CROP PEST COMMISSION OF 



boll weevil infests his plantation severely, will feel the ravages of 

 this insect but little. In this diversification, the production of 

 fruit should, and doubtless will, play a most important part. The 

 climate and soils of Northern and Western Louisiana are emi- 

 nently adapted to the production, not only of small fruits, but 

 also of the more important commercial fruits, such as peaches, 

 pears, etc. The red clay soils of the upland sections of Louisiana 

 differ in no essential from the red clay soils of Tennessee and 

 Georgia, which have long since become famous for their com- 

 mercial peach orchards. 



A commercial peach orchard, intelligently and properly 

 cared for, has repeatedly proven to be far more profitable than 

 the best crop of cotton that can be grown, even when the latter 

 brings from twelve to fifteen cents per pound. As yet the fruit- 

 growing possibilities of Louisiana have not been even fairly 

 tested, but many of those who have already undertaken com- 

 mercial peach growing in North Louisiana have demonstrated 

 that the conditions there prevailing are as near the ideal as could 

 be obtained anywhere. 



Doubtless the most serious obstacle to successful fruit grow- 

 ing, by both the commercial grower and the farmer, is the insect 

 pest known as the San Jose (pronounced San Ho-zay) scale, 

 which has, unfortunately, already obtained such a foothold in 

 many parts of Louisiana as to make its complete eradication and 

 extermination impossible. Many farmers have undertaken the 

 production of an orchard and have started out under apparent- 

 ly favorable conditions, with trees that grew vigorously for the 

 first year or so, only to find that when the trees reached bearing 

 age they began to die rapidly and in the course of three or four 

 years the orchard was ruined completely. It is safe to say that 

 not one farmer or fruit grower out of fifty has, under such cir- 

 cumstances, recognized the minute insect responsible for the de- 

 struction of his orchard. During the past few months the writer 

 has met dozens of intelligent, up-to-date farmers and fruit grow- 

 ers who have had this experience, and who were in entire igno- 

 rance of the reason for their failures. On making an examina- 

 tion of the few straggling trees that remained of the former ' ' or- 

 chard," the writer has invariably found the San Jose scale in 



