16 Provincial Board of Horticulture. ISQt 



Asmany of these insects, winter in the adult stage under rubbish or loose bark, etc., 

 clean culture in the garden is indicated as a means of lessening their numbers. 



Of this family {Capsidce), the four-lined plant bug has been noticed and reported from 

 se.veral places, and several other varieties are also found in the Province, some ipf which are, 

 at least in a measure, beneficial, as they have been noticed feeding upon 

 Plant Bugs. caterpillars. Plant bugs, however, are generally very unwelcome visitors, 

 on account of their very unpleasant odour, and still more nauseous taste if 

 they are inadverently taken into the mouth with fruit, as often happens when they are pres- 

 ent on raspberries or blackberries. 



In addition to feeding upon the juice of the fruit, they also suck the sap of the leaves 

 and young twigs. They are not easily dealt with, the application of insecticides being satis- 

 factory. They winter in different stages of development. Their numbers may be reduced by 

 collecting them in the morning before they become active, by shaking them off the bushes 

 into some sort of a receptacle and then destroying them. As the eggs of some are. laid upon 

 the young twigs of currant and other fruit bushes, pruning off and burning these has been 

 suggested as a partial remedy. 



This dreaded pest of fruit and other deciduous trees, Aspidiotiis Perniciosus, has made its 

 appearance in two orchards on Vancouver Island, and it is most important that all fruit- 

 growers should be on the watch for the pest and report to the Inspector of 

 San Jose Fruit Pests, or the member of the Board of Horticulture for his district, if 

 its presence is known or suspected, so that vigorous efforts can be made to 

 stamp out the pest before it becomes firmly established. 



It is important that there should be no half measures adopted in dealing with the San 

 Jose scale. It has cost the fruit-growers of Oregon and California hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars to fight the pest, and the war against it is likely to continue ; its habit of feeding upon 

 almost all kinds of trees and plants renders it almost impossible to get rid of the pest if 

 neglected at first appearance. 



It is scarcely possible that the infestation is limited to the instances referred to, and I 

 propose during the coming season to give special attention to the districts where the infected 

 trees were found, but I also hope the importance and necessity of all fruit-growers keeping a 

 sharp watch upon their own and adjacent orchards, so far as possible, so that it may be 

 detected before it is too late. 



The appearance of San Jose Scale in the orchards and nurseries of some of the Eastern 

 and Southern States has created wide-spread consternation amongst fruit-growers there, and a 

 demand for legislative assistance in dealing with the pest similar to that existing in British 

 Columbia and the Pacific Coast States has sprung up. 



Apparently the pest had become well established before its presence was known or 

 suspected. Vigorous efforts are now being made to deal with it, but for reasons previously 

 stated, this is proving a very difficult task. 



The life history and habits of the San Jose Scale have been studied to perhaps a greater 

 extent than those of any other fruit pest, and following is given a concise account of these^ to 

 assist our fruit-growers to recognise it. 



It belongs to the same group of armoured scale insects as the common oyster shell scale, 



but differs from that species in that the scale is perfectly round, or at most, very slightly 



The Scale elongated and irregular; it is flat and pressed close to the bark of the tree,; 



described. at or near the centre of each scale is a small, round, slightly raised black 



point, or sometimes this point may appear yellowish. 



