SIXTliliA'TlI .INNUAL MEEriNG. 07 



nils. niiscil)]e or undiluted and the preparation of commercial 

 insecticides, that facilitate the work of the gardener and the 

 man who has c:)nly a few trees and plants to deal with. 



It is well for the fruit grower to look at the work of both 

 classes and to decide for himself just what course is best for 

 him under tlie circumstances as they exist in his particular case. 



And then it must not be forgotten that there is no absolute 

 uniformity in the composition of the fruit growers that form 

 the entomologist's constituency. There are some men who 

 never count personal labor as an element of cost and do not 

 consider comfort or ease in application. Such men usually 

 look only to the actual money outlay as determining the cost 

 of an application. There are others who desire to reduce 

 labor to a minimum and who find fault because the entomol- 

 ogist will not recommend a six-inch band of some material put 

 around the trunk breast high, to be absorbed into the circula- 

 tion so as to reach the insects set at the extreme tips of the 

 twigs. Such men usually fall ready victims to the plausible 

 agent who bores holes in trees, puts in a magic compound, 

 plugs up the whole and, on receipt of a dollar will guarantee 

 to keep the tree clear of insects and disease for from 1 to 3 

 years. He will make it five years if you urge him hard enough 

 and he might just as well make it ten, because his guarantee is 

 worth just as much at the end of ten years as it is at the end 

 of one. 



Between these extremes are those men who count their 

 labor and the wear and tear upon themselves, the help and the 

 machines as part of the outlay, who consider not only the 

 actual money cost of materials, but the s])reading power of the 

 product, and who in their practice look to the expense as shown 

 in the final result, not in the gallon unit. 



Before stating the insecticide problem definitely, let us 

 consider \ery l)riefly the life history of this |)ernicious scale, 

 the character of its injur}- and the reasons why it is so difiicult 

 to control. 



The full grown female as found on the trees about the 

 middle of June is a round, flattened, disc-like grub, without 

 legs, vellow in color, covered over and concealed by a dirty 

 gray or blackish parcliment like tissue of its own secretion: 



