567 



check their spread, and keep the trees in a clean and healthy condi- 

 tion. More than this has never been accomplished in any country. 



It is easy enough to kill an insect when you can reach it, in 

 most cases ; but the problem is not only to kill individual insects, 

 but to kill all that may be upon any one plant or in an orchard, and, 

 at the same time, to prevent their eggs from hatching and new 

 broods coming forth. Many of those who profess to know all 

 about destroying scale, and especially if they belong to that class 

 which prides itself upon being "practical men/' being generally 

 quite ignorant of the habits and life history of insects, and are 

 satisfied when they have tried some . remedy which seems to have 

 killed most of the adult insects, not dreaming that they have left 

 the eggs unharmed and ready to send forth a fresh swarm. There 

 is another obstacle which often prevents success in destroying 

 " scale." This is the difficulty of making sure of the effects of any 

 remedy. 



A plan which has answered well in one place Avill fail in 

 another, and this not only as regards different countries, but even 

 in the same district or neighbouring gardens, or even adjacent trees 

 in the same orchard or garden. Orchardists must be prepared to 

 find the very same remedy which has cleared their neighbours' trees 

 fail for their own ; and the writer has often noticed trees in one and 

 the same orchard, treated exactly in a similar manner, where 

 the insects on one tree would be practically all killed, while on 

 another scarcely any found injured. 



It is from want of knowledge of this, and like points, that 

 persons who have tried various remedies recommended to them have 

 complained of failure, and condemned both the remedy and their 

 adviser, when, in fact, neither are at fault. 



Whatever damage is caused by these scale insects is effected 

 by the sucking of the juices of the plant through the rostrum of 

 the insect. It will be seen from this that an application of any 

 fluid to the tree externally, with the object of poisoning the insects 

 in their feeding, would be useless, as they draw their food from 

 beneath the surface. If the treatment of these pests are properly 

 carried out, with the remedies recommended in this book, they will 

 greatly check the spread of the pests, and keep the plants in a 

 healthy condition. 



BROWN GRAPE SCALE (Lecanium cymbiform, Sign.). 



This scale was first observed in this State about two years ago, 

 infesting the grape vines in the vicinity of Perth. The adult 

 female, in colour, is light brownish, and not unlike Lecanium 

 Jiesperidum in shape, but is very much larger. Like other species 

 of Lecanium that produce only one generation a year, their develop- 

 ment is slow. The larvae, when first hatched, are a pale yellow in 

 colour, and at once locate upon the leaves, their development being 



