January, 1912.] 



Plant Sanitation, 



in apparently healthy branches 

 of Tea. 

 Xyleborus truncatus, Er. 

 In diseased stems of Albizzia moluc- 

 cana. 



Xyleborus interjectus, Bldf . 

 Under blisters of renewed bark of 

 Hevea. 



Xyleborus perforans, Woll. (= X. 

 Kraatzi, Eichh.) 

 In dead and diseased stems of 

 Hevea and Coconut. 

 Xyleborus discolor, Bldf. 

 In dead branches of Albizzia moluc- 

 cana. In dead leaf-stalks and 

 stems of young Hevea. 

 Xyleborus compactus, Eichh. 



In living stems and branches of Tea. 

 Platypus solidus, Walk. (= P. pili- 

 frons, Chap.) 

 In diseased stems of Hevea. 

 Bccoptopterus sexspinosus, Motsch. 

 In dead and diseased branches of 

 Hevea and Albizzia. 

 Coccotrypes sp. 

 In dead and diseased branches of 

 Albizzia molnccana, and in dead 

 leaf-stalks of Hevea. 

 Cryphalus plumierce, Norrdl. 



In dead stems of Hevea, 

 Cnestus magnus, W, S. 

 In living branches of Albizzia 

 moluccana. 



PERNICIOUS SCALE, 



Destruction of Infested and 

 Suspected Trees, 



(From the Agricultural Journal of the 

 Union of South Africa, Vol. II., No. 4, 

 October, 1911.) 

 The public is informed that the Govern- 

 ment is attempting tbe eradication of the 

 Pernicious Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus), 

 the fruit tree pest which was recently- 

 discovered in a Pretoria nursery, and 

 which for several years had been spread 

 from there with infested fruit trees and 

 roses. As has been previously notified, 

 the insect attacks and slowly destroys 

 roses and most of the common deciduous 

 pomaceous fruit trees, including apples, 

 pears, peaches, plums, apricots, quinces, 

 cherries, and medlars. It can be held in 

 check by spraying, but it is such an 

 insidious and destructive pest that the 

 Government has deemed it advisable to 

 do what is possible, within reason, to 

 effect its extermination. If left to itself 

 it would undoubtedly be spread from 

 garden to garden and farm to farm by 

 passive agencies, and, sooner or later, 

 would get into the nurseries in affected 

 parts of the country, and then, despite 

 the best supervision practicable, it would 



now and again be sent out with plants, 

 and centres of infestation throughout 

 the Union thus become established. 

 The process might be a slow one, but it 

 would certainly be a sure one, and in 

 time the whole country would become 

 troubled with the pest just as the whole 

 country has become troubled with the 

 common Red Scale on citrous trees. 



The infested nursery has already been 

 dealt with. Without any material ex- 

 ception every plant in the place of kinds 

 on which the'scale was found, together 

 with every plant of every kind that is 

 recorded to be subject to attack, and 

 every p'antof other kinds that it seemed 

 likely might harbour the pest, although 

 there is no record of its ever having 

 been found on such plants, have been 

 dug out and burned. All the remaining 

 nursery stock, other than some tender 

 florist plants to which no suspicion at 

 all was considered to attack, has been 

 taken over by the Government and 

 removed to a site in the neighbourhood 

 where it will be grown in quarantine. 

 This stock consists largely of palms, 

 certain creepers, chrysanthemums, and 

 other half-hardy ornamental plants, and 

 some kinds of trees principally conifers, 

 that are recorded not to take the scale. 

 As a further precaution, arrangements 

 have been made that no nursery stock 

 of any kind that the Government may 

 think likely to take the scale be again 

 grown on the premises for an indefinite 

 period. The infested nursery having 

 been cleared out, steps are now being 

 taken with respect to the infested 

 private premises. A limited area round 

 about the nurseries infested, and quite 

 a number of gardens in Pretoria and its 

 suburbs and a few further away have 

 become infested by fruit trees and 

 roses introduced from the nursery. 

 Fortunately, the nursery was largely a 

 floral establishment. Few fruit trees were 

 propagated in it, and the sales of stock 

 that are likely to have carried the scale 

 appear not to have been numerous. A 

 systematic garden-to-garden inspection 

 is to be made in Pretoria and its vicinity, 

 and seedlings of plants which it ia 

 thought may have carried the pest 

 farther away are to be looked up ; and 

 wherever the insect is found drastic 

 measures to secure its extermination are 

 to be employed. There is some hope 

 that by these means the pest will be 

 altogether eradicated, and at least its 

 spread will be greatly retarded, and the 

 unfortunate time when it reaches nur- 

 series put off indefinitely. Suspected as 

 well as infested plants are to be des- 

 troyed, and arrangements with owners 

 to admit of this being done are to be 

 made wherever possible. The Govern- 



