29 



INSECT PESTS. 



CONTINUATION OF DISCUSSION. 



Hon. A. P. Hall, of Penryn: I believe it is almost impossible to entirely 

 eradicate the pests, still I think that certainly the condition of things that 

 we are bound to meet, and that condition of things there is no remedy for. 

 The only course left for us is to attempt the best we can under the circum- 

 stances, and that is the way, it seems to me, with the limited knowledge 

 that I have, that is the only course left for us if we wish to make the fruit 

 industry in this county a success. With the limited experience I have, it 

 seems to me that the feeling among the people of Placer County is this: 

 while they believed at one time that the fruit pests had almost got posses- 

 sion of their orchards, there seems to be almost a total revulsion of that 

 feeling, and now they have got confidence that they have the best of it. I 

 think that there are some sections in this State that are better adapted 

 for the propagation of the scale insect than others, and I believe that the 

 hotter and the drier the climate is the sooner you will get rid of them. 

 In our section of country I am assured by fruit growers that the scale is 

 fast disappearing. I had a letter from a gentleman living up in El Do- 

 rado County, in which he says that the scale is making its appearance, and 

 he wrote to me to get a wash which I had been using. When I bought the 

 place that I am now occupying, nearly five years ago, it was badly infested 

 with the San Jose scale; I knew nothing about it, and when I came to find 

 the condition of things I felt very much disheartened, and wondered 

 whether our fruit interests were to be annihilated by the scale; but I went 

 to work getting information from my friend Mr. Butler and others who had 

 had experience in this matter, and I am happy to say that my place now 

 is fairly free from the scale insect, and I firmly believe the time will come 

 when the scale insect in this State will be considered a thing of the past; that 

 it is one of those pests that spreads itself over the world at different times, 

 and gradually it will wear away without seeming to have any particular cause 

 for it, but at the same time I believe that it can be hastened to a very great 

 extent by the active and energetic work of the fruit grower who feels any 

 interest in the matter. We in our section are using a simple remedy with 

 great success, but it may be in other localities it would not do. I take a 

 pound of sulphur, a pound of concentrated lye or caustic soda, and a gal- 

 lon and a half of water, and I boil these together for quite a length of time, 

 an hour or two, then I add a half a gallon of the commonest fish oil I 

 could get instead of whale oil, and boil that until it is converted into a 

 soap; it takes some time to do that, and while in the kettle, just as soon as 

 it is converted into soap, I add a half gallon of coal oil while it is hot, and 

 stir it up so that it mixes thoroughly, and then put twenty-five gallons of 

 water and gradually beat it up until it becomes a homogeneous mass — it 

 makes a milky preparation, but it remains thoroughly mixed without any 

 trouble. 



A Delegate: You make an emulsion of it? 



Mr. Hall: Yes, sir. I apply it cold and use it in the spring of the 

 year, just as my tree is coming into blossom, and in fact while in blossom. 

 I use it on all kinds of fruit w T ith the best kind of success. 



Mr. Block: What effect does this wash have upon the pit fruit? 



