THIRTY-FOURTfi FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



45 



Now, in the particular localit}' where I have been in the business of 

 <rrowing' oranges for twenty-two years or more, that is, the portion of 

 the San Gabriel Valley this side of the river, we have had for probably 

 fifteen years a general infection of yellow scale. j\Ir. Pease has said it 

 came into the lower end of the valley more especially from Sierra 

 ]Madre. I can remember when oranges grown there were entirely 

 worthless on account of attacks of yellow scale. Afterwards the para- 

 site was introduced in that particular place, and in a few years the 

 yellow scale ceased to be a great pest in that section of the country. 

 The fruit became suitable for us to market, and was all right in so far 

 as the yellow scale was concerned. So I am satisfied in that particular 

 case the parasite succeeded in destroying that scale. Now, they grad- 

 ually worked across the river. I remember distinctly when the first 

 one was found on the east side of the river, and it alarmed us directly 

 because we all understood that it was the red scale, and we knew of the 

 attacks of the red scale in what is now Orange County. In old times 

 that country was terribly scourged with red scale, and we were very 

 much alarmed about it when we learned the red scale had come into our 

 orchards. We have had the yellow scale ever since that time in there, 

 had it in the part of that valley, and I Avant to say to yon that that dis- 

 trict furnishes the largest body of citrus orchards profitably producing 

 in the world, except one, and that is the one surrounding us now. So 

 I think I have a good field from which to observe, and I believe I can go 

 farther and say that the productions from those orchards to-day are 

 and have been as great, if not greater, than any other equal acreage in 

 the world. I say this because I want to emphasize that the yellow scale 

 is practically harmless. 



So it seems to me very important to know, if we can, the difference 



etween these two scales ; that is to say, to be able to discover the dif- 

 ference so as to know whether we have this worst enemy, or the one that 

 can be most easily gotten along with. There are several distinct dif- 

 ferences in appearance in these scales wl;ich might interest you more 

 than what I can say about the results. In the first place, the yellow 



•ale is a much more superficial scale; it is flatter and thinner than the 

 other. In every case in which it is alive, especially when the female is 

 alive, it is translucent or almost transparent. This is never the case in 

 the red scale ; this is always opaque or very murky in its color or appear- 

 ance, so you can not look through the structure of that scale and see the 

 form of the insect inside. You can in almost every case in the yellow 

 scale. This alone will guide you largely in determining in your own 

 orchard whether it is one or the other. Then, too, a closer examination 

 will reveal the fact that the red scale has a very much harder covering — 

 a much harder shell than the yellow one. If you break that cover or 

 that shell with the point of a pin or a sharp-pointed knife you can hear 

 a distinct crack every time; and you can't do that in the ease of the 

 yellow. In almost every case you will find that when you break the 

 shell of the red scale the juices will emerge. It won't do so in the yel- 

 low ; it comes out from under. There may be some cases where that is 

 not true, but it is so nearly true that I believe you can lay it down as a 

 rule, so if you should examine these scales in that way you will see a 

 decided difference. The red scale seems to be more deeply set in its place 

 on the fruit, leaf or limb. It is very much more securely attached. 



