THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS^ CONVENTION. 



155 



CHAIRMAN PEASE. I remember when this purple se;il<^ (luestion 

 first canie up that there was a nursery firm from Florida tliat were 

 shipping- citrus nursery trees from Florida all over Southern Calif orina. 

 They were shipping many carloads to Pomona, where I lived at that 

 time, and the local inspector found. the purple scale and was inclined 

 to burn them up. The man who shipped them was indignant, and he 

 said that was absolutely unnecessary. He said, "The purple scale 

 will not live in this locality, and if you Avill plant them out in your 

 orchards I \nll give you five dollars for every one you find alive after 

 two years. ' ' I believe he also said that he Avould eat them. I am sure 

 that that man could go through the counties of this State and get a very 

 square meal on the purple scale. 



I have had nurserymen tell me that there was no use in trying to 

 keep them out, that they would get in any way. And in line with that 

 point, showing that they thought the scale would not live in this climate, 

 T want to quote a funny little piece that you will appreciate.- It is 

 from the State Horticultural Report of 1884. It is in reference to the 

 black scale. You can hear this same story told in the upper parts of 

 our county now. They tell you it won't live in this climate. They said 

 the same thing about the red scale ; they said the same thing about the 

 white fly; they said the same thing about the purple scale. I want to 

 show you what the State Entomologist said in 1884 : 



The black scale is the most iini\'orsal scale, aud has been known by all citrus fruit 

 and olive growers of the State who have trees within reach of certain influences from 

 coast climate and winds. These limits do not extend by miles from the coast, but 

 by these peculiar influences referred to. It has now been fully established that this 

 black scale {Coccus olco) will only thrive under certain favoring influences, and that 

 remote from these, in the hotter and drier interior climates, it will die out even after 

 being introduced on living transplanted trees. 



To illustrate this fact, trees infested with this scale have been taken to the 

 interior hot valleys, and have been, after a season, found to be free of scale. I have 

 found this to be the case at Riverside, and other portions of San Bernardino County. 

 During a late visit to Ontario, this fact was brought strikingly to my notice by 

 Mr. ChaflPey. who showed me orange trees planted last spring, and upon which a 

 few black scale remained : by their side trees planted a year previous to these, and 

 which, although at time of planting were infested, had now become clean ; also at 

 Pomona, one of the choicest spots in the State for citrus fruits. Mr. Frank House, 

 in kindly showing me the orchards of that favored locality, proudly called attention 

 to the fact that no pest existed there upon their citi'iis ii-ces or fruits. It is at this 

 place, a few miles from its western boundary, thnr this oxpnipliou from the presence 

 of the black scale begins, and noAvhere east of rlir.t i ouimI :ry can this scale thrive. 

 It is here that the olive first shows the beaurifully liriglit and clean appearance so 

 characteristic of that tree in its perfect health. This exemption results in the greatest 

 fruitfulness, as I saw demonstrated by the inspection of trees at Pomona, Ontario, 

 and Riverside. 



MR. MILLS. We have enemies enough to fight in Riverside, and the 

 way to preserve us from any more is to dra^v the line like a wall. We 

 desire to protect ourselves from the future. We must go to Sacramento 

 soon to get more guards at all the ports of entry on the Pacific coast, 

 at all the places in the south along the railroad lines, and down into 

 Mexico, that we may not get the Mexican worm; that we may not get 

 the fruit worm of the Mediterranean ; that we may not get many enemies 

 that are seeking entrj- here, and that would devastate all our orchards 

 and cause incalculable loss. We are here to protect the vast interests- 

 we have, and the interests that give us our living. Let us be protected, 

 and let us demand it as fruit growers. We have been neglecting it. we 

 have been denied our rights, because we have been a miserable lot of 



