36 



handle. The results with both of these materials were less satis- 

 factory than with whale-oil soap. The strength of oil in the oil- 

 water mixture should have been 20 per cent, but it varied greatly 

 from that, and the whole apparatus was heavy and awkward to 

 handle. As spraying with these materials requires a two-tank 

 pump, it seems not to be the best method of treatment for small 

 orchards or infested areas. 



The lime, salt and sulphur wash, successfully used on the Pacific 

 coast for the scale, when first tried in the east proved a failure. 

 Recently it has been tried again and with generally excellent 

 results. At the Hatch Experiment Station it proved to be the 

 best of over a dozen different treatments tried. It is somewhat 

 difficult to prepare, however, which is its greatest drawback. 



To make it, boil 10 pounds of fresh stone lime and 20 pounds 

 of sulphur with 20 gallons of water in a farmer's kettle for an hour 

 and a half, stirring frequently. Slake 30 pounds of lime in hot 

 water and stir in 15 pounds of salt till the last has dissolved. 

 Now add the lime and salt to the lime and sulphur, and heat for 

 half an hour. Strain this mixture through burlap into the spray 

 pump and apply to the trees while it is warm. A fuller descrip- 

 tion of the methods of making and applying these materials, to- 

 gether with their cost, has been published as Bulletin 86 of the 

 Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst, Mass., which can be obtained 

 by request. It now seems probable that the salt can be omitted 

 from this mixture without affecting the result injuriously. 



Where a tree is quite thoroughly covered with the scales it is of 

 little use to trj' to save it. The sooner it is destroyed the better, 

 for the sake of the other trees around. 



The Oyster-shell Scale. 

 {Lepidosajyhes ulmi Linn.) 



This insect has been in the United States more than a hundred 

 years, and is generally present in orchards, and on many of our 

 ornamental and forest trees and shrubs. The scale is much larger 

 than the San Jos6 scale and very different in form, being pointed 

 at one end, rounded at the other, quite long, and frequently curved 

 to one side (Fig. 3 b) and is brown or gray in color. 



If one of these scales be lifted in the fall or winter, beneath it 

 from twenty to one hundred yellow eggs will be found, besides the 

 dead bodj' of the mother insect under the pointed end of the scale. 

 These eggs hatch about the first of June each year, and the tin}' 

 yellow young crawl about for a few days, seeking places at which to 

 fix themselves. They then settle down and plunge their beaks into 



