The Tupelo journal., 1904-05-20
The San Jose Scale.


As many Of our readers are en-
gagged in fruit culture, and for the
further reason that we are satisfied
1t will prove of interest to them,
we give space this week to the arti-
Gle below on the much dreaded "San
Jose Scale" 1t is from the pen of
Prof. Glenn w. Herrick, entomolo-
gist of the Mississippi Agricultural
College, and is well worth reading.
1t follows:
This Is one of the most injurious
insects to which peach and plum trees
are subject; and, although it is widely
distributed over the State, very few
fruit growers are sufficiently familiar
with 1t to recognize it when present
in their orchards.
Probably no insect has been the sub
ject of more discussion or experiment
tation than the San Jose Scale, and
small wonder. for it is the most PERM
cious insect pest to which the fruit
interests of this country are subject.
as hcdl dS Cdh NC uCtC iiC eh'o
insect was introduced on fruit trees
into the grounds of Mr.. James Lick,
of San Jose, Cal, in the early 7Os.
BY 1886 or 1887 it had been imported
into Eastern nurseries and from this
time on began to spread over the East
and South, 1t is supposed that the in
sect originally came from China.
This pest is a small, louse-like in
sect. just visible to the naked eye. 1t
lives beneath a hard, round, waXy
scale on the outside of the bark OF
the trees. The scales, which are con-
ical and about as large as pin heads,
become so numerous on the trees as
to form a gray, scrubby and continu-
ous layer over the branches. The in
sects are well protected by the scales,
and they have long slender beaks
which they insert through the outer
bark into the tender tissues Of the
tree, thus enabling them to suck the
juices from the tree, thereby killing
1t, or greatly injuring it. On account
of the waxy scales, these insects are
very difficult to reacu with any SUBJ
stance.
The mature females give birth to
their young, which issue in the spring
Just about this time-from the first
to the middle of May. After the young
are produced, the old females shrivel
up and die, while the young come out
from under the scales n wander
around over the trees searching for
places on which to settle down where
they may insert their beaks and begin
secreting their scaly covering. While
kha incnpto ora wandering OVe
the trees. they are unprotected and
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 l wish to EN-
phasize particularly in this paper. The
first is the unprotected state OF the
fruit growers in Mississippi. Nearly
all of our surrounding States have
laws prohibiting nurserymen from
sending their stock into those States
unless such nursery stock has been
fumigated and regularly Inspected by
a competent entomologist. Moreover,
the stock must be accompanied by a
certificate, from an entomologlst TO
the effect that it is free from San
Jose Scale and other injurious in
sects and diseases. Not so with Mis-
sissippi. This State has been the
dumping ground, as it were, for u
sery stock from other parts OF the
Union. infested or otherwise. How
long are the people of our State go
ing to suffer this? l framed a care
full bill and placed it before u last
legislature, but was told that the peo-
pie of the State had not asked for
such legislation. So, after all, the peo-
pie are to blame for their own suffer
ings. If you ask your legislators for
relief, you will surely get it. In every
case in which the scale has been re-.
ported to me l have traced it to trees