Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-08-05
THEY ARE DOOMED.
The Scale Pests of All Kinds
Ended.
no MORE SPRAYING NEEDED.
The Vine Disease a Mystery Still
but Hopes Entertained of q
Speedy Solution.

Ah yOSsoAuay aEhALD WAb uOt0 u
the sale of forty-acre ranch at San
Gabriel in which brace of unfortunate
errors were made. The place is that Of
R. Fl. Shoemaker, formerly the Tallant
place in which Spencer Sewall lived for
many years. DR.. Shoemaker bought the
property about six years ago and has
lived on it ever since. The purchaser
now is Captain A. B. Anderson, .
wealthy young Englishmsn, and the
price for the forty acres is $50, O,OO0s The
sale of this property at this time causes
no little comment. 1t is mostly set to
orange orchard, and nearly every one
has been deferred from investing in these
because Of the ravages of the scale bug.
But this Shoemaker place Is directly
across the road from the orchard of
Colonel Dobbins, and Captain Anderson
has been able to satisfy himself that the
cottony. y.cushion scale has met his fate in
the Australian lady-bug. Besides, in
spite of all difficulties the Shoemaker
orchard yielded crop last year which
sold for SO 900 in spite of the scale.
Some few days ago a HERALD reporter
met on Spring street Col. Dobbins and
Mr.. I'll. A. Unruh, who has charge Of the
Baldwin orchards and vineyards on the
Santa Anita, and Mr.. Albert Brigden of
Fair Oaks. The statements of these gen.
tlemen were positive, unequivocal and
consonsnt. They we're all to the effect
that the white, or rather cottony cushion
scale bug, which has 30 seriously threat
ened the orange trees of this section, is q
thing practically of the past. Wherever
vedolia cardinals has been set to work
he has IN very short time cleared the
trees of every vestage of the pest. Orange
growers all over the county are taking
care to procure this little friend of theirs
and to make war at once with his aid on
the bugs. Captain Anderson of San
Gabriel saw all this and without hesita-
ton bought the property as an invest
ment.
The gentlemen quoted above were
quite as emphatic in their statements to
the effect that the red scale is also
rapidly disappearing before the ravagee
of the lace fly and of a small bug not yet
classified. both of these parasites being
of local development. These statements
are entirely corroborated by those of Mr..
Cogswell of the Sierra Madre Villa.
Readers 1.-THE HERALD will recall that
during the past two months this journal
has published many statements similar
to those now reiterated. A plea was
made to the Horticultural Association,
and to the scale pest officers to forbear
for while the spraying process which
had proved of so dubious benefit, in
order to give these parasites fair play in
their efforts to destroy the pests.
Mr.. Coquillett has at last been awakened
to sense of justice in this matter, and
has taken the trouble to investigate.
He finds things exactly as the HERALD's
interviewer represented them to be, and
has had the fairness to write letter to
contemporary stating this to be a fact.
1t is indeed glorious news to the orange
growers of Los Angeles. to learn that
both their enemies have had to succumb
to the remedies which nature always
provides for all such visitations.
Now, as to the vine pest which has
been playing havoc with the vineyards
of the section. The vine growers are
anxiously waiting to hear from Prof.
Dowlen as to the letter of Prof. Hark-
ness setting forth that the disease
is not fungus growth. Mean
time Mr.. Brigden aud Mr.
Unruh assured the HERALD reporter that
the disease is not spreading in their
neighborhood. The vines are in good
health, and the crop is large. Mr..
Brigden said he had recently returned
from visit to Napa and Somona, where
he inspected wide areas devoted to viii
culture. He gives it as his deliberate
judgment that he would rather contend
with this new disease which has devel-
oped temporarily here, than with the
philloxera which is everywhere ravaging
the vineyards of these counties. This
is an old trouble. 1t has been studied
with all the scientific light of the day
cast on it. and to this day no remedy has
been discovered.
For years the HERALD has insisted
that in time parasite would be devel-
oped which would destroy the scale pests
in the orange groves. 1t will be the
same with this new vine disease. What
ever it's nature, it is a temporary and
local matter. Only two districts in this
section have been affected by it., the
Santa Ana-Anaheim district and San
Gabriel. In the former the fury of the
disease has spent itself and can 60 no
further, for the reason that the vines are
all destroyed. In the San Gabriel VAL
ley only small part OF the vines have
been destroyed, and the disease does not
seem to attack those left. The situation
is very hopeful, and will steadily i'm
prove.