44 



Mr. Smith commended the course of Mr. Johnson in not publishing 

 the names of nurserymen who were using their best efforts to extermi- 

 nate the scale and who were distributing none but sound stock. 



Mr. Marlatt pointed out the necessity of knowing the absolute value 

 of the chemicals employed in the case of formulas requiring very 

 definite weights and amounts of the materials. He pointed out the 

 variability in the strength of potassium cyanide, and that the strength 

 of sulphuric acid used is not indicated in the reports of experiments 

 made by Mr. Johnson. 



Mr. Hopkins presented the following paper : 



SOME NOTES ON OBSERVATIONS IN WEST VIRGINIA. 



By A. D. Hopkins, Morgantoum, W.'Va. 



The San Jose Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus) has attracted more 

 attention in West Virginia during the past two years than any other 

 of our common insect pests. It has been reported from numerous 

 new localities during the past year, many of which I have visited, but 

 only in three places had it multiplied and spread sufficiently to prove 

 destructive. One of these was a large orchard, said to contain 300 

 trees, near Van Clevesville, in Berkeley County, which was visited in 

 March, in company with Mr. Coquillett, of the Division of Entomology. 

 We found nearly all of the apple trees, the majority of which were ten 

 years old, completely incrusted from the roots to the terminal twigs, and 

 many trees were dead or dying. This orchard was, soon after our visit, 

 thoroughly sprayed with pure kerosene, several barrels havingbeen used, 

 and applied quite liberally. I visited the orchard again on June 29, 

 when, after a thorough examination, only a few living scales were found. 

 These were on a few of the terminal twigs of but one tree. Some of the 

 trees showed no injurious effects of the treatment, while others were 

 quite seriously injured on one side, including the bark on the trunk 

 and branches. Upon inquiry, I learned that, owing to the way the wind 

 was blowing, only one side of the rows of trees could be sprayed during 

 the morning and middle of the day, and that the other side was sprayed 

 later in the evening, and a few of the trees just before a rain. The sides 

 sprayed first were not injured, while all that were sprayed later were, 

 some of them quite seriously. 



The other two orchards in which the trees were killed by the scale 

 were found near Seymour, in Lewis County, both five years old from 

 planting. In one of 30 trees only 4 living trees remained, and, in 

 the other, of 75 trees, 9 had died. All the remaining apple and peacli 

 trees were literally covered with the scale. On the peach trees nearly 

 all of the scales appeared to be dead, while on some of the apple trees 

 the bark, leaves, and fruit were covered with moving and recently set- 

 tled young. The kerosene treatment was recommended for these trees, 

 but I have no information as to the result. 



