The Columbus journal., 1898-05-25

Hoaesev II Bese.
The San Jose scale has caused . great
deal Of discussion In this country. and
moro or less hard feeling among men
that one would suppose above such
feelinSsL The San Jose scale Il . pest
OF the frst magnitude. a. has been
proved By its ravages In the orchards
Of California. Wide areas Of citrous
fruits we're destroyed by them. It Is
therefore natural that the appearance
OF the scale on this side of the Rocky
mountains has filed the fruit growers
OF this section with alarm and has
caused both the agricultural journals
and tho entomologists of the several
states and Of the nation to repeatedly
warn the people Of the danger and to
urge all to watch for it and to assist In
Its destruction.
Tho agricultural journals have not
failed to take their place in the ranks
Of the enemies Of the scale. As Is al
ways the case, there are here and there
men whose business interests are at
fected by the scale. and those do not
want the subject agitated. They say
that 1t might possibly decrease the sale
Of nursery stock II people became
alarmed as to the scale. They have
even advocated that agricultural papers
that publish much on the scale be boy
cotted In their advertising. Two or
three small papers have even advised
their advertising patrons to do this.
telling them that the said large ad-
vertising papers should have more con-
sideration for the interests Of their ad-
vertising than to publish reports tnat
might result In less sales. This sort
of reasoning is very weak. II the pa
pers do not warn the people and the
people do not stop the advance OF the
scale. what would be the result? The
scale would soon get q foothold In all
parts Of the country and the business
Of the nurseries would be ruined. Tor
people would cease to buy. We know
the history of the black-knot ON the
plums. Previous to the advent of the
black-knot from Europe there were fine
orchards OF plum trees all over the
country, especially in New England
and New York. The black-knot came
without warning. The people did not
know how to fight 1t, and no effective
measures were taken against 1t. In
= few years 1t had swept like fire all
over the country and had obtained
foothold in every locality. Then what
became Of the trade in plum trees from
the nurseries? We have no statistics
of the relative amount of sales OF plum
trees. but as people quite generally for
years gave up trying to produce plums
it may well be supposed that the sales
were small. This pest could have been
checked had 1t been taken in time. as
we are now doing with the scale. Peo-
pie must be kept informed of the seri-
BUSINESS Of the situation. Honesty Is
the best policy even in fighting the San
Jose scale. We can not stop the ad-
vance Of the scale without money from
the treasures Of the states. So far
both the general government ard the
states are doing something in this d.
rection with probability Of doing more
In the future. This has been q part Of
the result of the agitation by the agri-
cultural press. Another result has
been that farmers and others have be-
come Informed as to the scale and how
to distinguish it and have been able to
report infested localities to the proper
authorities and thus bring about the
checking of the pest before 1t has been
able to get beyond control. The full
truth must be told relative to the San
Jose scale as we'll as to every other
pest.