296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Distribution. 



The original home of the San Jose scale is yet a matter of 

 conjecture. It is known to occur in Chili, Hawaii, Australia 

 and the United States, while two varieties of the species have 

 been found upon trees coming from Japan. The occurrences 

 of the scale in Chili and Hawaii have been practically traced 

 to the United States ; the Australian infestation is thought 

 to have been brought from Japan ; and Professor Cockerell, 

 our leading authority on this group of insects, is quite cer- 

 tain that the latter country will ultimately prove to be the 

 original home of the pest. 



In the vicinity of San Jose, California, from which place 

 the insect takes its common name, the scale was quite in- 

 jurious as early as 1873 ; and, when described by Professor 

 Comstock in 1880 as "the most pernicious scale known in 

 the country," it had become destructively abundant through- 

 out a considerable part of the fruit-growing region of that 

 State. Since the insect primarily appeared as a pest to fruit 

 trees, its dissemination upon nursery stock soon followed. 

 According to the statement of a member of the firm of Stark 

 Brothers at the Indianapolis meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation of Nurserymen in 1895, the first consignment of in- 

 fested trees to reach the eastern United States was shipped in 

 the spring of 1887 from a Californian firm to the Parry and 

 Lovett nurseries of New Jersey, the firm of Stark Brothers 

 acting in this case as transmitting agents. From these New 

 Jersey nurseries as starting points, many of our eastern 

 nurseries became infested, thus increasing the number of 

 centres of distribution. Many orchards throughout the 

 country also became infested with the scale as a result of the 

 direct purchase of stock from these nurseries. 



While it is generally conceded that 1887 marks the date 

 of the first importation of the scale to the east, a case has 

 recently come to the writer's attention that would indicate 

 the possibility of the occurrence of the San Jose scale in a 

 Long Island nursery at a date somewhat earlier than that 

 of the New Jersey infestation, and possibly as a result of 

 the direct importation of trees from Japan. The facts are 

 these : — 



