Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1889-05-11
our Worst Enemy ThrottleS.

The very clrcumstantlal account we
gave yesterday of the ravages made by
the Australian ladybug upon the scale
pest, possesses an interest to this section
which perhaps no other godsend could
convey to us. The operations OF the
scale enemy at the place of Col. Dobbins,
and the accounts we have had OF its ex-
ploits elsewhere, lead US to place i'm
plicit faith in the ultimate extinction OF
the worst enemy our great orange in
dustry has yet encountered. Nothing,
excepting visitation ofutter extinction to
our trees, could have worked more harm
to the prosperity of Los Angeles county
than the ravages of this pernicious insect.
To compute our losses by millions Of dol.
lars year would not cover the actual
damage it has been to us. Let us take
one instance as illustrative of many. Up
to few years ago the shipment Of oran-
ees from the trees in the Sunny Slope
orchards was from fifty to sixty-four car
loads per annum. For the past two years
they have been actually nal. This tre-
mendous damage was not the only injury
inflicted upon US. 1t caused an almost
complete cessation Of the planting
out of trees, and where We now
have one acre of orange groves we
would have had hundreds of acres
of growing trees that would soon be
in bearing had it not boon for the.
scale. Besides the actual loss, the
consequential loss has been incalculable.
1t has worked to our prejudice in the
minds of people here and elsewhere who,
if the scale had not made its appearance,
would have taken hand in the develop
ment of our great resources.
If, as we have every reason to believe,
the Australian insect will finally extir-
pate the scale, and orange growing be
restored to it's old-time prosperity, there
will be an impulse given to this valuable
productive industry that will be of
greater benefit to US than all the facti-
tious booms in real estate ever invented
by the glib broker or the smooth promoter
of paper towns. The income from
our orange crops was steadily increasing
every year until the scourge came, and
the reputation of our fruit was getting
better and better with Eastern consum-
ers as successive crops were shipped.
Our oranges possess a great advantage
over those of Florida and Mexico. They
stand transportation and improve upon
it, whilst all other oranges at once COM
menee to decay when they are picked.
The average less on Florida oranges in
shipment to New York is from Is to 25
per cent, whilst oranges shipped from
here to London, arrive there in even finer
condition fer the table than when
packed. All will readily see the
immense importance of this advantage
1t had become a matter of common
notoriety that the Los Angeles was the
only orange that could be clipped with
safety to distant places.
Now that we have ascertained, almost
to dead certainty, that we will get rid OF
the scale, the interest in the growth OF
that imperial fruit will take fresh start.
On the strength of what has been al
ready scertained of the defamation Of
the pest, one hundred thousand trees
have been set cut in and near Pomona.
This activity will be followed all over the
county, and we shall soon make up for
the time lost in developing and expand
ing this great industry. There are
hundreds of thousands of acres available
in San Gabriel valley alone for new Or
chards, and all the foothills Of the Sierra
Madre offer the most tempting situations
for the successful growth of the orange.
This and San Fernando valley will feel
the good effects of this successful war
upon the scale, and trees will be planted
out in every direction when it is known
that we have conquered that worst of
scourges. When we take this splendid
triumph into account with the fact that
the disease which has affected our grape
vines is succumbing to natural and arti-
fetal remedies We have reason to be very
thankful. To come out of two such
ravages as these, in as good condition as
we are, is one of the highest tributes to
the intrinsic merit of our locality that
could be shown.