The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1904-05-21
The san Jose Scale

. = -
| AS many Of our readers AR F
gagged in fruit fplture, and tor tM
| furtherGeasonothat we are satisfikksa
it awillr prove of interest to then,
we give space this week tothe artlr
Gle below on.the much dreaded san
joe Scale" IT is from the pen Of
Pro-, Glenn W. H.errick, enntomolo-
gistn Of the Mississippi Agricultural a
College, and jsa well. worth readings
| 1t folfoWsi.ai3 r3raspnn ;f!s
This is one of, the mosto injuriMs
insects, to which peach and plum trees
are subject; and although 1T Is widely
distributed over the State, very rev
| frtfit growers are sufficiently familiar
With n tos fecognizei it when present
tinoatheir orchards. otcu1d
t,o Probably no, insect has been the sub
lject of more discussion pr experiment
1tatfon than the San Jose Scale, and
lssnail Rohder, for it Is the most PERM
ef8us insect ;pesto TO which ahep fruit
interests of athisl country are Jsubject.
AS near as ean,ohe determined, this
Insect was introduced on fruit trees
Into the grounds of Mr.. James Lick.
tof Saf Jose, Can, in the early '7Os.
$By 1885 or 1S8Tit had entimported
into Easterno nurseries and from TINS
thine on began to spread over the East
land South, 1t is supposed that the IN
Sect originally came from China.
p This pest is a small, iouse-like in
sect lust Visible to the naked eye. II
lives beneath IA hard, round, waxy
scale on the outside of the, bark OF
1.-The trees. The scales, which are con
1icaI and about as large as pin heads
become so numerous on the trees as
/ to form a gray, scrubby' and contlnu
Gus LAYER over the branches. The in
sects are we'll protected by the scales
and they have long slender beaks
: which they insert through the outer
fbark into the tender tissues of the
tree. thus enabling them to suck the
ljuices from the tree, thereby killing
it,, or greatly injuring it, ON account
Iof the waxy scales, these insects are
livery difficult to reach with any SUD
stance. ~ ''ai
| The mature females give birth to
their young, which issue in the spring
lust about this, time-from the first
to the middle of May After the young
Iare produced, the old females shriye
up and die, while the young come out
iron under the scales and wander
around over the trees searching 1oi
places on which to settle down where
they may insert their beaks and begin
secreting their scaly covering. Whlle
the young insects are wandering ovel
the trees. they are unprotected ano
may be easily killed. One can see the
Young insects with the naked eye
especially on trees where they are
abundant They appear as minute
yellow lice moving slowly about.
There are two things IN regard to
the San Jose Scale that | wish to EN-
phasize particularly in this paper. The
first is the unprotected state OF the
fruit growers in Mississippi. Nearl!
all of our surrounding States have
laws prohibiting nurserymen iron
sending their stock into those State'
unless such nursery stock has beef
fumigated and regularly inspected b,
competent entomologist. Moreover
the stock must be accompanied by
certificate, from an entomologist Y
the effect that it is free from sal
Jose Scale and other injurious in
sects and diseases. Not so with Mis-
sissippi. This State has been TIN
dumping ground, as it were, for nuE
sery stock from other parts OF TN
Union. infested or otherwise. HOY
long are the people of our State go
ing to suffer this? | framed care
full bill and placed it before our las
legislature, but was told that the pee
pie of the State had not asked 10
such legislation. So, after ALL the pee
pie are to blame for their own sunel
ings. If you ask your legislators ~
relief, you will surely get 1t. In ever
case in which the scale has been r
ported to me l have traced it to tree
s1Egs lti