the 

 further spread of the scale and for its eradication in localities already 

 known to be infested. Some states responded promptly, but in others 

 practically nothing was done to arrest its progress ; and even in those 

 which provided suitable laws it had already become too firmly estab- 

 lished to make its eradication possible. It was hoped, however, that 

 its further spread could be prevented by a rigid inspection of nurseries, 

 but this hope has been only partially realized. Its spread has been 

 strongly checked by this means, however, and thousands of premises 

 are free from it which would otherwise now be infested. It has 

 nevertheless spread to practically all the fruit-growing sections of the 

 United States, and has become established in forty or more of the 

 states. 



The San Jose scale was first discovered in Illinois in the fall of 

 1896*, when it was found on about a dozen peach and apple trees 

 which had been lately received by Mr. Valentine J. Kiem, of Quincy, 

 from a large New Jersey nursery. Dr. S. A. Forbes at once undertook 

 to learn whether it had been introduced elsewhere in Illinois. Lists 

 of shipments of nursery stock into the state made by all New Jersey 

 firms in whose nurseries the San Jose scale had been detected, were 

 secured thru the courtesy of the proprietors, and the imported stock 

 at each place on these lists was carefully inspected. By this means 

 the scale was definitely located at 17 other points, scattered thru 13 

 Illinois counties. In some cases the infestation was apparently still 

 confined to the imported trees ; in others it had spread to trees near by ; 

 and in 2 cases it had spread to adjoining orchards, to an extent to 

 show that it must have been introduced several years before. By 

 July, 1899, it had been detected in 30 places scattered thru 18 coun- 

 ties, and by October, 1900t, the number of its known localities had 

 increased to 44, 5 in the northern, 9 in the central, and 20 in the 

 southern part of the state. In most cases the local distribution was 

 still very limited, being confined in many cases to a single orcliard ; 

 but in a few it had become so extensive that Dr. Forbes expressed the 

 opinion, in his report of 1900, that eradication was probably no longer 

 possible without a destruction of all infested property. By February, 



•Twentieth Rep. State Ent. lU., p. 1. 



tRep. in. State Ent. concerning Operations under the Horticultural Inspec- 

 tion Act. Oct. 31, 1900. 



