No. atory law allowing an inspector to go into a man's orchard and experiment on his trees in an attempt to check the scale, would not be supported by public opinion in a dozen localities in our State; and hence such a law would be as ineffective as our present black-knot and peach yellows law. Perhaps the enactment of a law making it a misdemeanor to allow insect pests to breed unchecked in an orchard might be wise legislation. But it is, as Professor Bailey says, a question if the common law does not already afford ample redress for such grievances." 66 The present status of the scale in New York-At the present time the San José scale is not known to exist in New York State outside the Hudson River Valley ar at the Corne' affairs cop How th have Fwd. ......... Total... ng Island, except a few which still linger with us ent Station. This is a remarkable condition of resent known distribution in neighboring states. ons in our State west of the Hudson Valley could e clutches of this pest is a remarkable and mys50 equally as remarkable, is the fact that the scale 1 any New York nursery outside of Long Island. hange of buds and stock which is going on between country, it is certainly wonderful how our great w York have apparently escaped contamination. more striking when one realizes that evidence is nting to almost a certainty in several instances, een sent out from Western New York nurseries. If hands of these nurserymen, why is it that none have been able to find it in their nurseries after on? I have a personal acquaintance with many ymen and have had occasion to visit their nurom what I have seen and heard, I believe that the help to explain why the scale has apparently not se nurseries: First, the nurserymen, as a rule, scale was discovered in the East, and still are, exercising the utmost caution in regard to using buds or stocks for propagation from suspicious sources. They have simply realized that this was a matter of vital importance to their business, and one can scarcely realize the extreme care thus exercised by some of our nurserymen. Second, in most of the New York nurseries, all the stock is young; one rarely finds any trees three or more years old. Thousands of trees over three years old are annually rooted out and burned. I believe the apparent absence of the scale from our Western New York nurseries to-day is largely due to these two causes, the extreme caution exercised by the nurserymen themselves, and to their thoroughgoing methods, by which no old stock is held over from year to year to afford a breeding-place for the pest. Apparently most of the infested stock which has been sent out from Western New York, must have simply passed through the nurserymen's hands on stock purchased elsewhere to fill out orders. Prep. Sew. Total..............h. the larger plum-growers in the State were greatly and very agreeably surprised in 1897 to find that the beetles did not appear in sufficient numbers to make it necessary to go to the trouble and expense of fighting it. For two or three years the crops of New York farmers have suffered from hordes of grasshoppers, but last year, doubtless owing to the work of their enemies and to climatic conditions, grasshoppers appeared to be scarce in many localities. As we predicted in our report last year, the army worm was not numerous enough in 1897, anywhere in the State, to attract attention, although thousands of armies of the worms ruined thousands of acres of field crops in 1896. This is a very striking instance of those well-known and yet mysterious fluctuations or "ups and downs" in the insect world. When we will have another army worm year no one can predict. PLANT LICE. While 1896 will be long remembered as an 'army worm year," 1897 may well be termed a plant louse year." I never before saw so many different kinds of plant lice in such enormous numbers, and so destructive on so many kinds of vegetation, as last year. Not only fruit trees, but shade and ornamental trees, shrubs, garden crops, and even the weeds were often literally covered with lice, and their sticky, sweet secretion, honey dew, gave the leaves a varnished appearance. I never saw the leaves on the new growth of cherry and apple trees, both in the orchard and nursery, so badly curled and blighted as they were last year by the cherry and apple aphids. In the case of the apple, especially, the lice remained on the trees much longer than usual, and in many cases greatly damaged the new growth, even on large bearing trees. Only the most thorough and persistent work with whale oil soap or kerosene emulsion checked these plant lice. THE PEAR PSYLLA. This old enemy of the pear-grower exacted considerably more than its usual share of attention from New York fruit-growers in 1897. Heretofore, the insect has readily succumbed to a dilute kerosene emulsion spray, but last year many pear-growers in the Hudson valley and in Western New York found it much more difficult, and in some cases apparently impossible, to reach the psyllas with the emulsion. It was not because the psyllas were tougher than usual that the emulsion proved less effective, but I believe it was due to at least two other causes. First, the first brood of the insect did not appear in alarming numbers in the spring, and in many cases nothing was done to check it at this most opportune time. It was thus not until the second brood came on in full force when the trees were in full foliage, that many fruit-growers realized the danger. Naturally, it was found to be a much more difficult job to hit the nymphs then than it would have been earlier in the season when the leaves were just expanding and most of the insects were feeding in the axils. Secondly, the second and later broods of the nymphs apparently worked more on the leaves than in the axils, and were thus harder to hit with the spray. Doubtless many of the nymphs had also become covered with their own honey-dew, which would prevent the emulsion from touching them. Some pear-growers tried whale oil soap and reported better success than with the emulsion. Last season's experience demonstrated the necessity of checking this pest earlier in the season, when it can be readily accomplished by thorough work with a good emulsion or a solution of whale oil soap. Where the pest was especially numerous last year, it would be well to drench the trunks and larger limbs of the trees with a strong emulsion or soap solution this winter or very early in the spring. hibernating adult psyllas could thus be killed. THE APPLE TREE TENT CATERPILLAR. Many of the Last year it was no uncommon sight for one travelling about our State to see from five to thirty of the disgusting tents of this old pest in a single apple tree, which often stood in the door-yard. The presence of so many conspicuous tents in orchards, and especially in door yards, was a disgrace not only to the owner but to the whole neighborhood. When one realizes that it is but the work of a few minutes to destroy a tent with its inhabitants, one can have but little patience with a shiftless neighbor who allows his trees to become, through the work of this tent-maker, conspicuous sign-boards of his shiftlessness. As this insect, like many others, fluctuates greatly in numbers from year to year, it may not be so numerous in 1898, but it would be well for fruit-growers to examine their trees carefully this winter for the characteristic egg-masses of this pest. By cutting off and burning (do not throw them on the ground and leave them) these eggs, one can do much to reduce the numbers of the ravenous caterpillars for the coming season. A very near relative of the apple tree tent caterpillar called the forest tent caterpillar worked with the former on many trees; and in some localities it was so numerous on forest and shade trees as to cause the people to believe that the famous gypsy moth had invaded our State, Fortunately, the gypsy moth is still confined to its rather narrow limits in Massachusetts. CANKER WORMS. For several years past, in many localities in Western New York, these measuring worms have run riot, with the result that hundreds of acres of apple orchards have been annually stripped of their leaves. And the present indications are that the insects will again appear in full force as soon as spring opens. It has been demonstrated over and over again that these pests can be controlled by thorough work with a Paris green spray. By frequent spraying, keep the foliage covered with a coating of the poison, beginning before the blossoms open and continuing the warfare after the petals fall. Never spray a fruit tree while it is in bloom, for you can do just as much good either just before or after. Where an orchard is badly infested, it will mean lots of disagreeable work to apply the poison spray in a business-like manner. But it is time many of our fruit-growers waked up to the fact, that if they expect to keep up with the procession, they will have to apply business methods to their fruit-growing. By giving to your trees the same amount of thought and care that a successful merchant devotes to his business, canker worms or even the San José scale need have no terrors for you. Until recently, I had thought that the spring canker worm was responsible for most, if not all, of the damage being done in Western New York. A few weeks ago, however, I received definite information, accompanied by specimens, from Albion, N. Y., that in some orchards, at least, two other kinds of canker worms will be on hand in alarming numbers in the spring to help the spring canker worm in its destructive work. The wingless female moths of the spring canker worm, it will be remembered, do not emerge to deposit their eggs until very early in the spring. At Albion it was found that in some orchards hundreds of wingless female moths were ascending the trees in November. An examination of these moths and the eggs they were laying, showed that the fall canker worm and what has been called the "lime tree winter moth" would be important factors in canker worm depredations in 1898. These three different kinds of canker worms are readily distinguished either in the egg, caterpillar, or moth stage. Fortunately, the caterpillars of all three species hatch about the same time in the spring and all work in the same manner, so that they can be reached with the same spray. In a badly-infested orchard, I would also resort to some method for trapping or killing the female moths when they ascend the tree trunks for egg-laying. The great destruction wrought by these canker worms in Western New York during the past few years has attracted the attention of some inventive minds, with the result that several simple traps, warranted to circumvent these pests, are now on the market. While most of these will doubtless stop the ascent of the wingless female moths, I am not yet sure that many eggs will not be laid below the traps, and that the latter will afford sufficient obstruction to the ascent of the newly-hatched caterpillars in the spring. At present, I should prefer to pin my faith to a sticky band of some sort, yet it is but just to say that experiments may show that the traps made of mosquito-wire netting, which theoretically seem inadequate, may prove all that is claimed for them. If, as the present conditions indicate, we must fight all three kinds of these canker worms, it will be necessary to put on the traps or bands in October and keep them in working order for about two months in the late fall. Then put them in shape again early in the spring, to catch the moths of the spring canker worm, and some of the young caterpillars of all three species. It is doubtful if the sticky bands or these traps can be relied upon to control canker worms. It will usually be found necessary to supplement them with the poison spray. THE SAN JOSÉ SCALE. Less than five years ago this minute, and individually insignificant, insect was discovered here in the East. The result has been that no other insect pest has ever before attracted so much and received such constant attention during so short a period as has the San José scale. At the present time, there is scarcely a gathering of horticulturists or nurserymen anywhere in the country which does not include in its program a paper on some phase of this insect. In addition to its occurring on the program, more time is often spent in discussing this pest than is given to any other single topic. Why is this? Its minute size, which allows it to get into the remotest cracks and crevices of the bark, and also renders a few scattering individuals very difficult to detect and to get at with an insecticide, together with its wonderful power of reproduction, place this insect in the very front rank as a destructive species. One prominent entomologist who has had much practical experience with the scale has been severely criticised for asserting that "the San José scale is not a particle more destructive than many of our native species, * * and it is no more of a menace to fruit culture than the codling moth or plum curculio, which must be annually and persistently fought to secure a crop that will pass muster and bring remunerative prices." I can not speak from as extensive or as varied an experience as the writer just quoted, but what little experience I have had in fighting the pest, and from what I have seen of its work thus far in our State, I can scarcely escape the conclusion that the dangerous quality of this insect has been overestimated. While I am not yet ready to fully endorse the sentiments of the writer above quoted, I have said that "the pest can be controlled and held in subjection quite as easily as many of our common insect pests, providing that the one who holds the nozzle is made of the kind of stuff which permeates our most successful fruit-growers." I believe that the reputation which this scale has attained, as being by far the most dangerous of all insect pests, is due largely to the following facts: First, we did not know, and do not yet know for that matter, how to get at the insect the most effectively and practicably. Hence it has been thus far largely a series of experimental tests to determine which insecticide would prove the best to use, and, as we all know, such experiments must result in many failures. In the second place, Eastern fruitgrowers and experimenters were greatly handicapped by the fact, that in almost every case, the insect has had full sway, with practically no enemies or other checks to discourage it for three years or more before the warfare of extermination has been begun. This is an exceedingly important phase of the question, which many zealous experimenters seem to overlook when they find that the insect is not annihilated with one or even four attacks with the spray. Allow any one of several of our well-known insect enemies to have the same freedom to breed, unchecked by its enemies or |