44 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



trees. He said he knew it must be the San Jose scale. He had 

 shown it to a number of his neighbors and they said it must be. 

 I wrote him I had so many engagements just then I couldn't go 

 for a day or two — but I told him I would come — and asked him 

 to send a twig. He sent one and it was what we term the 

 oyster-shell bark louse — ^you are all, I guess, familiar with it. 

 I saw some down stairs on the apples. They are shaped some- 

 thing like an oyster shell. They are small, of course, about an 

 eighth of an inch long — one end round, one end larger than the 

 other, and so it gets its name. They are easily treated and you 

 ought to treat them too. 



One thing I omitted to say in regard to the San Jose scale. 

 They breed in a different manner from our ordinary insects. 

 Suppose a tree came from New York with one female scale on 

 it in the spring. Under that scale the female would not be quite 

 developed when it reached here but in a short time would reach 

 maturity, and instead of laying eggs she would give birth to 

 young — that is, about ten. They have carefully estimated the 

 number per day and about ten on the average per day would be 

 born, and that would continue for forty consecutive days. 

 There is 400 at once. Then when these little ones were about 

 thirty days old they would give birth in the same manner. Now 

 if you are a mathematician you might possibly estimate the 

 number at the end of the year. It has been figured out by some- 

 body who wanted to take the time to do it, and estimated that it 

 would be about, in the latitude of New York where the season 

 is a little longer than ours in Maine, three billions — three billions 

 in the fall as the progeny of one female in the spring. So you 

 can see whether they are a menace or not, and you can see how 

 many times you would have a spray to kill them. Spray when 

 they are crawling. How are you going to know when they are 

 crawling? You would have to spray every day right through 

 the year after a certain time almost. Of course you can fumi- 

 gate by having tents to put over your trees and fumigating with 

 hydro cyanic gas, but it would be very expensive. 



WHAT MORE CAN THE SOCIETY DO? 

 D. H. Knowlton, Farmington. 

 Prof. Hitchings has given us a very concise and clear idea 

 of the practical way in which the Department of Agriculture is 



