74 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



too few trees to warrant spraying. Probably this practice has 

 aided greatly in keeping this insect in check. A small amount 

 of oyster-shell scale has been found for the last few years, but 

 the amount has decreased each season. This insect is more 

 difficult to control than San Jose scale, in that it passes the 

 winter in the egg stage under the scale, making it very difficult 

 to use an effective spray during the dormant season. 



The satin moth, which is the latest imported insect to be of 

 serious consequence in the nurseries, was found in a few in- 

 stances this season. This pest may be controlled easily by 

 spraying with arsenate of lead at the time the young cater- 

 pillars start feeding. It passes the winter as a small larvae in 

 the crevices of the bark, and in that stage there is danger of 

 its being shipped on nursery stock either during the fall or 

 spring shipments. For that reason the Federal government 

 placed an absolute quarantine on willows and poplars, pro- 

 hibiting them from being shipped out of the infested area. 

 After a special hearing before this Department, it was decided ,^ 

 with the advice of some of the nurserymen, to place a State 

 quarantine on willows and poplars, with the exception that they 

 might be shipped from the infested area to other points within 

 Massachusetts under permit, said permits, however, to be 

 void after May 1. This plan seemed to work out very well, 

 and the same practice will be invoked next season. 



The gypsy moth inspection was very gratifying, and it was 

 necessary to withhold fewer certificates on account of this pest 

 this fall than any season for the past ten years. The egg 

 masses were not present to any great extent in any of the 

 nurseries, and where they were at all numerous the nurserymen 

 were very pi'ompt in taking care of them. The absence of these 

 egg masses was due probably to several factors, one of which 

 was the partial winterkilling of the eggs; and another, the 

 death of large numbers of small caterpillars caused by the cold 

 damp weather which prevailed at the time of hatching. The 

 damp summer, too, caused considerable disease to develop in 

 the caterpillars, which, with the results of spraying, largely 

 account for the smaller number of egg masses found this fall. 

 It is hoped that as the nurseries are now apparently free from 

 this pest, careful control methods will be practiced. 



