New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 249 
in other nursery operations; and to that end, extensive experi- 
ments!! were made to determine the effects of the gas on buds. 
The results of these tests showed that this treatment was safe and 
its use was advised. To assist nurserymen in the identification of 
the various insects upon their stock and to direct them in the 
methods of fumigation, Bulletins 136 and 174 were published. 
These contain simple descriptions of the more common destructive 
species of insects and explain clearly the methods of treating dor- 
mant nursery stock, with suggestions as to the location and con- 
struction of fumigating houses or chambers. 
San José scale in orchards — fumigation of bearing trees — One 
of the first problems arising from its discovery in this State was 
to exterminate the San José scale in the more recent plantings 
of young orchards, where it was introduced on the nursery trees. 
If treatment was made in time, it was thought in many instances 
feasible and well worth the effort to attempt its eradication in order 
to present its spread in a community in which it was just dis- 
covered. As hydrocyanic gas seemed then to be the most practical 
treatment for this pest, tests‘! were made to determine its utility 
for orchard use. Fumigation in every instance proved safe to 
dormant trees and trees in foliage. The interesting observation 
was also made that while .3 of a gram of potassium cyanide per 
cubic foot was necessary to kill all of the scales by winter treat- 
ment, only .18 of a gram was required to kill every scale when the 
fumigation was made in early summer. 
The sheet tents that were commonly employed in orchard fumi- 
gation proved, unless carefully handled, to be destructive to branches 
because of their weight and the interference by the limbs in ad- 
justing them to their proper position. Moreover, variations in the 
sizes of the trees made it necessary to estimate the fumigation 
dosage at each change which could not be as accurately determined 
as was desirable, owing to the changing shape of the tent, which 
varied with each tree. To simplify the problem of fumigating small 
trees, considerable attention was directed to the problem of con- 
structing a practical fumigation box for such work. In the course 
of the experiments, a box fumigator!* was designed which is inex- 
pensive and light in weight, and can readily be manipulated by 
two men. This style of fumigator possesses several advantages 
% Bul. 202; same in Rpt. 20:247—291 (1901). 
“ Bul. 181; same in Rpt. 19:287-291 (1900). 
