Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-10
A TREES LONG JOURNEY.
Taken to Interior Of China to Be In
Tested With Enemies Of Purple Scale.

Taken to Interior Of China to Be In
tested With Enemies Of Purple Scale.
From the San Francisco Cali
From San Francisco to New York, from
New York to Brazil from Brazil to London,
from London to West Australia, from Aus
tralia to China and from China to San
Francisco Is the itinerary OF the latest
scientific bug hunt of the state horticul-
tural department Of California
The hunter was George Compere. who
arrived in this city by the last steamship
from China Compere went for parasites
to prey on two kinds of scales that infest
and destroy orange trees. One sort he
found and carried to West Australia on a
government order. The second parasite in
voived the most curious quest for relief
from pests and the longest one in point of
miles trayersed in the interest of science
that the annals of such work may boast.
The purple scale damages the orange
trees of Southern California largely. Some
months ago parasite that kills the purple
scale was found and many of Its eggs were
sent to this city to the quarantine station
for insect pests in the Ferry building in
cold storage. There the specimens were
viewed with admiration by Ehrhorn and
Carnes and great results were hoped for.
Unfortunately, the eggs did not hatch.
Probably the cold storage was too severe
for them.
How to get the parasite here in shape to
do business as against the purple scale was
a question that became pressing. Compere
was circumnavigating the world. Commu-
nication was had with him, and it was
agreed that trees infested with the purple
scale should be sent from San Francisco to
China, to be taken inland several hundreds
of miles In China and there exposed to the
visits Of the purple scale extermnator.
Compere found the trees from California
in China at a seaport. He then had to
Journey by boat many days up river that
ran so swiftly that oarsmen could not row
against the current, and 1t was very neces-
sary to have coolies on the river banks pull
the boats along with ropes for days at a
time. Finally, after some rough expert
ences Compere reached the province that
is the the home of the enemy of the purple
scale. There he went ashore. Thousands
of the Chinese farmers in the neighbor-
hood had never seen white man before.
They were very curious and came miles
to see Compere, simply because he was
white. The owner of the boat in which
Compere had journeyed would not tie his
boat to the river bank at night, because
he knew that he would be killed by Chinese
thieves who wished to get the boat, and
he anchored nightly in the middle of the
river. The travelled orange trees were TAX
en- ashore and We're carried by two men
many more miles by land. There the pur-
pie scale eXterminator finally made its
home in the imported trees.
Once more the trees were picked up and
laboriously carried by hand by two coolies
to the river. The trees were shipped by
Compere, and he accompanied them to the
sea. Then they were put, after a time, Oh
a steamship for San Francisco, and they
reached this port simultaneously with Com
pere, having journeyed 1900 miles by sea,
some hundreds of miles by river and as
many more hundreds by lapd.
From now on the trees will be watched
with daily and constant care If the purple
scale parasites on them develop and llse the
problem of relief to southern California or
chards will have been solved. If they fail
to fulfill expectations then second journey
10 emma Will be necessary. The search will
be Kept up as long as the pest exists