Vol. LVII. No. 2502. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 8, 1898. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
SPREADING THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 
ARE CERTIFICATES FROM ENTOMOLOGISTS VALUABLE ? 
What are Buyers to Do ? 
We observe that a number of nurserymen in certain States are 
sending, with their stock, certificates from the State Entomolo¬ 
gist. These certificates guarantee that the Entomologist has 
visited the orchard, and was unable to find specimens of the San 
Jos£ scale or other insects and diseases. Do ycni think such a 
guarantee of any real value to a purchaser ? This matter of 
broadcasting disease and injurious insects is a very impor¬ 
tant one, and it does not seem to us that this method of issuing 
certificates is a sufficient guarantee for the purchaser. What do 
you think about the matter, and what would be right for the pro¬ 
tection of the buyer ? 
No More Certificates in New Jersey. 
I do not consider the ordinary certificate, or rather 
copy of certificate, from a State Entomologist, at¬ 
tached to nursery stock, a sufficient guarantee to the 
purchaser. I am advising our fruit 
growers in New Jersey to ask for 
and insist upon a guarantee from 
the seller, and to verify that guaran¬ 
tee by the most careful personal in¬ 
spection as soon after the receipt of 
the stock as possible. So unsatis¬ 
factory do we consider this certifi¬ 
cate matter in New Jersey, that 
after full consultation, and after 
considering the question from all 
sides, the Director has decided that 
no more certificates should be given 
by the Entomologist in his official 
capacity. The reason for that action 
was, among others, the fact that we 
had no control over the actual use 
of the certificate after the nursery¬ 
man got it. There are black sheep 
in every business, and it is very 
certain that certificates have been 
found attached to bundles of stock 
which the Entomologist never saw, 
and which were badly infested by 
San Jos6 scale. In one case, at least, 
a certificate given by me has been 
misused in this way. Not many 
weeks ago, a large shipment of stock 
duly certified to be free from Scale, 
etc., was received in New Jersey, 
and found infested on receipt. I 
know of one case in another State 
where a nurseryman holds a certifi¬ 
cate and uses it, knowing that the 
Scale is on his land. 
The truth is that no entomologist 
can honestly certify that all the 
stock on a given territoryuis free 
from Scale, and as a matter of fact, 
few if any of them do; they say 
that they found none, or no indica¬ 
tions of its presence, which is a very 
different matter. As to Yellows and Rosette, the cer¬ 
tificate is not worth the paper it is printed upon. In 
most cases, the entomologist must rely upon the 
nurseryman to point out his blocks of stock, and when 
the blocks are scattered over a considerable area, it is 
easy to overlook one or the other unless the officer is 
fully acquainted with the territory. Or, assuming 
that every block is actually shown, and the entomolo¬ 
gist is introduced to a block of peach trees which he 
is told contains 250,000 examples, and that there is an¬ 
other of the same size in another field in another part 
of the farm, does any sane man believe that all these 
trees are or can be even cursorily examined ? Almost 
ail nurserymen buy some buds each year, and while 
they may be ever so careful, there is always a danger 
of getting in a few scaly examples. It is certain that 
we have, in New Jersey, now, trees purchased from 
nurseries in another State, which hold certificates, 
and which were infested when received. Altogether, 
the best advice is that given by the common law, 
caveat emptor—purchaser, beware ! Until we get this 
universally practiced, no legislation will long restrict 
the spread of this Scale. The only law we need is one 
to compel each fruit-grower to look carefully after his 
own interest, and not rely upon others to do it for him. 
New Jersey Exp. Station. John b. smith. 
Little Value of Single Inspection. 
It is a difficult matter to estimate the real value of 
the certificates. Very much depends upon the care 
with which the work is done, the number of times 
that the nursery or orchard has been inspected, and 
the time of year the inspections were made. Judging 
from my own observations and experience, it is prac¬ 
tically impossible for one man to examine a nursery 
r». 
of average size so thoroughly that he can be sure he 
has not overlooked the Scale. The San Jos6 scale is not 
difficult to detect if the trees are badly infested, but a 
comparatively few Scales scattered through a block of 
100,000 trees, for instance, would certainly be very 
hard to find. For this reason, we cannot be sure that 
a nursery is free from the Scale, even after a careful 
and thorough inspection. It is undoubtedly true, 
however, that by systematic inspection of nurseries 
and orchards carried through a series of years, we can 
feel reasonably sure of bringing to light the worst 
cases, at least, of disease and such injurious insects as 
the San Jos6 scale. This being true, all concerned 
are benefited, and the purchaser can feel that he is 
protected to a certain degree. It should be remem¬ 
bered, however, that nursery and orchard inspection 
has not been carried on long enough in the East to 
give the methods used a fair trial, Excellent work is 
being done, and it seems probable that much good 
will eventually result. I agree with you that the 
matter of broadcasting insects and diseases is an im¬ 
portant one, but at present I can suggest no better 
protection for the purchaser, other than inspection 
and, when recommended by the inspector, fumigation, 
than that he deal with reliable parties only, and take 
the intelligent interest in the health of his trees that 
is consistent with first-class orcharding. 
New York Experiment Station. v. H. lowe. 
An Honest Nurseryman Gives Best Guarantee. 
A buyer’s best protection is common business intel¬ 
ligence ; his second-best protection is experience. 
Without these, I fear that no legal enactment or writ¬ 
ten guarantee can always save him from being cheated. 
I have little faith in legislation ; sometimes it seems 
to help in an educational way, by 
calling public attention to the pest 
to be fought; but whatever good 
may be accomplished in this man¬ 
ner, is likely to be offset by the 
harm done when people rely on the 
law for protection, and are disap¬ 
pointed. A printed certificate from 
a State Entomologist stating that 
he has driven through the nursery¬ 
man’s grounds some afternoon in a 
spring buggy (this is called “ex¬ 
amining the stock ”), may have some 
value in the case of the San Jos6 
scale, though I doubt it. With re¬ 
spect to ‘ ‘ other insects and dis¬ 
eases”, from which the plants are 
certified to be free, such a certificate 
would have no value at all, as far as 
I can see. Of course, some State 
Entomologists make very careful 
examination of some grounds, and 
can testify that some stock is free 
from some diseases ; but that doesn’t 
go very far. 
Rut there are plenty of honest 
nurserymen ; I know many of them 
on whom I would rely implicitly, 
and if they give their word that 
their stock is free from San Jos6 
scale, I would accept their state¬ 
ments as of much greater value than 
the certificate of a State Entomolo¬ 
gist, for if a nurseryman has San 
Jos6 scale, he is much more likely to 
know it than the entomologist is, 
and he may even conceal it from the 
bug-hunter if he desires to be tricky. 
A case came to my knowledge sev¬ 
eral months ago, in which a State 
Entomologist found and reported 
the San Jos6 scale in one of the most 
famous nurseries in the United States. The owners 
immediately took the most extreme pains to clear their 
premises of the pest. The Entomologist never went 
back to see whether their efforts were successful, and 
upon my special inquiry, said that he knew nothing 
further of the matter. The owners, however, assured 
me that they had cleaned out the last vestige of the 
scale, and I believed them. I would believe them just 
as readily as I would the Entomologist. Now that is 
the kind of a nurseryman to buy of ; but if the planter 
can’t put his faith in the grower of the stock, he cer¬ 
tainly cannot depend on State laws or State officials 
to protect him. This is a serious and difficult ques¬ 
tion, and I may be wrong in my view. But you asked 
me to tell just what I think about it, and I have done 
so. It will not do to depend too much on official in¬ 
vestigation, however thorough. frank A. WAUGH. 
Vermont Experiment Station. 
A CANADIAN FARMER AND HIS TEAM. Fig. 8 
