64 



siderable safety. He fully realized the value of the point that Dr. 

 Holland made; he had tried to get some one to make the analysis; but 

 no chemist seemed to want to touch the problem. 



Mr. Hopkins mentioned the fact that the subject of vaseline had 

 been under investigation by the chemists of the West Virginia station. 

 They had taken vaseline and mixed it with kerosene, and experiments 

 had been carried on with it. He thought Mr. Rumsey might be able 

 to give something of interest about this work. 



Mr. Rumsey replied that he considered it premature to make any 

 statements concerning this work, as it had not been in progress very 

 long and he had made but two inspections of the trees since the appli- 

 cation of the oil. 



Mr. Quaintance stated that in his opinion the entomologists would 

 have to ask for help in connection with determining the cause of the 

 variation in results from the use of oils in various parts of the eastern 

 United States as a treatment for the San Jose scale. He considered it 

 a very important matter and thought that the question should be 

 straightened out and put on a scientific basis. Until this was done, the 

 danger of injury to trees sprayed with the mineral oils would probably 

 not be removed. He suggested that the Secretary of Agriculture be 

 petitioned to deta:'l an entomologist, a plant physiologist, and a chemist 

 to make the investigation of this problem a leading line of work. 



Mr. Scott stated that he had asked for prices of the Standard Oil 

 Company on their insecticide oil, and their price, with freight added, 

 would make it cost something like 15 or 16 cents per gallon delivered 

 in Georgia. He had corresponded with several oil companies and 

 found that a high-grade oil could be bought and delivered at Savannah 

 for 8i cents in carload lots. He had first obtained a barrel of the oil 

 and tested it and found it averaged about 43^p Baume. It had never 

 run under 43 z in any of the barrels that were tested. Twenty thousand 

 gallons had been secured for last winter's work. One company pro- 

 posed to put up crude-oil tanks in orchard sections of the State and 

 supply the crude oil to the orchardist in the same manner kerosene is 

 supplied to the merchants. He asked Dr. Smith what was the specific 

 gravity of the oil that had been used in New Jersey. 



Mr. Smith replied that this usually ran between 43° and 44°, but 

 never ran under 43- in any of the samples which he had seen. In 

 every section where crude oil is used, the commissioner has a hydrom- 

 eter and tests the oil, so that it is thus possible to keep prett}^ close 

 record of the oils in use in the State. 



Mr. Sanderson suggested that the committee on resolutions take up 

 the matter of petitioning the Secretary of Agriculture to detail inves- 

 tigators from the Department to help solve the problem. 



Mr. Hopkins suggested that best results were likely to come from 

 cooperative experiments. 



