Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-02-11
The San Jose Scale.
Paper Read Before Farmers'In stitute,
By j. Is. Mitchell.

L
and plants, forests and ornamental
shrubs, that its Introduction may be
guarded against, since it has been
found in Sc Gus numbers III many
localities i'll the adjoining states Of
| Missouri and Illinois. In what | have
to say Oh this subject shall quote
freely from eminent entomologists who
are conversant with its destructive
work where it has obtained a lodge.
ment.
Pro-. F. w. Webster, entomologist
of the Ohio Experiment Station, who
it is said speaks from actual exper.
fence, and is one of the most conserv-
alive and reliable entomologists III the
country, says: "No one who has not
seen the work Of this pest where 1t has
had full sway can understand its fear.
fully destructive nature; and no one
who has not searched for il scattered
about singly over the twlgs and bran
ches of trees and shrubs, can fully
understand the difficulty with which
it is observed before it has gained such
Roadway thar it is Ill full possession of
the area :er which 1t has been dis.
trlbuted."
Professor Herbert Osborn, entomol-
ogist of the Iowa Experiment Station,
says: According to best authorities
the San Jose scale is capable of mul
DUPLICATION that enables single fe.
male to produce 1908, o4o, 200 individ-
uals in season, these resulting from
four or five generations during the
warm portion of the year. The de-
struction from such pest throughout
the orchards, shade aud shrubbery
plantations of Iowa, would entail a
loss impossible for us TO estimate, and
if by due attention at the present
time such Distribution can be prevent
ed, it will be most fortunate result. /"
An Iowa agricultural bulletin says:
"The San Jose scale. although intro.
duced into the Eastern States scarce.
ly ten years ago, is now known in
Massachusetts, New York, New Ter.
sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland. Della
ware, Virginia, West Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Florida,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas,
Ohio. Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and
Ontario, in Canada; while westward 1t
occurs in British Columbia. Idaho,
Oregon, Washington, California and
New Mexico"
This pest was first discovered in
1873, at San Jose, California, from
whence 1t takes its name. 1t was in.
troduced into two nurseries in the
eastern states on nursery stock from
California and widely distributed be.
fore being discovered.
Illinois tried to get law to control
this pest last winter, but failed. The
legislature, however, appropriated
$4,000 for this purpose.
"At the meeting of the State Agri.
cultural Society Prof. S. A. Forbes,
State Entomologist. made an instruct.
results of his campaign against it. He
said that the San Jose scale was now
entrenched in fifteen of the counties
of the state, from Kane and Ogle on
the north to Pulaski on the south, and
from Adams on the west to Clark aud
Edgar on the east. Twenty two
colonies had been found on imported
fruit trees and shrubs at nineteen diff.
ferent localities. Two parties, from
this department, are now i'll the field
with insecticide apparatus thoroughly
spraying with whale oil soap solution,
all infected premises, with no expense
to the owner excepting for the insect.
eide. This operation will be repeated
next spring, if the appropriation made
for that purpose by the legislature at
its last regular session, is sufficient to
cover the expense. Prof. Forbes also
reported that his assistants had III.
spected carefully eleven Illinois nurs.
cries, including the principal ones in
the state, and that certificates Of free.
dom from destructive insects had been
given the owners. The result of this
address was the unanimous adoption
of the following resolutions" a part
of which will only take your time to
read:
Whereas, The 100000 acres of apple
orchards in Illinois are threatened with de-
struction with that dread scourge, the San
Jose scale, which has now twenty-five dis
tinct colonies in widely separated localities
of this state;
And Whereas, This insect is sure death
to apple, pear, peach, plumb. hedges and
shade trees. but if energetic measures are
applied and at once, while this insect is
still upon young trees, it can be stamped
out and its further introduction upon dis
eased stock by INSCRIPTIONS tree dealers
prohibited
And Whereas, 1t is known that in some
some states whole orchards and parks have
been destroyed and that one nursery firm
in neighboring state whose stock is in
fected ale now mailing broadcast their
prices to prospective planters.
Professor Steadman. of Columbia,
has been inspecting the nurseries of
Missouri and finds no San Jose scales
in any of the nurseries, but he found
them in nineteen different orchards,
and other localities yet remain TO be
inspected. at is impossible" said
Prof. Steadman. "to imagine the great
damage these minute creatures can do
until you see an orchard that has been
infested They are SO small and
hard TO see, and especially ha,d to
kill. 1t is not in any nurseries as far
as known, but one of the best nyrser.
les III the state, in St. Louis county. is
not more than half mile from badly
infested orchard. In Jackson county
the scale was found on Usage, Orange
and forest trees. The infected por.
ton of the state is through the center.
from east to west, Jackson county to
I "a