156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



parties considered the recommendation worthless, while it is 

 the best and only thing I can recommend. 



The San Jose Scale. 



The San Jose scale {Aspidiotus perniciosus') is one of the 

 most dangerous and destructive insect pests that threaten 

 our fruit trees. This insect occurred in California as early 

 as 1870, but no one knows, at the present time, of what 

 country it is a native, or just how and when it was brought 

 into this country. Since the time of its discovery in Cali- 

 fornia it has rapidly spread, till it is now widely distributed 

 over the United States. 



My attention was first called to this insect in this State 

 on March 29, 1895, when I was shown several 3^oung plum 

 trees, on the grounds of the horticultural department of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, which were infested 

 with the San Jose scale. These trees were received from 

 the J. F. Lovett Company, Little Silver, N. J., in the spring 

 of 1894. Knowing how extremely difficult it is to dis- 

 tinguish this from several other closely allied though far 

 less injurious species, I sent specimens to the Department 

 of Agriculture in Washington, to make sure that my de- 

 termination was correct. Prof. L. O. Howard, who ex- 

 amined these specimens, wrote me that, while they were 

 the true San Jose scale, the specimens sent were all dead. 

 Wishing to determine whether any of these insects had sur- 

 vived the winter, I had two of the trees taken up and set 

 out in the insectary greenhouse, and the remaining infested 

 trees were burned. Scales appeared on the growth of the 

 previous year, so that the insects flourished well, at least 

 during the summer of 1894. On June 10, live scales were 

 oliserved on the trees transplanted to the insectary green- 

 house, and on the 14th the young were swarming all over 

 them. As this settled the (juestion of the ability to survive 

 our winters in Amherst, I had these trees very carefully 

 burned, to prevent any further spreading of the pest. 



As soon as it was discovered that the San Jose scale had 

 been received at Amherst on nursery stock from outside of 

 the State, T feared that other nurseries might have become 

 infested in a similar manner, and therefore sent one of my 



