December 20, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



415 



AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ON THE PACIFIC 

 COAST. 



During .the past summer Professor W. A. Henry, director of 

 the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, was sent by the 

 secretary of agriculture to the Pacific coast to report upon certain 

 matters connected with agricultural research in that part of the 

 country, and incidentally to look into the work of the agents of the 

 department, and to ascertain the popular feeling regarding the 

 character and importance of their work. The report has just been 

 submitted to Secretary Rusk, and much of it will be of general in- 

 terest, more especially as Professor Henry is a man of established 

 reputation as an original investigator in practical agriculture. 



In his report, Professor Henry states that several days were 

 spent in visiting fruit-farms at various points in the vicinity of Los 

 Angeles, and noting the destructive effects of the white scale and 

 red scale, and the efforts in progress to check their ravages. At 

 Orange, in Orange County, the destruction of citrus-trees by the 

 red scale has been great, and only a few more years would suffice 

 to leave that section without any such trees if remedies to check 

 the destruction had not been put in operation the present season. 

 The Santa Anna vine-disease has destroyed most of the grape- 

 vines, and every orange-orchard shows in a greater or less degree 

 the attacks from the red scale. Every stage, from thriftiness to 

 death itself, was noted. In some orchards only the yellow-spotted 

 character of the leaves showed the presence of the scale just be- 

 ginning its fatal work ; in others the ends of the branches were 

 leafless and dead, the interior portions of the top yet carrying 

 leaves, though little or no fruit. Still other orchards had but the 

 stumps of the orange-trees left, all of the limbs to the size of one's 

 arm having been killed by the scale, and removed with the saw. 

 From these stumps green shoots showed signs of life, and, if care 

 was given, promised to renew the value of the orchard. The care- 

 less treatment of the land showed as plainly as the trees themselves 

 the discouragement of the people. 



Usually an orange-orchard in southern California receives the 

 best of care, and the carefully tilled soil lying loose, without a 

 weed in sight, and as level as a floor, delights the lover of thrift 

 and good tillage. In many orchards weeds cover the ground, and 

 form thickets five or six feet high, so dense that a man can hardly 

 get through them. The dead and dying orange-trees among these 

 weeds stand like monuments marking the deadly march of the in- 

 sidious, insignificant, but wonderfully fatal scale. Professor Henry 

 visited an orchard in which Mr. Coquillett was conducting spray- 

 ing experiments with resin-soap solutions, and he also visited many 

 other groves in all stages of thrift and decay, from those bearing 

 heavy crops to those with nothing but the stumps standing. It 

 was very apparent that those who had fought this scale the most 

 vigorously, even though very imperfectly heretofore, are coming 

 out the best in the end, and that those who early gave up and 

 neglected their orchards will suffer far the most heavily. One or- 

 chard near the California Central Railroad station, at Orange, of 

 850 seedling trees, showed the ends of the branches already dead ; 

 and there were scales enough on the leaves to so reduce the vitality 

 of the trees the present season that by next spring most of the 

 trees would have to be cut back to mere stumps. A few weeks 

 before the visit the owner plucked up courage, and sprayed the 

 trees with the resin-soap compound in a very thorough and syste- 

 matic manner, the whole operation costing, for the 850 trees, ^200. 

 Professor Henry spent an hour in observing the effects of the wash, 

 and estimated that more than 95 per cent of the scale had been 

 destroyed, while not one leaf in ten thousand had been injured in 

 the least by the wash. Mr. Hamilton stated that resin was now 

 being brought to Orange by the car-load for the purpose of making 

 the resin soap. For the first time people are really taking heart, 

 and are going at their orchards in dead earnest to make them 

 profitable once more. The plough had been set to work to reduce 

 the weeds and bring back the old-time thrift in many cases, though 

 some orchards were yet as desolate as ever. Before speaking fur- 

 ther in regard to remedies for the red scale, the destruction of the 

 cottony- cushion scale should be noted. 



In studying this insect. Professor Henry first visited the place of 

 Mr. William Niles, in Los Angeles, where the " lady-bug " ( Ve- 



dalia cardinalis) was being propagated by the county insect com- 

 mission for dissemination among the orange-groves infested with 

 the cottony-cushion or white scale. He found five orange-trees 

 standing about eighteen feet high, enclosed by walls of cheap 

 muslin supported by a light framework of wood. The orange- 

 trees inside this canvas covering had originally been covered with 

 the white scale, but the Vedalia which had been placed on these 

 trees were rapidly consuming the last of the pests. Entering one 

 of these canvas houses, he found the Vedalia, both larvae and 

 adults, busy consuming the scale. Here and there on the canvas 

 were the beetles endeavoring to escape to other trees. These in- 

 sectaries were in charge of Mr. Kircheval, one of the county insect 

 commissioners, who kept a record of the distribution of the beetle. 

 It was indeed a most interesting sight to see the people come, 

 singly and in groups, with pill-boxes, spool-cotton boxes, or some 

 sort of receptacle in which to place the Vedalias. On application, 

 they were allowed within the insectaries, and each was permitted 

 to help himself to the beetles, which were placed in the boxes and 

 carried away, to be placed on trees and vines infested by the white 

 scale at their homes. Mr. Kircheval kept a record of the parties 

 and the number of beetles carried off. The number coming for 

 the Vedalia was surprisingly large, — scores in a day, — and each 

 secured at least a few of the helpful beetles. That the supply 

 should hold out under such a drain was a great surprise, and speaks 

 better than words the rapidity with which the Vedalia multiplies 

 when there are scale insects enough to nurture the young. 



Professor Henry also visited other points, Lamanda Park, Santa 

 Anita, Sierra Madre Villa, Pasadena, etc. At the time of his visit 

 to Sierra Madre Villa, Aug. 23, the white scale had already disap- 

 peared before the Vedalia. At Santa Anita, the ranch of Mr. E. 

 J. Baldwin, he examined a 350-acre orange-orchard, in which the 

 white scale had started a most destructive course. Mr. Baldwin 

 began an equally vigorous defence, going personally into the or- 

 chard and superintending the work of fighting the white scale. 

 There was every sign, however, that the scale was going to be the 

 victor. Some of the trees were almost ruined by the severity of 

 the application made. Happily, before the pest had gone far in its 

 work, the Vedalia was heard from, and Mr. Baldwin secured a 

 number, which were placed in the hands of one man specially de- 

 tailed to look after its welfare. This individual spent six weeks in 

 colonizing the Vedalia in various parts of the orchard. After that 

 time, a careful examination showed the superintendent that the 

 work of colonizing was so complete that further effort in that line 

 was unprofitable. It was predicted at the time of the visit that a 

 few weeks more would leave the orchard entirely free from the 

 white scale. At Chapman's he found the citrus-orchard, formerly 

 so famous, entering the death stages from the white scale, which 

 was now fortunately being so effectually checked. At Pasadena, 

 on the grounds of Professor Ezra Carr, he found that some of the 

 shrubbery had been seriously injured by the white scale, but, 

 thanks to the Vedalia, not a single pest was alive at the time of 

 his visit. 



A word in relation to the grand work of the department in the 

 introduction of this one predaceous insect. Professor Henry thinks 

 it is without doubt the best stroke ever made by the Agricultural 

 Department at Washington. Doubtless other efforts have been 

 productive of greater good, but they were of such character that the 

 people could not clearly see and appreciate the benefits, so that the 

 department did not receive the credit it deserved. Here is the 

 finest illustration possible of the value of the department to give 

 people aid in time of distress ; and the distress was very great in- 

 deed. Of all scale pests, the white scale seems the most difficult to 

 cope with ; and, had no remedy been found, it would probably 

 have destroyed the citrus industry of the State, for its spreading to 

 every grove would probably be only a matter of time. 



At Sierra Madre Villa, in the orchard of W. D. Cogswell, a 

 chalcid fly was found to be parasitic on what is there called the 

 red scale. In company with the county insect commissioners and 

 Mr. Coquillett, Professor Henry visited this orchard. It was quite 

 evident that the so-called red scale of this orchard has been greatly 

 checked, and may yet be entirely destroyed, by the chalcid. At E. 

 J. Baldwin's the commission also found the same scale being de- 

 stroyed by the same parasite. In this case each parasite destroys 



