58 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



"scare "over an ordinary sort of insect. Be this as it may, some good 

 has come from it. Every fruit grower is now examining his trees as he 

 never did before. Whether or not he finds the scale, he will probably 

 discover other injurious insects in time to forestall injury. If we could 

 have the "scare" without the scale, it would be one of the best things 

 that ever happened to New England fruit growers. But we have the 

 scale, and it is well distributed over the state. In all probability it is here 

 to stay, for the average grower will hardly be able to exterminate it when 

 once it has become established in his domain. 



Kerosene, in the form of a spray, has been used against the scale in 

 New Jersey with good results. It has also been given a trial in Connecti- 

 cut. On February 28, several trees on the grounds of the experiment station 

 at New Haven were sprayed with kerosene. It was a bright day, with 

 some air stirring, and the application was made about two o'clock in the 

 afternoon. The liquid was forced through a bucket pump in the finest 

 spray that could be obtained with a Vermorel nozzle. Peach, apple, 

 pear, quince, Japan plum and viburnum trees were treated, though not 

 infested with scale. At this time (March 21) no perceivable injury has 

 resulted. Two Japan plum trees in New Haven, which were badly 

 infested, were sprayed at the same time. I have not yet been able to 

 examine them, but there is no doubt that kerosene will kill the scale. 

 It must not be used except on a bright day, when evaporation will be 

 rapid, and must be applied in the form of a very fine spray. 



A safer treatment, however, is to spray the trees with whale- or fish- 

 oil soap. Two pounds of soap to one gallon of water are the proportions 

 to be used when the tree is not in foliage. One trouble with the fish-oil 

 soaps on the market is that they are not uniform in composition and 

 often will not dissolve. Two soaps that may be obtained, however, are 

 considered very uniform, and for that reason are to be recommended. 

 One is the potash soft soap, made by James Good, 514-518 Hurst street, 

 Philadelphia. This sells in quantity for 3)-2 cents a pound. The other 

 is known as the Leggett Anchor Brand. It is a hard soap and should 

 first be dissolved with hot water and then diluted with cold. This soap is 

 manufactured by Leggett & Brother, 301 Pearl street. New York ; it sells 

 by the barrel for 4 cents per pound. 



Kerosene is probably more effective than whale-oil soap, because it 

 reaches into all the cracks and crevices, so that it is more likely to come 

 in contact with every individual scale than the soap. 



There are three species of scale-insects which the Connecticut fruit 

 grower may now run across, either of which is quite liable to be found 

 anywhere in the state. These are the San Jose scurfy bark-louse, the 

 San Jose scale and the oyster-shell bark-louse. These can easily be dis- 

 tinguished on account of the shape. The oyster-shell bark-louse is shaped 

 very much like the shell of an oyster, — hence its name. It is long and 

 usually the same color as the bark of the tree upon which it is found. 

 The scurfy bark-louse is larger than the species just mentioned, and is 

 broader according to its length. It is pear-shaped. The male scale is 

 much smaller than the female and is narrow, with sides nearly parallel. 



