Although the Acting Pomologist and the Entomologist were so confi- 

 dent of the correctness of their views, as expressed above, that experi- 

 mentation seemed hardly necessary, it was decided, in order to lend 

 force to subsequent expressions of opinion by the Department, to under- 

 take a series of experiments with sulphured and unsulphured sun-dried 

 and evaporated fruits of different kinds, including apples, pears, and 

 peaches, all well infested with the San Jose scale, and these were 

 carried out during the months of September and October. 



Through the kindness of Dr. J. B. Smith, of New Brunswick, N". J. ; 

 Prof. G. H. Powell, of Newark, Del.; Prof. W. GL Johnson, of College 

 Station, Md., Prof. W. B. Alwood, of Blacksburg, Ya., and Mr. E. Dows, 

 of Biverside, Md., the writer was able to secure the desired fruit, viz, 

 apples, pears, and peaches, all bearing a greater or smaller number of 

 living specimens of the Sau Jose scale. Some of the fruit was badly 

 infested, while other specimens carried but a few scales. This fruit was 

 turned over to Mr. Taylor, who sliced and dried it by both evaporating 

 and sun-drying processes in accordance with the general customs, having 

 dried a certain amount of each without previous sulphuring and sub- 

 mitting the rest to the ordinary sulphuring process. The lots of fruit 

 were kept distinct, and the dried product was returned by Mr. Taylor to 

 this Division. On receipt at this office the entire product was carefully 

 examined. Each section of dried fruit was examined with a hand lens 

 to locate the scales, and each scale found was examined under a com- 

 pound microscope in order to ascertain whether it was living or dead. 

 The examination was necessarily protracted and very tedious, but, in a 

 word, not a single scale was found which showed the slightest signs of 

 life. 



We consider this test to have been conclusive and to have demon- 

 strated that prohibition of American dried fruit by foreign countries is 

 unnecessary in order to protect their fruit-growing interests, and that 

 the complaints of American exporters are fully justified. The details 

 of the experiments follow, the reports of the evaporation experiments 

 being signed by Mr. W. A. Taylor, Acting Pomologist, who personally 

 conducted the work, assisted by Messrs. W. P. Corsa and W. N. Irving, 

 of the Division of Pomology, and the results of the entomological exam- 

 ination being signed by Mr. Nathan Banks, an expert assistant in the 

 Division of Entomology, who conducted the microscopic examination 

 of the scales. Mr. Banks's methods and results were tested by the 

 writer and found to be perfectly satisfactory. 



Experiment I. — Evaporation of Angouleme (Duchess) Pears, September 



13, 14, 1898. 



These pears were "shipping ripe," rather immature to evaporate to good advan- 

 tage. They were divided into two equal lots, A and B, by weight, and were then 

 quartered, cored, and placed on trays. 



Lot A was spread upon two trays (1 and 2) and exposed to the fumes of 1 teaspoon- 

 ful of sulphur for fifteen minutes in the bleaching box, which has a capacity of four 



