THE SAN JOSK SCALE 289 



ing "before we begin as to the settlement of cost of sending the list 

 lie requires." ~No comment on this modest proposal is needed ! 



The course taken by this firm has been so unaccountably 

 strange in other respects as to expose them to suspicions which pos- 

 sibly may do them injustice. On the authority of Dr. Smith, the 

 statement is made, that during last autumn [in September] in a visit 

 of observation made them, he found that practically all of the trees 

 in their nursery blocks were infested by the San Jose scale. He 

 notified them of this fact at the time, and showed to both the Presi- 

 dent and Secretary of the company who were with him, the infested 

 trees and the scales. 



Under date of December 28th following, the Lovett Company, 

 writing to the Director of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 

 in relation to some infested apple trees that had been sent by them 

 to Clermont county, Ohio in 1 890 — disavow all knowledge of the 

 scale. They say : — " We would like very much indeed to have 

 some branches from the trees referred to for examination ourselves. 

 We have made a critical examination of our trees here in the nur- 

 sery and also fruiting trees, and can find no trace whatever upon 

 any of them of the San Jose scale or other scale. Having read 

 reports upon the San Jose scale, we are confident that we could 

 detect this insect if it existed upon our trees." (Bulletin 56, Dec. 

 1894, Ohio Agr. Exper, St., p. 83.) 



It is fortunate that since this letter was written, such pressure 

 has been brought to bear upon the firm that it has taken the effec- 

 tive measures for its destruction reported in the Rural New Yorker 

 cited, and in letters received from Dr. Smith. 



As no aid is to be obtained from the company toward the exami- 

 nation of stock that it may have sent into the State of New York, 

 request is herewith made of each person who within the last five 

 years has received from the nurseries of the Lovett Company, Little 

 Silver, 1ST. J., fruit trees and ornamental shrubs, or other plants on 

 which the scale is known to feed, that he will send his name to the 

 State Entomologist, at Albany, with mention of the fact. If the 

 arrangement proposed can be carried into effect, examinations will 

 be made by competent persons of all such stock for the detection 

 of the scale if present. 

 37 



