LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

 DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, 



Washington, D. 0., May 20, 1885. 



SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a special report which 

 was ordered by Congress upon the u Insects affecting the Orange Tree." 

 This report has been prepared by Mr. H. G. Hubbard, who has been 

 employed as a special agent at Crescent City, Fla., and who has de- 

 voted his time for nearly four years in studying the insects that affect 

 the Orange, and especially in practical experiments to counteract their 

 injuries. It is but uttering a deserved compliment to say that the prac- 

 tical results of his labors have been most satisfactory, and mark an im- 

 portant era in the history of orange- growing in the United States. 



The trees of the Citrus family are particularly subject to the disas- 

 trous ravages of various species of Scale-insects, which not infrequently 

 thwart all effort to raise a grove. It is to these that the present re- 

 port is chiefly devoted, and to their control that the greatest efforts 

 were made. 



Mr. Hubbard's work was confined to Florida, but the remedies are 

 applicable to other orange-growing sections of the country. Prof. J. H. 

 Comstock had already published much upon the Scale-insects affecting 

 the Orange in California in the report of this Department for 1880, and 

 his work has been very freely used in the present report. 



The delay in the printing of the report has been partly due to the ill 

 health from which Mr. Hubbard has suffered during the past year, and 

 which has necessitated considerable office work, in which I have had the 

 assistance, which 1 take pleasure in acknowledging, of Messrs. Howard, 

 Schwarz, and Pergande. 

 Respectfully, 



0. Y. EILBY, 



Entomologist. 



Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 



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