37 



make as pleasant and profitable as you can and I am at your 

 service to the extent of my ability. 



I hope and trust that aside from the work accomplished 

 and 1he information gathered at these sessions you will all 

 consider the most pleasant memory to be that of acquaint- 

 ance made and friendships renewed. 



The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer and the 

 Auditor were next read and approved. 



Dr. E. Porter Felt of Albany, N. Y., then discussed the 

 question 



THE INCREASE AND CONTROL OF SAN JOSE SCALE* 



There is no denying the fact that the San Jose' scale has 

 extended its range greatly in recent years and that it has 

 become very abundant and destructive in many sections. A 

 knowledge of the life hislory and habits of ^he scale is of 

 greatest importance. The crawling young in this latitude are 

 abroad from about the 20th of June till late fall, and dur- 

 ing this period it is very easy for an animal or a man work- 

 ing in an infested orchard, to carry therefrom to clean trees, 

 enough young scales to infest a neighboring orchard. The 

 unrestricted breeding of this pest upon trees is also very 

 favorable to its spread, because the large numbers of crawl- 

 ing youug increase immeasurably the chances of some find- 

 ing their way either upon other insects or by being carried 

 by other agencies, to adjacent trees. Such conditions should 

 be avoided wherever possible and usually this is more 

 practical than is commonly supposed. We would, therefore, 

 emphasize first of all the necessity of recognizing the insect, 

 and secondly the advisability of avoiding the combat as 

 long as possible. 



It is immensely cheaper to fight this enemy on some 

 other man's land, than to let it go and in a few years be 

 obliged to fight it throughout your own orchards. 



Once an orchard is infested there is no way out of the 

 difficulty except to fight the pest, and this can be done 

 satisfactorily only by the adoption of most thoroughgoing 

 methods. There is nothing which has so repeatedly demon- 

 strated its value in the East as an insecticidal spray for the 



*Abridged because of later information in Dr. Pelt's 

 other papers. 



