33 



prevented the multiplication of the scale. This year my division of 

 the State has been broken into, not badly by any manner of means, but 

 sufficient to demonstrate that it was not the shale, but some other fac- 

 tor which limited the spread of the insect and resulted in keeping the 

 northern half almost free. 



Here the introduction of the scale from other States has assumed 

 considerable importance. Throughout the southern half of the State, 

 using that term very roughly to indicate everything below Middlesex 

 and Monmouth counties, the orchardists have been chiefly supplied by 

 the Parrys and the Lovett Nursery; bat some also by a small nursery 

 near Mount Holly, which has no foreign trade and need not be specified 

 therefore for the protection of out of- State orchardists. This little 

 nursery has, in a way, done more harm than either of the larger ones, 

 because its very insignificance enabled it to escape detection at the 

 beginning. While, on the other hand, the energy of its proprietor has 

 made it an important factor, because he did much persojial canvassing 

 and secured many orders which were difficult to trace up later on. 



North of the counties above mentioned almost all the stock found 

 infested has come from other States. This again has been in some 

 respects fortunate, because in no case has the infestation extended 

 beyond the orchard in which it was originally received, and curiously 

 enough the insect has been unusually fatal on the infested trees and 

 shrubs. Fifty thousand currant bushes were received by one dealer 

 from northern New York, a region where the scale is not officially known 

 to exist. The nursery had a certificate, and the stock escaped inspec- 

 tion in New Jersey for that reason. It was discovered within a year 

 after it nad been set out, and what was left has been since destroyed. 

 So far as I have been able to learn there has been no spread from this 

 point of infestation into the immediate vicinity, but some of the stock 

 had been sold into other States before the trouble was discovered. The 

 nurseryman immediately notified all his customers for this stock and 

 offered to replace it if that previously sent was destroyed. In almost 

 every case he was invited to duplicate his order, but there is no proof 

 that the stock previously sent had been really taken out. 



It was with some surprise that I received a few badly infested speci- 

 mens from Somerset County, N. J., in June, and on investigation found 

 a small peach orchard which had been almost utterly killed out by the 

 scale. It is one of those unfortunate cases where the owner of the 

 farm lives in another State and gets a new tenant almost every year, 

 so that it is practically nobody's business to look after the condition of 

 the place. We are on the red shale here sure enough, and there can 

 be no question now that the character of the soil, or rather the pres- 

 ence of red shale, does not serve to check the insect; but fortunately 

 here also the scale seems not to have spread from the original point of 

 infestation. An appeal to reason and a slight indication that the 

 powers of the law would be invoked, if reason was not successful, was 

 7184— No. 17 3 



