146 ORCHARD INSECTS 



the twig, the inner bark, which is normally green, will be found 

 to be stained red. 



Remedies. — In fighting this insect the two standard remedies, 

 at the present time, are the lime-sulfur washes and the miscible, 

 or so-called "soluble," oils, which are fully described in 

 Chapter XIV. Many other things are used, and doubtless 

 new remedies will be constantly put upon the market, but these 

 two have stood the test of time and seem likely to stand it for 

 some time to come. It is usually not possible to keep the scale 

 entirely under control particularly in sections where there are 

 some neglected orchards, without giving two sprayings per year. 

 Not being able to decide which of the above remedies is the 

 better, the writer has developed the plan of using oil in the 

 autumn, as soon as the leaves are off the trees, and lime-sulfur 

 in the spring just before the buds break, when he has a bad 

 attack of the scale to combat. The bulk of the insects are thus 

 killed by the autumn treatment while many of them are young 

 and less resistant, and one gets the advantage of the "creeping" 

 of the oil. Also the operation is less disagreeable, which is worth 

 considering. And lastly, the tree does not have to exhaust itself 

 by supporting all these insects over winter. Then by using the 

 lime-sulfur in the spring, the orchardist not only kills what 

 scales were left but also gets the advantage of the fungicidal 

 effect of the wash. When the orchard is less seriously attacked 

 it may be better to u>se lime-sulfur in tlie autumn or it may even 

 be omitted and the spring application relied upon to keep this 

 part under control. 



Thorough Spraying. — The one fundamental thing in the ap- 

 plication of insecticides for scale is thoroughness. Keep everlast- 

 ingly after the men who are doing the work and insist on their 

 reaching every part of the trees. This is more important with 

 scale than with any other insect, though it is always of im- 

 portance. Take the codling moth for example. Suppose the 

 orchardist sprays only half of the apples — he has protected those, 

 at least in a section like New England where there is but one 

 brood. But if he is going to hit only half of the apples in fighting 

 scale, he might better save his time and money, and go to a ball 

 game, for both will be absolutely thrown away on this spraying. 



