The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-11-10
SAN Jose SCALE APPEARS.
PERxICI0rs FRUIT PEST FOUND IN
A KING COUNTY ORCHARD.
Unless Immediate STEPS Are Taken,
the Fruit Farms Of the State
VIII be Destreyed-There II But
one Thing to Do, Prune and spray

w. II. Brown. insect inspector OF lral
pests for King county. has made the
alarming discovery that the pernicious
San Jose scale, the greatest OF fruit pests.
has at last gained foothord IN this coun-
ty The matter Ii ore Of the most impor-
tans that could possibly be called to the
attention Of the fruit growers Of this sec
ton Of the state, and unless immediate
steps are taken 10 kill of the pests and
prevent 1t from getting In fits deadly work.
the fruit orchards of this state win be
totally destroyed. Il takes the San Jose
pest from three TO five years to destroy an
orchard once it begins to sap out its life.
Mr.. Brown made his discovery few
days ago In the apple orchard OF r. Sar-
tori. near Ren.on-
II was very much surprised said Mr..
Brown yesterday, ito make The discovery.
for. while knew that this pest Of pests
was making great progress on the Pacific
coast. / had hoped that we In King county
were TO escape its disastrous work. But
now we have IL and there is only one thing
to do and that Is to work night and day to
check II. II we fall to do that there can
be but one result. Those who know any,
thing about the pest will appreciate the
truthfulness Of my remarks. II the pest
is not checked In a very few years the
orchards OF King county viii be in ruins.
The pest win surely wreck them, for it
has reputation as q great destroyer. 1t
does not confine itself to apple trees. In
raryxJur ont ffS dasfruefiya sfapc
a. nothing In the fruit or shrubbery lines.
Peach and apple and all other fruit trees
have the life sarped out of them and
shruhbery Of all kinds are called on to die.
There Is but one thing TO do and that
Is to prune and spray. Give the trees and
shrubbery every possible attention. There
cannot be too much work done in the or
chard. Since went into office have de-
stroyed thousands of boxes of foreign
fruit In trying to keep the pest out of the
state. / thought / had succeeded in doing
so. but my recent discovery shows me my
mistake. The pest has been in existence
in Walla Wails, Yakima and Vancouver
for some time. but we have never before
seen it in this part Of the state.
Its Origin . Mystery.
IF my memory serves ME right, the pest
appeared in California aiong in 1850. II
first turned up in San Jose. For that rea-
son 1t Is called the San Jose scale. Where
II came from Is a mystery, so far as any
thing definite il known. 1t has always
been the belief OF those acquainted with
the pest that one OF the South American
countries furnished Il. But that Is only a
belief. As matter of fact scientists have
never been able to trace its real origin.
It may be that the South America theory
~h1x c;yx %ha aaf iv,
an appearance In California that state has
suffered loss that could not be told with
figures. 1t has brought more destruction
to the fruit industry of California than
any other pest with the exception Of the
phyloxera Of the grape
1.-THE very serious thing in connection
with the pest is that scientists have never
been able TO find anything that will wholly
destroy 1t. It's work can be checked, but
not destroyed.
How the Insect Works.
when a tree becomes infested with the
San Jose scale It's life Is not worth much.
An apple may be white, u may be red, 1t
may be some other color. but once the
scale is at work you will be unable to
place the head OF pin on spot of 1t
without encountering the scale of the in
sect. You find a little black spot and all
around 1t is a fine delicate coating OF red.
AS the insect continues its work the bark
OF the tree becomes coated Remove the
old bark and underneath you will see the
marks or the insect. They are every
where. They cover the tree and finally
send ii to Its death. The insects multi
ply with marvellous rapidity and II Is not
very long before the pest is everywhere.
To those who are not acquainted with the
insect I might say that the mother fastens
herself on the tree, gives birth 70 her lit
tie ones and then dies. The little ones de-
velop and the work OF the mother Is re-
peased The insect gets into the sap of the
tree. You have no great trouble in diseov-
ering the work on account OF the red spots
to b. found wherever they are at work
what want TO do is 70 have the farm
ers appreciate the importance Of this mat
orchards and their. strawberries. II they
fail TO listen TO HE now the time will come
when they Will fully realize the importance
OF their error. IL will then be too late to
act. They will have suffered a great loss.
for II the old orchards are allowed TO be
destroyed new ones will not be started be-
fore the pest win nfest II and the result
will be that TO grow fruit in the county
will be an iTpossibility. This is the time
10 go 10 work and see that the trees are
sprayed and pruned. II the farmers wait
until next year and ship to the markets
fruit infested with the pest 1t will be de-
stroyed and the less will be theirs
Nearly 1850 in Klondike and Alaska
tickets are being given out by the Post