Los Angeles herald., 1893-01-07
GOVERNMENT ENroNoLoGIST,
EXHIBITION BUILDINGS,


MELBoRNE, 18th October, 1892.
MY DEAR SIR: Your esteemed letter
OF the 9th September duly to hand. In
answering your queries l feel that am
treadihg on somewhat dangerous ground,
asS.the journals OF your country are
always teeming with news regarding
Australian parasites. But rs
you have asked me some straightforward
questions in straightforward way, l
must do my best to answer them in a
similar manner.
Neither the red scale or black scale
Il. Olee) are indigenous to Australia.
l have years ago found both species of
orcus, together with cryptolaemus &C.
Montrouzeri), feeding upon these and
other scale insects, but to 20 appreciable
extent. In fact. l facy these two scales
are on the increase. In Victoria we
keep to the spraying, as from come
cause or another (partly owing to vast
''clouds" of sparrows, who seem espec
tally fond of our little coccineli6@, but
of few other insects) these ladybirds
would appear to make no impression
whatever upon scale of any kind, at
least in Victoria where have resided az
fairly keen observer and practical hor-
ticulturist for nearly 40 years. notice
that climatic conditions, as rule, can
not be taken into consideration-as the
attack is as severe at the foot OF our
Alps as it is in the drier northeast and
northwest parts Of the colony, where
100 deg. Fab. in the sun ia no uncom-
mon occurrence.
2-Leis contormis is native of Vic
toria, at least have known it as such.
1t certainly destroys good many woolly
aphis, peach aphis, etc. but to no ap-
preciable extent, at least such is my
opinion, also that of other practical
growers. We care hut little, now, for
the woolly blight, as everyone relies en-
tirely upon the double grating and re-
sistant stocks as we'll az on painting the
trees with the following: (See page 40
of my book, part y.
The reason why icerya purchase has
not, in my opinion, made headway in
Victoria is that the lestophonus fly hss
kept it under, it (the icerya) having
been more plentiful 30 odd years ago
than now. The little novius cardinals
and two other species are old friends,
hut we never even dreamt of their prov
ing tuch blessing aH we hear as being
the case in America and at the cape,
until friend Koebele came along. Many
of our native scales have parasites,
mostly hymenopterous and of small
size, but still if left alone the scale rap
idly increases. Our motto ie: Spray
without ceasing.
3-Growers in Victoria are always
spraying, and just now an ''insect pest
bill' is before the legislative assembly,
which is intended to compel all to take
steps to clean their trees by spraying or
other means.
couple OF species of rhizobius, l
may say, are also destyoyers of ecaIe,
but, as l have stated in my book, am
not yet convert to the "ladybird
methods" OF destroying our scale in
sects, although I believe that what has
been accomplished in America may, in
manner, be accomplished here also.
N. cardinalis would appear to be q
refractory little brute, as | have tried it
on all sorts of scale, but it would touch
nothing but icerya, which latter ia, in
my opinion, almost peculiar to our
native wattles of commerce, viz: Acacia
decurrens and mollssma, although now
it may be found on almoet everything,
but, strange to say, orange and lemons
are almost the last plants which it
tarE!es.
sm always pleased to hear from
American friends, and whom, in my
new position, I am humhly trying to
follow.
I en-, my dear sir, yours sincerely,
CHARLES FRENCH,
Government Eutomologist.
The above fully comedies with what
we have been able to learn from other
sources, and, rejecting the experiences
of scientific chronological and practi-
cal horticulturist of 40 years. standing
in Australia, may be regarded as based
upon the facts ia the premises.
Strength and Health.
If you are NOT feeling strong and healthy, try
Electric Bitters. If ia Grippe" has left you
weak aud weary, use Electric Bitters This