566 



smothered. This, however, would not be practicable in a large 

 orchard badly infested. 



" Spraying with tobacco wash (see pp. 490-492) has also been 

 found to be effective. 



" Remedy. Spray with Quibbel's liquid disinfectant Joz. in 

 one gallon of water." 



SCALE BUGS. 



These belong to the family Coccidse, and include the mealy 

 bugs. The scale bugs or bark lice in this family include some of 

 the most serious pests with which the horticulturist has to deal. 

 Scarcely any kind of fruit is free from their attacks. The ease with 

 which these insects or their eggs can be transported long distances 

 while yet alive, on fruit or living plants, has caused many species 

 that infest cultivated plants to become world-wide in distribution, 

 and some have found their way into this State, and it is only those 

 that have that will be dealt with in this book. 



In general outward appearance the female insects present very 

 variable forms. They may be either naked or covered over with 

 some kind of a shield, which may be fibrous, or waxy, or cottony ; 

 or they may have simply a thin, powdery meal scattered over them. 

 The covered insects are, of course, stationary, although in some 

 cases, before reaching their full development, they move about, 

 carrying their covers with them. The naked insect may be either 

 stationary or active. 



They attach themselves either to the bark or the stem of a 

 plant or to the leaves. In the latter case they are seldom found on 

 the upper side, but on turning the leaf over the under surface is 

 frequently found covered thickly with them. 



In many cases they exude, in the form of minute globules, a 

 whitish, thick, gummy secretion, answering probably to the 

 " honey dew " of the Aphididse. This secretion drops from them to 

 the plant, and from it grows a black fungus (Fumago salicina), 

 which soon gives an unsightly appearance to the plant. This 

 fungus or " smut" is an almost invariable indication that a plant is 

 attacked by insects, and may, indeed, give a useful warning to 

 growers. It is not, however, produced in appreciable quantities by 

 all species. 



Some species lay eggs, while others bring forth their young 

 alive. Some species are covered with a hard shell, and others with 

 a soft. So that an intelligent appreciation of the life history and 

 habits of these scale insects is necessary to enable any one to select 

 and apply, with any probability of success, a remedy. 



There is one point in connection with the handling of these 

 scale insects that may as well be mentioned at the outset, and that 

 is, that up to the present time there is no known remedy by which 

 these scale can be exterminated from any orchard after having once 

 become well established. The most that can be accomplished is to 



