CHAPTER XL 



E>^EMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 



So much has been said and written about the diseases of 

 the orange tree, that one might think it one of the most delicate 

 and cruelly afflicted trees in the vegetable kingdom. 



For instance, there are no less than sixty insects that prey 

 on the apple tree, twelve on the pear, sixteen on the peach, seventeen 

 on the plum, thirty-five on the cherry, and thirty-one the grape. 



And yet we have heard orange growers grumbling over the 

 constant fight against the insects that attack their trees. To such 

 we commend a glance at the above host of enemies upon which 

 the northern fruit growers are waging constant and not always 

 successful war. Many of these are borers, and their work is 

 done in secret, and in an almost impregnable fortress ; whereas, 

 an orange tree has no borers, all its foes being open and above 

 board, and hence easily detected and conquered. 



The renowned scale insects are the most injurious, and before 

 the best means of fighting them was discovered, did much dam- 

 age to the trees and threatened a wide spread destruction to the 

 orange interest in Florida, when it first appeared in the State, 

 which was at Mandarin, about twenty years ago, being carried 

 there on orange trees brought direct from China. 



It may seem surprising that from a few trees, and from one 

 grove, this minute enemy of the orange tree should have spread 

 all over the State, and that, too, in a very short time ; but when 

 one comes to consider the matter, it is not so wonderful after all. 



For one thing, there are are several small beetles, and some 

 large ones, found in all our groves, that feed on the scale, or 

 coccids, and as the latter are very minute and are often seen to 

 mount on the backs of their unconscious enemies, they are thus 

 carried by the beetles from tree to tree, and also from grove to 

 grove. 

 84 



