PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 81 



ciently infested with black scale for the parasites to thrive. However, 

 there are some orchards in which they will be unmolested, and I hope 

 to be able next year to show more successes to their credit. 



In regard to the work of predaceous insects on other scales, I would 

 say that at one time the cottony cushion scale {leery a purchasi) 

 threatened our entire orchard industry with destruction; we spent about 

 $6,000 in one summer combating it, but were unable to keep it in check. 

 Then we procured a few colonies of Vedalia cardinalis and put among 

 them, and the cottony scale disappeared so quickly we were astonished. 

 It has only reappeared in a very few trees since, and these we colonized 

 with some Novius Koebelei Mr. Craw sent me, and it seems to have made 

 complete work of the remaining cottony scale. 



Until the last two years, the "soft brown scale" (Lecanium hesperi- 

 dum) was quite a common thing in our groves. It was particularly bad 

 on young trees set on new land, in some cases necessitating repeated 

 spraying to destroy it. The past season it has been very largely 

 destroyed by its chalcid parasites — Coccophagus lecani and Encyrtus 

 flavus. In all the older orchards it has disappeared, and in the younger 

 trees, while it sometimes gets quite a start, it is generally found and 

 destroyed by its internal parasites before doing serious damage. 



The spray that is being generally used in our orchards on the black 

 scale is called the " Dayton Wash." It is quite cheap, and as no mixing 

 is required, except to add water, it is not a difficult thing to apply. Its 

 cost for labor and material is about 30 cents per tree for our large seed- 

 ling orange trees, which will average from 25 to 30 feet high and 16 to 

 20 feet through the foliage. Fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas, 

 which is our remedy for "red scale" (Aspidiotus aurantii), costs about 

 $1 per tree for trees of above size. Smaller trees are less in proportion 

 to size for both remedies. 



DISCUSSION ON INSECT PESTS, SPRAYING, ETC. 



Mr. Osborne: In my experience in spraying, one of the best remedies 

 that I have found for trees is "Little's Sheep Dip." A gallon of sheep 

 dip to about twenty-five gallons of warm water will remove the scale to 

 a certainty, and is harmless to the fruit. It proved to be a great success. 

 This sheep dip of Little's make comes from England. I have also dis- 

 covered that it is very valuable to kill borers in trees. This pest can be 

 thoroughly cured by a little sheep dip. Make it strong, about in the 

 proportion of fifteen or twenty to one. Apply it with a brush. We put 

 it on several of our trees and some of the worms came out in our presence. 

 When you want to open a keg of it, drive a railroad spike through it and 

 make a square hole in the keg. Do not allow it to evaporate. 



A Member: I would like to ask whether there is a remedy for pre- 

 venting curl leaf on peach trees? 



Mr. Lelong: Professor Newton B. Pierce is conducting experiments 

 for curl leaf, for the Department of Agriculture. He has been very 

 successful, and a bulletin will soon be published giving the formula. 

 These bulletins, when out, can be had by applying to the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington, D. C. 



A Member: For three years we have been troubled with curl leaf very 

 badly. A gentleman told me that the remedy for curl leaf was the 

 6— FG 



