The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-03-14
THE SAN JOSE SCALE.
Fruit and Shade Trees Badly
Affected in Fred g r i C k
City and County-State En-.
tomologist Considers the Sit
uation Serious and Gives a
Practical Remedy.

In response to your inquiries,
will say that our records show
that at the close of the past sea-
son, there was in all, III cases of
San Jose scale in the county.
They were distributed as follows:
Adamstown, 2; Araby, 4; Brad
dock, 2; Brunswick, %; Buck
eystown, 5; Bulkittsville, 5;
Daysville, 3; Ellerton, 2; Fred
erick, 80; High Knob, l; Johns
vile, l; Licksville, L; Lime Kiln,
1; Knoxville, a; Middlepoint, .;
Middletown, 5; Myersville, 3;
New Midway, 2; Rocky Ridge, 1;
Walkersville, s; Woodsboro, s.
In the above listed cases, the
scale occurs mostly on the apple
and peach. Some shrubs and
hedges are also infested. In
Frederick the fruit trees, shrubs
and hedges in the yards are more
or less infested, and as a whole
the uation in the city is very
bad. The matter is greatly ag-
gravated from the indifference of
many of those concerned. From
the general prevalence of the
scale in the city, it has not been
practicable to attempt extermina-
tion. In fact this is not possible,
where the scale has become so
well established. The endeavor
has been made, however, to in
duce those with scale to spray the
infested trees, thus keeping the
pest under control. 1t is thus
possible to grow fruit as hereto
fore with only the added expense
of treatment. One difficulty III
the way of this work has been
that the small interests involved
has not seemed to warrant the
purchase of spray pump, but
this difficulty has now been re-
moved by the appointment of
Mr.. II. G. Conner, of Lime Kiln,
as "Local Sprayer," for Fred
erick and vicinity. Mr.. Conner
is supplied by this department
with an excellent spray pump,
and thoroughly understands the
treatment to be employed. He
will spray for those desiring the
work done, at a reasonable wage,
and those with the scale on their
premises should write to Mr..
Conner at once and make ar
engagements to have the work
done, as the time is now short for
the dormant treatment.
Trees badly infested with the
scale have an ashy gray appear
ance, and if examined closely
will be seen to be thickly covered
with minute circular nipples like
scales about the size of an ordi-
nary pin head. They may be de-
tected with the naked eye, and
may be readily seen under an or.
binary hand tense. These scales
may be readily scraped from the
bark with a knife, and yellow
ish oil fluid may be pressed out
by running the blade fiat wise
over the Infested parts. By cut
ting into the bark beneath the in
sects, it is seen to he spotted and
stained with reddish.
Badly infested trees should at
once be dug out and burned, as
they are usually too badly injur,
ed to be of any value. Trees but
moderately infested may be saved
by the use of proper spray MKT
ures. 1t is usually necessary to
spray the trees at least annually
to keep the scale reduced below
an injurious quantity. A spray
pump of some form is necessary
and these may be purchased of
different sizes and at varying
costs.
The spray mixtures most salts
factory at the present time are
crude petroleum in % per cent.
mechanical mixture with water
and whale oil soap, at the rate
of two pounds to one gallon OF
water. In using crude petro
leum, a special form of pump is
necessary, such as the "KerO-
water" For whale oil soap or
kerosene emulsion an ordinary
spray pump will be satisfactory.
To be effective the spraying
must be done thoroughly and the
degree of success will depend
largely upon how this work is
done. Spray pumps may be pur-
chased of Griffith & Turner, Co.,
Baltimore, Md. Crude petrO-
leum of the Standard Oil Com
pany, and whale oil soap of James
Good, 939 North Front street,
Philadelphia, Pa. For the many
who have only a few trees tc
treat, it will be best to arrange
with Mr.. Conner for the work.
A. l.. QUAINTANCE,
State EntOmOl0gist.