Xo. 4.] STATE NURSERY INSPECTOR. 245 



No other fungous diseases of importance Iiave thus far 

 been met with in the nurseries of Massachusetts. 



Among the insect i)ests the San Jose scale is perhaps the 

 most generally distributed. It was the insect most univer- 

 sally i)resent in the nurseries at the first annual inspection 

 in 1902, and was being sent out with nearly every shipment 

 made. To-day in nearly every one of these places it is 

 difficult or impossible to find it, and when it is discovered 

 it is in almost infinitesimal quantities, except on stock 

 bought outside of the State after the last previous inspec- 

 tion. Here is now the chief danger to our nursery stock 

 from this pest. Practically every nurseryman buys a part 

 of the stock he sells, generally in some other State, and it 

 is shipped into Massachusetts under certificate of inspection 

 by the inspectors of that State. This certificate in many 

 cases is not worth the paper it is written on, and the stock 

 is frequently so badly infested as to attmct the attention of 

 persons who have no knowledge of scale insects. Fumiga- 

 tion or the destruction of all infested stock is required by 

 the inspectors whenever this pest is found. 



The oyster-shell scale is a common and sometimes serious 

 pest in Massachusetts, but, Avhile it often kills a single tree, 

 it rarely seems to s})read enough to destroy all the trees 

 around. It is i)resent in all parts of the State, and is some- 

 times found in the forests, far from any settlements, and 

 therefore it hardly seems practicable to place this pest on 

 the list of insects to be ruled against. Its presence on 

 nursery stock is always called to the attention of the owner, 

 however, and it is only the poorest kind of a nurseryman 

 who will permit stock thus infested to be sent out. 



What has ))een said of the oyster-shell scale also applies 

 to the scurfy scale, though the latter insect is less abundant 

 in Massachusetts than the former. 



The gypsy moth is or soon will be one of the most diffi- 

 cult insects to inspect for in this State. Till last year it 

 had not recovered from the repression produced by the 

 efibrts of the gypsy moth committee before the abandon- 

 ment of the work, and few examples of it were met with 

 in the nurseries. At the i)resent time, however, it is ex- 



