CITRUS FRUIT INSECTS IN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES. 13 



coast counties in southern California, where the same scale is most 

 important as a pest. The "Blbera," or section south of Valencia, is 

 hilly and rolling and is separated from the sea by hills and mountains. 

 The direct sea influence is, therefore, not so pronounced, and the 

 black scale is not so generally injurious. The influence of the sea 

 consists in moderating the effect of the summer heat, which, if too 

 intense, results in a wholesale mortality of the young scales, in which 

 stage the scale is largely found during the summer months. 



The black scale is also more or less abundant in localities farther 

 south, as Murcia, Malaga, and Seville. But in these sections, which 

 are still farther removed from the sea, the black scale is not so im- 

 portant a pest as is Crysomphalus diciyospermi. 



The washing of oranges in Spain consists in rubbing each individual 

 fruit, first in wet, and then in dry sawdust, the latter both to hasten 

 the drying and to complete the cleaning. It is not a bad system so far 

 as results are concerned, and, with the low price of labor (20 cents a 

 day for women), the expense is no greater and probably much less 

 than with the use of machinery as with us. The sawdust method, 

 however, leaves more traces of the mold in the small depressions of 

 the fruit than does our machine with brushes. When attention was 

 called by the writer to the absence of any aseptic agent in the water 

 used in dampening the sawdust — and it is used over and over again — 

 the reply was evoked that there is no better disinfecting agent than 

 ordinary sea water. But the writer was not sure that sea water was 

 being used, and he was very certain it was not in many places. The 

 amount of fruit receiving the sawdust treatment varied from 25 per 

 cent to more than 90 per cent in most of the packing houses visited. 



The washing of the fruit, according to Spanish standards, is 

 regarded simply as one of the regular practices of the packing house, 

 and is not an expense generally attributed to the black scale or any 

 other insect. In fact, no one was seen in Spain who considered that 

 the sooty-mold fungus * was in any way related to the black scale. 

 It was for this reason that the statement appears at the beginning of 

 this discussion that the black scale is considered by the writer to be 

 the most important pest in the Valencia section, ' ' according to our 

 standards." According to Spanish standards it is no pest at all, 

 chiefly because the insect and its important effect, the sooty-mold 

 fungus, are not generally considered as in any way related. 



But the injury by the black scale in the Valencia section is not 

 due entirely to the presence of mold on the fruit. When such severe 

 infestations occur as were frequently seen, the tree itself suffers. 

 Small twigs are killed, and the coating of mold over the leaf, branch, 

 and fruit not only interferes with the functions of the tree, but the 

 fruit itself is deficient in sweetness and flavor. 



. ' Spanish, Negrillo.. 



