Vol. LXV. No. 2920. NEW YORK, JANUARY 1 3, 1906 ' WEEKLY. 81.00 PER YEAR 
AN EXPERIMENT WITH OIL SPRAYS. 
Lively Work of the Scale. 
The San Jose scale is gradually but surely invading 
many of the best orchards in the East, and fruit grow¬ 
ers are fully alive to the necessity of fighting it. It has 
been demonstrated over and over again that the lime- 
sulphur spray can be made very effective against this 
pest, but it is not easy to make or to apply thoroughly. 
Unfortunately the soap and oil sprays for this pest have 
often resulted in considerable injury to the trees. But 
there are now on the market several soluble petroleums 
which can be readily mixed with water into a very- 
stable emulsion. One can thus apply a dilute petroleum 
spray with much less danger of injuring the trees. I 
have been very favorably impressed with these soluble 
petroleums ever since I first tried mixing them with 
water and found how perfectly they' worked. Several 
experiment stations have already tested these petrol¬ 
eums, and both favorable a-nd unfavorable reports have 
been published. I sprayed some trees last Winter with the 
material, a-nd estimated killing at least 90 per cent of the 
scales; this Fall those trees were swarm¬ 
ing with the insect, but I am not discour¬ 
aged. In September I located the pest 
in the orchard of one of our best New 
York fruit growers, and it was found that 
150 trees in a block of about 600 were 
badly infested. The owner said the trees 
were of no value to him as they stood, 
and that 1 might do what I pleased in the 
way of fighting the pest. 1 decided to 
make a thorough test of one of these 
soluble oils, and the whole orchard was 
sprayed in October before the leaves were 
off, but after they' had done their duty 
toward developing next year’s fruit buds. 
One gallon of the oil was diluted with 15 
parts of water and a very thorough appli¬ 
cation was made. I think we killed at 
least 90 per cent of the scales of all ages, 
from those just born to their mothers, but 
the presence of the foliage on the trees 
prevented our doing the most thorougn 
kind of spraying. However, the breed¬ 
ing of the pest was stopped, and another 
thorough application of the same spray 
was made late in November after the 
leaves were all oft". I hope to have hit 
five or more per cent of the remaining 
live scales with this spray, and if any 
live scales arc to be found in March next, 
a third thorough application of the same spray will be 
made. The trees arc six-yer-old pear, and several 
older Japan plum trees, and also include a few peach 
trees. 
This experiment should be a good test of the ef¬ 
fectiveness of the soluble oil as an insecticide, and 
also enable one to determine its effect upon different 
fruit trees. From the above it is evident that I have 
considerable faith in these soluble petroleums as insec¬ 
ticides for the San Jose scale, and I am sure that many' 
scales can be killed with them, but I am not yet so sure 
about the results on the trees. Therefore, I am not 
recommending any-one to use these substances except in 
a trial experiment on a few trees. The spray I used 
on the orchard above mentioned cost a little less than 
three cents per gallon, which is about double the cost 
of the lime-sulphur spray, but all one had to do to 
make the oil spray was to fill a 150-gallon tank nearly 
full of water and pour in 10 gallons of the soluble oil. A 
few minutes agitation of the mixture resulted in a per¬ 
fect emulsion. I like to apply these oil sprays, for they 
spread much better than the lime sprays, so one has 
not got to hit every spot of bark the size of a pin head, 
as you do with the lime sulphur sprays. 
My first experience with these soluble oils, as given 
above, where the trees were as badly infested as ever 
the next Autumn, set me to thinking and trying to 
explain it. A little calculation will easily demon¬ 
strate how necessary it is to make a very thorough 
application of any insecticide for this pest, For exam¬ 
ple, let us suppose there were 5,000 scales on a tree 
when it was sprayed, which would not be a very' bad 
infestation for a tree seven or eight years old. 1 think 
the spray killed 95 per cent of them, thus leaving only 
250 living scales, of which we will say the Winter 
killed one-half, so that there were only 125 living scales 
to begin breeding in the Spring. Let us allow that 
one-half of these would develop into males. 1 lieu the 
62 female scales remaining are each capable of giving 
birth to from 100 to 500 young lice. Call it only 100, 
and the first crop of young scales would then amount 
to over 6,000, and remember that there may be at least 
two more broods during the season. It will not require 
much further manipulation of figures to demonstrate 
how easy- it would be for a few scales which survive 
one thorough spraying, Winter conditions, etc., to prop¬ 
agate enough to infest a tree more seriously than when 
it was sprayed. These facts demonstrated to me the ne¬ 
cessity- of making more than one application of any 
spray in order to reduce the numbers of this pest below 
the danger limit. I believe we have to kill more than 95 
per cent of the scales, and I doubt if it is often possible 
to do this in one application of any spray. Therefore, 
I am recommending that the trees be sprayed once in 
the Autumn and once in early Spring before growth 
begins. I think the Autumn spray ing is very important, 
for immense numbers of young and tender scales can 
then be easily killed, and further development of the 
insect stopped. I would begin spraying just as soon as 
the leaves are oft. [Prof.| m. v. slingerland. 
UMOID AND KEROSENE FOR SCALE. 
On page 911 we read an article on scale by W. H. 
Skillman. After the experience we have had with the 
scale in one of our peach orchards, it is impossible for 
us to agree with the writer in all he says. We differ 
in regard to the K.-L. mixtures. We have been inti¬ 
mately- acquainted with Prof. C. P. Close for several 
years, and know whatever he gives to the public can 
be relied on. He is a careful and thorough investi¬ 
gator. He has always claimed that if the K.-L. mix¬ 
tures are properly- made and thoroughly applied we 
need not fear the scale. According to his directions 
we sprayed our peach trees with 20 per cent K.-L., and 
the results were far better than we dared to anticipate. 
We succeeded in completely- eradicating the scale. Surely 
if Mr. Skillman had properly made and thoroughly 
applied the K.-L. he would have obtained different 
results. Too much stress cannot be laid on properly 
making the K.-L. mixtures. Many of the failures can 
be charged to the men who make the mixtures. In¬ 
stead of violently churning the K.-L.. they simply stir 
it a little and let it go. No wonder many people fail 
to kill the scale when they use K.-L. Every fruit 
grower should be thorough in all his operations. Too 
much care cannot be taken in making and applying all 
mixtures. By closely observing we find that the ma¬ 
jority of our fellow fruit growers in this section have 
not succeeded in holding the Codling moth, scab, scale, 
etc., in check, because they- either do not properly 
make or do not thoroughly- apply the mixtures. 
Delaware. f. m. soper & son. 
POINTS ABOUT DRAINAGE. 
Where the land is rolling, the water 
collects in narrow streams in lowest 
parts. These streams are crooked, wash¬ 
ing some places, and filling up others. In 
locating a tile drain to carry off this over¬ 
flow, it is not best to put it in the lowest 
places as followed by the water, because 
when a drain is once laid, the soil over it 
never becomes solid as it was before cut¬ 
ting the ditch, and consequently washes 
out easily, and soon exposes the tile. I f 
the drain is located a little to one side 
of the lowest places, the overflow will 
pass over the tile drain, and flow off in 
tiie old channel, and do little damage by 
washing. As these surface drains are al¬ 
ways crooked, if the tile drain is cut as 
straight as possible, going across some 
of the higher points, the tendency to 
wash out over the tile, will—in a great 
degree—be prevented. Sometimes when 
tile is located in or near these low places 
it is necessary to let a sod form over the 
drain, and not turn this when working. 
When a ditch is cut ready for the tiie, 
it should be laid at once, and not wait 
till to-morrow. Twice I remember leav¬ 
ing such a drain to finish the next day, because 
there was no appearance of rain and I was 
tired, to find them slipped the next morning like so 
much soft soap. A cave-in of this kind is not only 
the sides of the ditch dropping in, but the soil thrown 
out on the banks of the ditch. It is more labor to make 
right a cave-in of this kind than to cut the ditch in the 
first place. When the tile draining is done in the Fall 
and early Winter, and sufficient clay cut off the sides 
of the ditch, and dropped on the tile, to hold them in 
place much of the labor in filling in the ditches can 
be saved by filling the ditches every few rods, with 
shovel, a little above the level, so that the water, in¬ 
stead of following the drain, will flow to one side. 
This will allow the sides of the ditches to stack, and 
fall in on the tile, so that by Spring the ditches will 
be one-half filled, and can be easily finished by using 
two horses and a breaking plow, without spreading the 
horses apart with long doubletree. 
When it is necessary or desirable to fill the ditch as 
soon as the tile is laid, T have found it most convenient 
and easiest to use one horse and the breaking plow at 
the start, til cutting the ditch, the first spading should 
be thrown to one side, and the second, and the scoop- 
A BUNCH OF CONNECTICUT PORK MAKERS. Fit, 9. 
