32 THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 
only two of these States has the scale probably been stamped out; 
and even in these States this is by no means certain. In a few 
instances little, if any, effort has been made to remedy the evil; as for 
instance, in Massachusetts, about Boston, and in some of the nurseries 
on Long Island. In most cases, however, where the scale has been 
located, prompt steps have been taken to effect extermination or such 
action has been faithfully promised, and in a number of important 
instances this has been followed up by a personal examination by 
agents of the Department of Agriculture or station entomologists, and 
the work of extermination found to have been as thorough as possible 
and seemingly effective. Many other points, however, have not been 
thus looked after, and we can only rely on the original promise of the 
owners to do their utmost to effect extermination. 
The cases of the infested nurseries are of the greatest importance. 
Where, as in Maryland, the infestation was never very serious, the 
extermination seems to have been successful. On Long Island reason- 
able safety is assured in only one case, and this holds true also of 
Georgia. The Florida nurseries seem, on the authority of Professor 
Eolfs, to be in a satisfactory condition. The most important, however, 
are the New Jersey nurseries. These have been thoroughly overhauled, 
much of the infested stock having been uprooted and burned and the 
rest subjected to the most careful treatment, notably in the case of the 
nurseries near Burlington. On the authority of Professor Smith, these 
nurseries, particularly the one near Burlington, are now as safe places to 
buy stock as any in the East. 
Nevertheless, the scale still exists in nurseries or in orchards in 
nearly all the States in which it has been located, and there is little or 
no question but that its dissemination is constantly going on. 
Wherever the scale has become so thoroughly established as it is 
in New Jersey, Maryland, and on Long Island, it is doubtful whether it 
will ever be completely stamped out. The wide range of its food plants, 
and the ease with which it is carried by birds and insects, makes it 
always possible that it has gained a foothold in unsuspected places 
from which it will regain access to orchards and nurseries supposedly 
safely rid of it. 
It is, therefore, practically impossible to say of any nursery or orchard 
that the scale is completely exterminated until a number of years have 
elapsed. The scale, when occurring singly or scantily, is discovered 
with great difficulty, and its absence can be determined only by a micro- 
scopic examination of every portion of the plant. It will hardly be 
noticed by the average fruit grower until it becomes very abundant; 
so much so, in fact, as to practically incrust the bark. 
The foregoing considerations led us sometime ago to express the 
belief that there is scarcely any hope of ultimate extermination in the 
East, and that in the future we should have regularly to deal with the 
San Jose scale as we do with other well established insect enemies of 
