SAN JOSE SCALE 
HE San Jose or pernicious scale is perhaps the most dreaded of the imported 
pests. As is commonly known, it was imported from China or Japan on 
some new varieties of plums and made its appearance first in San Jose, 
Calif., from which fact it gets its name. The insect is so small that only 
the practiced eye can detect it in the early stages of infestation, at which 
time it looks about the size and color of a fly speck, but it multiplies so 
fast (from 1,000,000,000 to 3,000.000,000 in a season) that it soon covers an 
infested limb or branch, giving it a rough, ashy appearance, soon sapping 
the life and one by one the limbs die, and 
finally the tree succumbs. The accom¬ 
panying illustration gives some idea ot 
the appearance of San Jose Scale when seen under a strong 
magnifying glass. If a portion of the bark is peeled back, 
a pink or reddish spot will be seen where the poison has 
Entered the bast cells of the bark. 
From San Jose, California, the scale was scattered all 
over the Country in cuttings and nursery stock. It appeared 
in New Jersey about 1891 or 1892 and although the most 
drastic measures were used to stamp it out, cutting down 
and burning every infested tree, it was too late and in a 
remarkably short time, it had spread to almost every orchard 
in the State. Every known remedy was applied from the 
crude oil to Lime-Sulphur or California Wash, but it was a 
losing battle as the 1905 report of the New Jersey Horti¬ 
cultural Society showed, that when San Jose Scale made its 
appearance there were 4,500,000 bearing peach trees in the 
State. In 1905 there were 718,000, and it looked as though 
the fruit industry would be wiped out of the State. 
Mr. Mortimer Whitehead, Past Lecturer National 
Grange and Editor of several Grange and Agricultural 
papers, wrote us the following in November, 1907: “Two 
“SCALECIDE” is known the 
world over as the most reliable agent 
for the destruction of every kind of 
scale insects on every tree and shrub. 
San Jose Scale on branch showing 
adult female and recent sets— 
Much enlarged. 
From Bulletin of the Virginia Station 
4 
