392 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



about freely, may be transported to places more or less dis- 

 tant by other insects, birds, larger animals or even by man ; 

 but the chances are not favorable for any very wide disper- 

 sion in this way. They may, however, be carried from one 

 tree to another at no great distance. Infested fruit may be 

 transported from one part of the country to another, and by 

 chance be left in some place where it is possible for the young 

 to crawl to some suitable food plant ; but by far the most 

 favorable method for the wide distribution of this insect is on 

 nursery stock, and to this the most careful attention should 

 be given. 



It will be decidedly to the advantage of every dealer in 

 nursery stock to take measures to clean his trees from this 

 scale and to keep them free, for, if this be not attended to, 

 purchasers will find other and more satisfactory parties to 

 deal with. 



Remedies. 



If only a comparatively few small trees are infested in a 

 nursery or orchard, the best way is to burn them, taking 

 great care that in doing so none are scattered. There is no 

 method of destroying insects equal to cremation. 



Professor Howard, after having a long series of experi- 

 ments performed for the purpose of ascertaining the best and 

 most economical method of destroying this insect, says : 

 " The only perfect results that have been reached have come 

 from the application of two pounds or more of commercial 

 fish-oil or whale-oil soap to a gallon of water soon after the 

 leaves fall in the autumn, and from the application of a resin 

 wash of six times the normal summer strength. The effects 

 following the application of these washes leave nothing to be 

 desired. In all cases the most careful search over the sprayed 

 trees has failed to show a living scale." These are known as 

 "winter washes," since they can only be used during the 

 winter without serious injury to the trees. The winter resin 

 wash mentioned above is composed of resin, one hundred 

 and twenty pounds ; caustic soda, thirty pounds ; fish oil, 

 fiiteen pints ; water sufficient to make one hundred gallons. 

 The resin and soda are broken up and placed in a large kettle 

 with the oil and sufficient water to cover them ; the whole is 

 then boiled for several hours, or until the compound will 



