b6 THE SAN JOSE OR CHINESE SCALE. 



MEANS OF DISTRIBUTION. 



From an economic standpoint the important considerations in the 

 means of spread of this insect are those which affect its wide distribu- 

 tion from one part of the country to another. The transportation by 

 nursery stock or scions or budding and grafting material, as indicated 

 in the foregoing account of this insect, is unquestionably the usual 

 and principal means of carrying the insect to a distance. The impor- 

 tance of this means of distributing various insects has only been fully 

 realized in this countrj^ in the last few years, but the present instance 

 and some other notable ones of like nature have emphasized the great 

 danger incurred not onh^ in the indiscriminate introduction of plants 

 from foreign sources, but also in the carriage of plants from one part 

 of the country to another without competent inspection. 



The San Jose scale is also frequenth^ carried about on fruit, par- 

 ticularl}^ of the apple and pear. The young scale insect goes out on 

 the fruit, and in the case of badl}^ infested trees there is usually a good 

 deal of scale on the fruit particular!}", massed at the blossom and stem 

 ends. The scale ma}" go on breeding on such fruit and the young may 

 be found crawling about on the fruit and in the boxes. Such fruit is 

 commonly shipped to remote points, and infested fruit may be found 

 quite commonly in the markets of this country; and when attention 

 was drawn to the San Jose scale by its first developing in the East, 

 infested fruit from California could be found in almost any of the 

 fruit markets of the principal eastern cities. 



The shipping of infested fruit from California had been going on 

 for a great many years, and in spite of its wide dissemination in this 

 country, and to some extent abroad, there is not, so far as the writer 

 knows, a single authenticated instance of the scale having been estab- 

 lished from such- material. The possibility of it, however, undoubt- 

 edly exists, but the danger seems to be inconsiderable. The fruit is 

 eaten in such places and the parings and waste material are usuall}^ 

 disposed of in such a way that it would be very exceptional indeed for 

 such fruit, or the young scale that might hatch on them, to get access 

 to trees on which the scale could make lodgment. It would practi- 

 cally be necessary for the parings to be tied to a tree, or the fruit to 

 be placed in the crotches of the tree, to secure infestation, and it is 

 the belief of the writer that infestation from this source can be prac- 

 tically ignored. This has an important bearing on the legislation 

 against American fruits enacted by various foreign countries, and cer- 

 tainly the history in this regard in the United States is well worth 

 considering where such fruit was shipped about for years prior to the 

 San Jose scale scare without restrictions. The wide distribution, 

 therefore, of the San Jose scale is substantially limited to its carriage 

 on nursery stock and cuttings. 



