37 



WiDslow as scaly, though I have not received actual specimens. Pos- 

 sibly there may be more infested trees than I know in Hammonton gar- 

 dens, but I am sure the orchards are not infested to any extent, because 

 they are usually so well kept that the insect would have reached me ere 

 this were it present. There is said to be some infestation in the vicinity 

 of Trenton; but I have never been able to find it, and the report rests 

 on rumor more than on positive evidence. In Middlesex County there 

 are two badly infested orchards near Prospect Plains, but they are 

 somewhat isolated, and I do not believe that there has been any spread 

 from them. A careful canvass of the territory between Hightstown 

 and Jamesburg failed to show any other points save one, where three 

 scaly Alabama plum trees were ordered and taken out. There is also 

 a point of infestation in New Brunswick ; but this is in my own garden 

 and intentionally established, and therefore I do not feel that there is 

 any very great danger from that point. In fact, the beasts are so nearly 

 exterminated now that I am afraid to make more experiments for the 

 present lest the stock be completely exhausted. Near Elizabeth, in 

 Union County, a lot of 50,000 scaly currants were introduced from New 

 York State; but I believe that this has been entirely rooted out, though 

 I have left the blue mark present. In the back gardens of Jersey City 

 Heights and extending northward for some little distance the scale is 

 distributed, and this infestation appears again at Hackensack, where 

 there is one point, and at Paterson, where there is another. At Mont- 

 clair some of the gardens have scaly trees which are dying or being 

 taken out. I have received samples of scale from the vicinity of Mor- 

 ristown, in Morris County; but am informed that the insects died out 

 without any effort on the part of the owners of the trees. Near Bed- 

 minster, Somerset County, there is one infested orchard which has been 

 already referred to, where all the Jrees came from New York State. 

 This orchard has been taken out, but the region, of course, is under 

 suspicion at the present time, and I am trying to locate other trees sold 

 by the same agent. Finally, there are three points in Warren County 

 where each infestation is confined to a very small district, and in two 

 cases this came irom a lot of plum trees that was received from one of 

 the Southern States. The trees were sold by a local nurseryman, and 

 most of them died the spring after they were set out. A few of them 

 are yet living in one orchard near Washington, where several are 

 infested by the scale. At both the other points the infested trees were 

 so few in number that the owner had no hesitation in digging them out. 

 The complete destruction of the infestation at Delaware I verified 

 myself only a few days ago. 



Now, if you will compare the scaly district as it actually exists with 

 the actual size of the State you will see that it is rather unfair to 

 charge against us such a general infestation as should act as a deter- 

 rent to all purchasers of fruit trees. A number of our tree growers 

 have suffered severely from the loose charges made against our State, 



