PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 163 



The machine is mounted on a wagon drawn by two horses, and operated 

 by gear from the wheels. Mr. Ditzler claims that by his invention 

 he can sulphur more trees in one hour than one hundred men could in 

 a day by the old process, and do it more thoroughly. The various parts 

 of the machine are figured in Bulletin No. 67, of the State Board of 

 Horticulture. There is no patent on the device, so any one is at liberty 

 to make it. 



My experience in the fight against the cottony-cushion scale {leery a 

 purehasi), in 1883-4, convinced me that some other method than spray- 

 ing would have to be devised, if we were to be successful in keeping the 

 pest in check in the orchards and gardens of the State. It was almost 

 impossible to reach eyery portion of the citrus trees with spray pumps, 

 owing to the dense foliage, and the trees in a few months after treatment 

 were as seriously affected as before. 



In 1885 Mr. J. W. Wolfskill, of Los Angeles, and the writer, began a 

 series of experiments with gases and fumigation, and succeeded in 

 killing the cottony-cushion scale and their eggs. A list of the gases 

 used was published in the U. S. Agricultural Report for 1887. Mr. 

 D. W. Coquillett, a former resident of Orange County, California, was 

 greatly impressed with our work in fumigation, and conducted some 

 experiments. One of the first was with hydrocyanic acid gas. The tree 

 to which it was applied was badly damaged, but after a series of trials 

 we succeeded in perfecting the work. This was in 1886. After our 

 success Mr. F. W. Morse was detailed by Professor Hilgard, of the 

 University of California, to conduct similar experiments. He also 

 discovered the same gas, and was the first to publish the result. 



Spraying and fumigation give only temporary relief, and are expensive. 

 The writer urged the growers to send an expert to Australia to look up 

 the natural enemies of the cottony-cushion scale, as it was from that 

 country that the pest was introduced into California. A meeting was 

 held in the Los Angeles Board of Trade rooms in 1887, nearly all the 

 prominent orange-growers being present. Mr. A. B. Chapman, of San 

 Gabriel, was chairman. Ways and means were discussed, and a committee 

 appointed to raise funds for the purpose of sending an expert to Australia 

 to secure the natural enemies. About that time two other Californians 

 entered into the history-making work. The late Frank McCoppin, of 

 San Francisco, was appointed United States Commissioner to the Mel- 

 bourne Exposition, and in conversation with the late J. de Barth Shorb, 

 of San Gabriel, asked what he could do in Australia to advance the 

 interests of California. Shorb replied, "Take an expert with you, to 

 find the enemy of the cottony-cushion scale, or we are all ruined." 

 Mr. McCoppin generously put aside $2,000 of the funds appropriated by 

 Congress for the use of the Commissioner, and Mr. Albert Koebele, of 

 Alameda, was selected by the United States Department of Agriculture 



