THE LONG SCALE OF THE ORANGE. 25 



at Mandarin, on the Saint John's Eiver, and was first seen in the grove 

 of Mr. H. B. Robinson, upon trees purchased in New York from a ship 

 from China. 



In 1840 it was carried to Saint Augustine on trees obtained at Man- 

 darin, and spread rapidly through the groves of that vicinity. Fifteen 

 years later the same author records the spread of the pest throughout 

 all the groves then existing in the State, and says: "Most of the culti- 

 vated orange trees in Florida have also been injured by them, their tops 

 and branches having been generally destroyed. Their roots and stems, 

 it is true, remain alive and annually send forth young shoots, only to 

 share the fate of their predecessors." 



The disastrous results of this invasion, which, twenty-five years ago, 

 brought ruin to the orange industry, and seemed likely to end in the 

 extermination of the Orange in this country, were due no doubt to the 

 almost complete absence of parasites at the first advent of the Scale- 

 insect, and for some years after it had obtained a foothold. Glover, 

 writing in 1857 an account of the ravages of this Scale-insect in Florida, 

 notes the complete absence of parasites, although flies belonging to the 

 family of the Chalcididce were found to do efficient service in destroying 

 Bark-lice of other and indigenous species.* 



At the present day, although this Scale-insect is everywhere dissemi- 

 nated in the groves of Florida and Louisiana, and likewise infests the 

 wild orange trees, however remote from cultivated plantations, the de- 

 structive hordes are held in check by the effective attacks of parasites 

 everywhere accompanying the Bark-lice, and increasing with their in- 

 crease, so that no general onslaught of the Long Scale at least is likely 

 ever again to occur in this country, and only local irruptions of the pest 

 need be feared. 



* Report of Commissioner of Patents for 1858, Agriculture. 



