The herald., 1898-02-05

infestation in the San Jose valley was
somewhat rapid; its area is increased
in every direction. but more rapidly to
the west and north. Afterwards it
spread throughout California and Ore
Son, to Washington, Idaho, Nevada. Ari-
zona and New Mexico, and later 1t mani
tested itself in Virginia, Maryland. In
diana and Pennsylvania and other places
in the East. The pest is said to spread
relentlessly and steadily over all decidu-
Gus fruit trees. covering limbs, foliage
and fruit. 1t is only a question of two
or three years before the death of the
plant attacked is brought about, and the
possibility of injury, which from expe-
rience with other scale enemies of de-
ciduous plants, might be easily ignored
or thought insignificant, is soon start
lingly demonstrated. The general ap-
pearance which the scale presents is
of a grayish, slightly rough, scurfy de-
position. The natural rich reddish color
of the young limbs of peach. pear and
apple trees is quite obscured when these
trees are thickly infested, and they then
have every appearance of being coated
with ashes. Fruit severely attacked be-
comes distorted, rough and pitted, fire.
quently cracking, and may eventually
fall prematurely, or at least become un-
marketable. The scale is frequently car
ried about on fruit, there being cases
on record where California pears and
apples. found on investigation to be in
tested with male and female scale, have
been bought from fruit stalls in various
parts of the country. The most common
Of he Sl
by means of other insects and birds.
CHICAGO COMPLAINTS
CHICAGO Feb. 4.-Chicago whole
sale fruit dealers declare that the decree
issued by the German authorities clos
ing tn" gates against the ingreSs of
fruit OF this country will be a source of
considerable hardship to them. The APP
pie dealers. it is said, viii be the chief
sufferers, for the German trade in
apples has considerable to dc with reg
ulating the home market.
Late last autumn representatives
from a number of prominent apple
houses of Bremen and Hamburg came
to this country and urged the dealers to
supply the German market with the
popular fruit Some of them went SO far
as to offer q guarantee, claiming to see
their way clear through the great de-
mand in the fatherland for fine fruit.
which has been scarce in Germany this
year. A great many of the merchants
saw harvest in trading with the Ger
mans and shipped the surplus of the
fanciest apples that came to the local
market
The merchants say that the alleged
cause of the issuance of the decree is
ridiculous, for only the finest variety of
apples was shipped. They deny that
any California vermin infested the
fruit
Benjamin Newhall, one of the heaviest
handlers of apples in the west, said:
If the German government closes its
ports against apples from this country
merely as a precautionary measure
against Vermin it does it in pretty much
of a hurry. 1t is all bosh to say that the
California apples are infected with YER
min. The Germans got the pick of the
land The American merchants had be-
gun to regard the German field as a
profitable one for them to operate in, and
they set around to supply the market
l think l am pretty near it when l say
that not less than $4,000 barrels of apples
were shipped to the German markets
last season"
The official statement of the Reich
sangeiger on the subject of the measures
taken to prevent the importation of 'af-
fected" American fruit was commune
Gated tonight to the officials of the
United States embassy
The agrarian newspapers thank the
for the prohibition. The
Tageblatt asks why the Importation of
healthy living plants is prohibited, and
says: Such extreme measures will
doubtless provoke retaliation"
The United States embassy was en-
tertained at dinner this evening by
Baron Won Cramm- Burgdorf, the min
lster of Brunswick