3O2 BULLETIN 262. 



manageable limits. A great many of the orchards contain trees that 

 are too large and high to make spraying feasible. In other cases the 

 tops are too bushy and full of branches. Effective spraying can never 

 be done unless thorough pruning is annually practiced. Beyond a 

 doubt, insufficient pruning has been a leading cause of failures. 



The final, and perhaps most important difficulty, is the attitude 

 of the fruit growers themselves. Because some have failed in their 

 fight against the scale, many believe it is useless to try. The chief 

 difficulty, which is really fundamental, lies in the fact that a majority 

 of the orchardists failed to recognize the scale when it entered their 

 orchards, or neglected to fight it till the insect became well established. 



FIG. 36. Excessive pruning of scale -infested trees. Note renewal of tops now free 

 of scale. In orchard of Willard Hopkins, Youngstown 



Just how the scale made its advent into the county is not known. 

 Some assert that it was brought by birds from Canadian orchards, and 

 others affirm that it was introduced on nursery stock shipped in from 

 the South Atlantic states. Mr. T. Greiner, of La Salle, says that he 

 had scale as early as 1899; and in Youngstown and Lewiston the insect 

 has been familiar for at least six years. In their efforts to control the 

 pest, some of the more progressive orchardists have tried all the recom- 

 mended insecticides and* caustics, such as lime and sulphur, crude oil, 

 Scalecide, and kerosene emulsion. A few of the growers have given 

 more attention to pruning than to spraying. A thinning-out of the 

 tree top, and a reduction of the shoot system, followed by careful spray- 

 ing, has proved the best method of control. Excessive pruning, amount- 

 ing to a removal of nearly the entire tree top and leaving only a few 

 main branches three to four feet in length, has been tried in Willard 

 Hopkins' orchard. See Fig. 36. 



