118 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



about the middle of June, to remove all loose bark beneath 

 which they might pupate, and tie a strip of burlap around the 

 trunk. Beneath this strip the caterpillars will gather, and a 

 weekly visit and the destruction of the caterpillars there, 

 while not saving the fruit they fed on, will at least reduce the 

 number of these insects, and be of value as a protection against 

 later broods. 



Spraying twice, burlapping and destroying early falling 

 fruit are the protective measures to be adopted for this pest. 

 Recent experiments in New Hampshire show an average profit 

 per tree sprayed, over one not sprayed, of $1.25, while it cost 

 less than 25 cents to spray a tree four times; and after deduct- 

 ing one tree's share of one-fifth of the cost of the apparatus 

 used on a hundred trees, the net profit of a sprayed tree over 

 one not sprayed was about 80 per cent. 



These results have been tested in all parts of the country, 



and are but little 

 better than the aver- 

 age; and if this be. 

 so, the question is 

 no longer, "Can I 



afford to 



spray 



* 



but "Can I afford 

 not to spray?" 



Another and even 

 more destructive 

 enemy of the fruit 

 grower is the San 

 Jose scale (Asp idi- 

 ot us pcrniciosus 

 C o in s t ) . Its ex- 

 tremely small size, 

 its marvelously rapid 

 increase in numbers, 

 its covering of ar- 

 mor which makes 

 destruction so diffi- 

 cult, and its variety of food plants, combine to render this a 

 most dangerous foe. It lives not only on the bark, which it 



Fig. 2. — San Jose 1 scale 



five times. 



enlarged 



