Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1897-10-21


elders hardenIn'-savorin'
Felix-plusquam-s
Apples mell'rn. ripenin'
Buck wheat standin' pat;
PuddIn' gin to fryin'-an
Felx-plusquam-sat.
CLARION POET Lame ii dorsate
A NEW DEPOT NEEDED.-Unlon Bridge
has been sadly neglected in the past. We
have a very poor excuse for railway pa
senger and freight depot. 1t is IN eyesore
to all who behold it. Perhaps we have not
asked for it is n reason the old concern re.
mains as relic of bygone days. We call
attention of the Western Maryland Railway
Company to our need, and hope they will al
once give us building worthy the name OF
q depot.-CarroN Nees
ORTHoRGRAPHIC. - The "SchOOlnnaster'
has unquestionably been "abroad in Bruins
wick and has seemingly been abroad moons
quite few. Itwoud seem, from a commu-
nication published by the school trustees In
the last issue of the Herald that the pupils in
the several schools have been more or less
afflicted with throat diseases incident to the
changes of autumn weather and that men,
ton thereof had been made in the local pa.
per.
Now, while we do not recall having read
any such report in the Herald, we are conf
dent that i, never did report d,ptheria prev
alent and we have no idea that, despite even
the assertion of the aforesaid Trustees in the
published card, there is any such disease as
tonsilsatis among the pupils.
The editor possibly concluded to get even
with his critics by giving instruction to the
compositors to strictly "tolow copy"
SAN JOSE SCALE,--Last February Prof.
w. G. johnson, state entomologlst, lcctured
before the Farmers Institute held in this
county on the subject of orchard pests. He
at that time called special attention t" the
San Jose scale, which he said was the most
dangerous and destructive Of the numerous
orchard scourges. sfe advised his hearers
to watch carefully and endeavor to prevent
the Introduction of tn" pest in this county
and referred to the nursery law which had
heen prepared by Mr.. Charles G. Biggs, of
Sharpsburg, for the express purpose of COM
batting the frightful scourge to the fruit trees
and which law, he said, was the most effect
i've step that had ever been made in the cause
OF orchard protection.
In little more than half year Prof John
son returns to Washington county in re-
spouse to certain inquiries he had received
which he considered very significant, and
after spending an afternoon in the peach
belt, has found in three orchards the
dread SAP jose scale. In only a few hours
work he found three infested orchards, a
fact which gives hut poor promise for the
general condition of the orchards, through.
out the belt. He will continue his examha-
items with the view of getting an insight
into the general condition of affairs before
returning to Baltimore.
A slight idea Of the fiightful results that
be gained by looking at some of the orchards
which have been infected In one OF the
largest orchards in the state, in Prince
Georges county, $4,000 trees is dead and the
300 acres of land on which they had been
planted useless for orchard purposes for q
forest nearby was infested by the scale. In
Mr.. James Gambrils orchard near Mouoc.
acy Junction $4,000 trees were dead, killed
by the scale, and wherever it made it's ap
pearance it only disappeared when It's deyas
lation had brought death to everything
The scale is indigenous to California and
was brought east in 1889 in nursery stock.
Since then it has appeared in various places
throughout the east, but this is the first ap.
pcarance in the Blue Mountain belt, altho
Mr.. Charles Biggs found traces OF its pres
ence in his orchard one year ago. The scale
is small insect which belongs to the very
lowest order of animal life. The female has
but the feeding and reproducing organs. A
few hours after the parasite is born it drives
its proboscis into the soft bark OF an orchard
tree and there produces six times in one
season, and each of the offspring produce
until the one female scale has grown into
5000, 900 900 in one season. These when
full grown are about the size of pin head
and literally cover the tree from root to tip
80 thickly that the bark is didden under the
| coating as if with rust and each one Of
these countless millions of minute animals
are sucking, sapping with deedly persistence
the life blood Of the tree So sure and sc
rapid is the work of this pest that flourish
ing tree on which one of the scale is pu
this season by the feet of bird by contact
with an infected tree, by the wind or othel
means of infection, will be dead year aftel
next, completely dead, and the fruit which
ii bears next year will be insipid, scrawny
and poor, while the tree will fade like {
person sick with lingering disease.
TO meet and overcome the scourge many
things have been tried and for a long tim,
it seemed as though nothing but digging VI
the tree would check the spread of the pes
and finally stamp 1t out Prof. Johnson
however, has been experimenting with by
drocyanic gas which Is applied to the tree
by first covering them with heavy oile'
canyas cover and then filing it with the ga
! AZ 81,