The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1903-09-09
WILL BENToN,s ORCHARDS DEP
Experts say They Will Unless Sprayed
San Jose Scale is After Them
Infected Fruit in Market.

lulECtCu T Ill Nl dl AS 1.
Experts are certain that if spray
ing is not resorted to, orchards in
this vicinity will soon be in the
throes of a violent disease, and that
in the course of few years all the
trees will die. It is now known
that San Jose scale has secured
foothold in Willamette. Unlike the
Codling moth, which only affects
fruit. San jose scale, if allowed to
go untreated, kills the trees. 1t is
said that under conditions favor
able to the scale, but three or four
years is required by the disease to
finish the life of a tree. The in
sect preys on the sap, and multi
plies in such numbers that once a
tree passes under the infection,
nothing but an insecticidal spray,
applied in time will save the tree.
rhe Willamette valley has hith-
erto been comparatively free from
the pest, but the latter is now pres
ent to such an extent that the fruit
infected with it is daily on sale in
the Corvallis market. Dealers
have not learned yet to know the
disease, and they buy and sell the
fruit without knowing it. The
public buys the fruit and eats the
nasty little insects, probably smack
ing its lips over the diet.
Monday, bartlett pears, fully in
fected with the scale were found in
several grocery stores about town,
In each instance the dealer was un-
aware of the presence of the pest in
the fruit. The little red spot, here
and there over the surface of the
pear showed where the little oyster
like bug was located in the fruit
and likewise told that when the
dealer offered it for sale, he was
violating law of the state. But
the market man did not know what
the little red spot meant, and SO
the buyers kept getting the fruit
and eating it down like sweet
morsel, bugs and all 1t is both
possible and probable that on var
ious farms in the country where
there are orchards, infected fruit is
being daily eaten without know
ledge of the fact, the insects being
so small that the naked eye fails to
perceive them.
San Jose scale is much dreaded,
because when it does come. it must
be fought with a spray. or the trees
will ultimately die. It is, however
to be found on trees in various
dooryards in Corvallis At Henry
Gerber's place, various trees of fine
fruit are affected. A pear tree in the.
yard of John Bier is reeking withthe.
pest Trees on the Callahan place
on Fifth street aud on the Groves
lots in the same block y are
similarly affected Some of them are
in the last stages of diseased life.
In the college orchard there is
similarly affected tree. but it is
kept in that condition for purposes
of experiment. In the big prune
orchard there are a dozen trees
more or less affected with the dis
ease. Last spring Manager John
son detected thr e or four, and at
once cut them down and burned all
the debris. That failed to eradi-
catesthe disease from the orchard,
as is now understood by the discov-
cry of several more trees, most of
them but slightly affected. In the
case of all the latter, Mr.. johnson
intends to cut off all the branches
and burn them up, applying such
remedies as are necessary to save
the trunk. The treatment will be
heroic, in order to keep the pest
under control It is known that
in several orchards in the vicinity of
Phi1omath there are affec' ed trees.
and that the disease in that district
is spreading. It is probable that in
scores and scores of unsuspected
orchards the pest is not only pres
ent but widely prevalent. The
condition is due to the unfamiliar
ity of orchardists with the signs
that mark the present presence of
the insect.
In color the insect is an orange
yellow. Its home is inside an ashy
scale which in color and otherwise
resembles ashes. They live in and
on the bark in great numbers, and
in passing the hand over the sur
face where scale is abundant, soa-
py feeling is apparent, In spring
time the males take wings and fly
about, mating with the females.
The latter give birth to six or sew
en- generations in single season,
and the increase is immense. The
one and only way to arrest the raw
age is by spraying, and that is
what every orchardist must make
up his mind to do, or he must pre-
pare resignedly to that other al
ternative-the complete loss of his
orchard. Various sprays are in use