8 



holder, and recover the expenses, even to selling the place. Some of the 

 County Commissioners have as many as 40 to 100 fumigating tents, and they 

 fumigate the trees twice a year ; from 50 to 70 tons of cyanide are used 

 every season in southern California, while spraying outfits are always going. 



As a general rule, they do not fumigate right through the orchard, but the 

 inspector go.es round and marks those he thinks badly infested, or reasonably 

 supposed to be infected, so that scale is never cleaned right out of the 

 orchards. In fact, things were becoming so unsatisfactory that, while I was 

 in Washington, Mr. Marlatt, of the Federal Department, at the request of 

 the State Board of Horticulture, left for Los Angeles to carry out a series of 

 tests with the State Inspectors, for the best methods of fumigating. 



As an instance of the powers of these Boards, "the White Fly scare " is a 

 good example. The White Ply (Aleurodes citri) is a very serious pest to the 

 orange growers in Florida, where it has been known for many years. Early 

 last year (1907) it was discovered in a number of gardens at Marysville, and 

 determined as identical with the Floridian pest. There were no orange 

 orchards in the town, and the fly was doing no practical harm in 'the parks 

 and gardens ; but the owners of citrus orchards some distance away raised 

 a cry that their industry was doomed if it was not destroyed. The town 

 stood in an angle of four counties ; Mr. Carnes served 320 notices on the 

 municipal authorities and householders , ordering them to cut down, strip, and 

 defoliate all trees and hedge plants growing in their grounds upon which 

 White Fly had ever been found. At their own expense hundreds of house- 

 holders, through no fault of their own, to no benefit to themselves, were at a 

 moment's notice, compelled to work themselves, or pay someone else to do 

 the work of destroying their private gardens. In a second outbreak at a* 

 gentleman's ranch further south, the whole of the available staff of the 

 Horticultural Com mi.- si oners, with an army of Japanese labourers, chopped 

 all the trees down ; the stumps were fumigated twice ; the tops and brush 

 all carted away; the leaves picked up, bagged, fumigated, and then burned. 



According to the published reports, White Fly was exterminated in 

 California; but on a visit to Marysville with Professor Woodworth some 

 months after the Commissioners' work was over, we saw living White Fly in 

 several places, and heaps of dead foliage in the streets that had never been 

 burned. The Commissioners have since had two men constantly inspecting 

 the gardens and destroying any larvre or pupa? that they discover. 



With all these powers, and so much money expended in bringing bene- 

 ficial insects from all quarters of the globe, what have the Commissioners 

 done in cleaning up the commercial orchards 1 And what would happen if 

 all spraying and mechanical methods came to a standstill 1 At Marysville^ 

 at Sacramento, in the parks, gardens, and streets of southern California, 

 there was just as much red i-cale, brown scale, and purple scale as in 

 Australia in fact, with the dust of the dry season and the scale, all the 

 uncultivated, unsprayed trees looked much worse than they do around 

 Sydney. If the parasites (introduced) have done so much good, why is this, 

 the case ? In all the large packing-sheds I found people washing and cleaning 

 the oranges before they were graded. If they have to be cleaned before 

 packing, it would hardly matter if th^re was another 10 or 20 per cent, of 

 scale to be washed off. Their native parasites, particularly small chalcids, 

 are common on all scale, or blight-infested trees, and, according to some 

 authorities, do more than the introduced species. Comys /usca is one of the 

 most active in infesting the Brown Scale (Lecanium hemisphericum). The 

 brown scale parasite, Scutdlista cyanea, which was so useful in South 



