The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-22

second is useful in the climatic conditions
of the East, or of any locality where rains
or even light showers may be expected at
any time.
The lime, sulphur and salt wash. the cir
cular says, lis the invariable remedy for
the San Jose scale in California and much
of the Pacific coast, and is, under the con-
ditions of climate obtaining in that region,
undoubtedly very effective. 1t is a winter
application. and is applied in January or
February, or at any time prior to spring
growth. 1t may be prepared after the fol-
lowing formula: Unslaked lime. thirty
pounds; sulphur, twenty pounds; salt, ff-
teen pounds. Place all together in a barrel
with thirty or forty gallons of water and
boil with. steam for three or four hours.
For use, the mixture should be diluted to
make sixty gallons of wash, and may be
preferably applied at a high temperature.
1t may be made in smaller quantities by
boiling over a fire, using the same proper
ton Of ingredients. This wash is applied
I early every year, or as often as the San
Jose scale develops in any considerable
numbers 1t has the advantage of leaving
a limy coating on the trees, which acts as a
deterrent to the young scale lice, and where
it is not washed by rains for some time.
III CNlQCllNC Oh lie " CCN-
eral months.
EASTERN METHODS USED.
1.-The methods of control for the East
are. in the order of their Importance, as
follows: % The soap treatment; GU treat
ment with pure kerosene; (3) treatment
with crude petroleum.; "a treatment with
mechanical mixtures of either of the last
two oils with water. In the main, these
ara oil uipfor traatpaan4c on1 ~ ,,aIa
at any time when the trees are in a dor
mant, leafless condition. The treatments
enumerated are all for trees in the or
chard.
THE Soap Treatment-Whale oil or fish
oil soap, preferably made with potash lie.
is dissolved in water by boiling at the rate
of two pounds of soap to the gallon of
water. If applied hot and on a compara-
lively warm day in winter, it can easily
be put on trees with an ordinary spray
pump. On a very cold day or with a cold
solution, the mixture will clog the pump,
and difficulty will be experienced in get
ting it on the trees. Trees should be thor
oughly coated with this soap wash. Pear
and apple trees may be sprayed at any time.
during the winter. Peach and plum trees
are best sprayed in the spring, shortly be-
fore the buds swell. If sprayed in mid
winter. or earlier, the soap solution seems
TO prevent the development of the fruit
buds, and a loss of fruit for one year is
apt to be experienced, the trees leafng out
and growing, however, perhaps, more Wig
orously on this account. The SOAP treat
ment is perfectly safe for all kinds of trees.
and 1T is very effective against the scale.
With large trees, or badly infested trees.
preliminary to treatment it is desirable
with this as we'll as other applications to
prune them back very vigorously. The soap
can be secured in large quantities at from
SH2 to 4 cents a pound, making the mixture
cost, as applied to the trees, from Z TO s
cents a gallon. A potash soap should be
insisted on, and one that does not contain
more than 30 per cent. of water"
THE PREVENTION CURE.
Although, as has been said, the scale is
giving no trouble at the Arnold arboretum.
the superintendent, Mr.. Jackson Dawson.
has as good a working knowledge of how
70 get after it as is commonly to be found.
He suggests February and March as the
best months for the soap treatment i'm any
variable climate like that of New England.
and, as the most thorough method of ap-
plying it, an ordinary fat paint brush, with
which every part of the suspected tree
should be thoroughly gone over. The brush.
says Mr.. Dawson, is usually more thorough
than a spray in all similar applications; but
it should be followed later, perhaps Just
before the budding of the tree, by a thor
ough Swinging with the same wash made
up in about half the original strength. In
midsummer a still more diluted wash, per-
haps ten gallons of water to a pound of
soap, could be usefully applied. In this
last application the addition Of a small
amount of paris green, not more than one
teaspoonful to a gallon, would make the ap-
plication not only serviceable against the
scale itself, but a valuable general in
secticide.
There is, however, as has already been
indicated, another and more natural agent
that may sooner or later enter the lists
against the scale. The fact that it has
been found IN Japan, widely scattered,
yet in such small colonies as to be COM
paratively harmless, points to the belief
that there must be one or more insects
which feed upon it and keep it down. The
importation of the parasite of the mealey-
bug, which has resulted in practically de-
stroying that pest in California, is an
Illustration of what a we'll selected para
site can do in an emergency. The theory
and the hope have been stated by Prof.
+. NJ. Webster, of the Ohio agricultural
experiment station. in an article published
in the Canadian Entomologist.
have imported the San Jose SCALE
says Prof. Webster, land left behind its
natural enemies that hold It in check in
Japan. The overwhelming success that
followed the suppression Of the Cottony-
cushion scale might not be again repeated.
in the case of the San Jose scale, as, in
the case of a successful introduction of
its natural enemies. its wide diffusion over
the country would render its suppression
more difficult, but IT would seem that we
have Information enough to indicate very
strongly that in Japan Aspidiotus PERM
ciosus has natural enemies, which. if
brought to this country and distributed in
infected orchards and places where the
scale exists, would sooner or later over
come this pest, and hold it in check there
after"
IT HAS AN ENEMY.
This view has more recently received
strong confirmation. In 1900 Mr.. Shinkai
/. Kuwana, assistant entomologist at Le-
land Stanford, spent the summer in his
native Japan and investigated the scale
insects more thoroughly than had before
been possible. He not only found the San
Jose scale widely distributed, but discov-
cred also two common insects, a chalcid