REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1905 



79 



with a view of ascertaining the most efficient preparation and at 

 the same time obtaining more data upon the reliability of these 

 washes under New York conditions. This latter was particularly 

 advisable owing to the unfortunate results obtained during the 

 season of 1904 in New Jersey, and given wide publicity, in the early 

 fall. This consideration led us to conduct experiments at Oyster 

 Bay, L. I. making applications in particular to both pear and apple, 

 as the wash was said to be less efficient on these fruit trees than 

 on peach. Corroborative experiments were also carried on, partly 

 in duplicate, on apple and pear trees in an orchard at Washington- 

 ville. The necessity of boiling the wash by an ordinary application 

 of heat or the employment of a chemical to facilitate combination 

 was also investigated. There was slight ground for believing that 

 a very finely divided sulfur might destroy the scale insects if exposed 

 to the oxidizing effects of moisture and air, and to determine this 

 a few limited experiments were tried with a fine amorphus sulfur 

 kindly supplied by Mr F. H. Pough, general manager of the Bergen 

 Port Sulphur Works. Unfortunately this material proved a total 

 failure so far as controlling scale was concerned. The much talked 

 about combinations between kerosene and a carefully hydrated mag- 

 nesian lime, designated as K-L mixtures were also experimented 

 with to some extent and the results of other applications observed. 



Both the Oyster Bay and Washingtonville orchards contained 

 an abundance of badly infested trees, and through the kindness of 

 Mr J. T. McCoun, the owner of the first, and Mr C. R. Shons, 

 proprietor of the latter, every facility was placed at our disposal. 

 Careful plans were made and the actual work of application was 

 intrusted to Assistant Entomologist D. B. Young and Assistant 

 I. L. Nixon. Owing to the limited time during which the work 

 could be done and a succession of windy unfavorable days in con- 

 nection with the great difficulty of obtaining careful men to do the 

 spraying, not all the trees were covered as thoroughly as desirable. 

 Several trees at least in each lot were very well sprayed and these 

 were used as a basis for determining the efficiency of the various 

 washes. The writer made a personal investigation of the work a 

 few days after it was completed, and the comments on the thorough- 

 ness of the work at that time were probably influenced to some 

 extent by the inevitable washing during an interval of a week or 

 10 days. This is further sustained by the generally favorable 

 results apparent as the season progressed. The record of the 

 field work together with the results noted is given below. 



