The Portland daily press., 1898-03-26
THE SAN JOSE SCALE.


80
bulletin of Department of Agriculture. }
The San Jose scale insect, which is
stirring up so much trouble between Ger
many and the United States, has been for
some time past very serious cause OF
worry to fruit growers. Almost micro
scpptc in size, the "pernicious SCALE" as
it is otherwise called, is attacking the
fruit orchards and fruit patches in nearly
a score of states, and destroying them as
effectually as if the fruit.producing dis
tricts were overrun by fire. The bug in
question has very curious, life history.
The male, in it's perfect state, Is fy-Hke,
with two wings and long feelers; his
eyes are purple. and his wingsllrridis
with yellow and green. His existence In
this form only lasts few hours, at the
end OF which he dies. The resi- of the
twenty-five days of his lifetime Is spent
beneath a wayy scale, for1ned on the tree
bark from q secretion exuded from his
body. 1t is the same way with the
female, save that che never assumes wings.
When she is about thirty five DAYS old
the female begins to give birth II young
ones. The latter are not prod ced from
eggs. but are born alive The baby insect
forces itself out from beneath its mothers
protecting scale, and runs about over the
bark of the tree until it finds suitable
place to settle. When the proper spot Is
found, the infant bug inserts through the
bark It's long, bristle-like sucking heak,
then it proceeds to suck. The insect, all
its life long, is a bloodsucker. 1t sucks
the blood, or sap, of the plant. When
miIlions-aye, billions-of the creatures
are attacking tree together, the latter
must succumb before long, as man
would do if he were exposed, bound and
helpless, to the combined assaults of my
riads Of mosquitoes. The new born bug
is orange-yellow, with an oval body and
six legs. AS soon as it has settled down
to suck, the scale which ia to serve 1t AS
a protective covering begins to develop.
White waxy threads spring from all parts
of it's body, and become rapidly more
numerous and dense, until within Two
days the insect is concealed by the Oh arac-
teristio pale, grayish she l. Inc scale y
formed by the slow melting together OF
the filameuts of wax. Eventually the
males issue from beneath their scales in
the winged form described. 1t Is estimat-
ed that single female may have $40
6OOO. 900 descendants In a single season,
and under favorable conditions large
proportion Of this enormous number VIII
actually survive. The bugs occupy all
parts of the infested plant-trunk, limbs,
twigs, leaves and fruit One of the chief
difficulties in connection with this insect
pest has to do with the ways in which it
is distributed and carried to previously
uuinft s6ed localities. Young fruit trees
grown in nurseries and shipped all over
the country are apt to convey it. Being
very small individually. the scales are not
likely to be observed until the infestation
has become very bad. Fruit, too, is apt
to be infested, and to serve as means OF
transportation. Loft to themselves, the
bugs cannot spread much The female IS
wiugeSs, and, after becoming liked, can
not move. The young ones are not able
to crawl far. This abominable insect Is
found in Australia Chile and Hawaii.
Ii oil likelihood it was introduced into
the United States from Chile 1t is said
t. have reached California first in 1870.
The name bestowed upon it comes from
the fact that it first appeared conspicuous
" in the san Jose Valley, California. By
1873 it had become o serious pest in that
region, and from that time on it spread
rapidly northward and eastward. In tie
East it was first discovered in 1888 a.
Charlottesville, Va Since then the
plague has extended alarmingly, and it is
now found in many localities in nearly
all of the Eastern States. Fortunately,
the SCALE bug has insect enemies who
prey upon it-notably, kind of beetle,