Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-08-02
BADLY infested With
SAN JOSE SCALE

~. W. stephens, orchard inspector
representing the State department o
zoology. who began work in this coun
ty the beginning of last week, has made
discoveries relative to the prevalence
of the San Jose scale, which are little
short Of startling.
Mr.. Stephens arrival and the object
of his visit was set forth in these col
umns in the issue of July 9th. The
article, he says, has proved quite a
help to him, turning the attention of
the owners of orchards to the San
Jose scale and serving as an introduc.
| tion to the inspector. Wherever he has
appeared as a rule he has found the
fruit growers impressed with the i'm
pOrtance of fighting the scale and
ready to cooperate with the State in
| the crusade being made
First of all, our readers will be in
terested to know that the Inspector
has found the San Jose scale in the
borough of Danville, infesting not only
fruit trees, but in a few instances,
shade trees as we'll. The inspection in
the borough was not as sweeping and
thorough as in the townships of the
county where the inspector passes di-
rectly from farm to farm There were
many places in Danville that he did
not visit. At the same time there is
no intention to overlook the scale
though found in town and if owners
of trees discover the pest and will
drop Mr.. Stephens card the inspect
or will be glad to call upon them and
render all assistance possible.
Besides work done in the borough
of Danville the orchard inspector since
arriving here has confined his labors
to MahOning and Cooper townships,
principally in the vicinity of Bloom
road. Just east of Danville he has
found the scale to be alarmingly prev
alent. At the White church and
westward toward the borough it Is
is estimated that the scale has been at
work for five years. a very large per
centage of the older trees are dead or
dying and the pest even infests the
rose bushes. Mr. Diehl and his neigh
bors will enter upon general crusade
next fall. So firm a.fOothold has the
scale gained that unless some we'll
sustained effort is made to extermin-
ate it in five years, Mr. Stephens says,
one-half of the orchards of that section
will be dead.
1t is singular fact that the prevail
ence of the scale is pretty general
along the Bloom road, while farther
back along the hills it is rare or is
not found at all. This is accounted for
by the fact that the San Jose scale was
introduced with young trees shipped
from nurseries that were infested. OBJ
viously the more remote farms were
not visited by the fruit tree agents.
In fighting the scale it is not neces-
ShI y AOI lulb SlONCIS w lHNcSb III any
of the more expensive and widely ad-
vertised compounds. They have
ready and inexpensive remedy at hand
in the familiar lime and sulphur
wash, which can be made at a cost of
two cents per gallon. Nothing better
has been discovered and as proof of
its efficiancy Mr.. Stephens relates that
in f. G.. Wertman's orchard, where a
demonstration was made by Mr.
last fall, the pest is practic-
ally exterminated. Nowhere on any of
Mr.. Wertman's trees where the lime
and sulphur wash was applied can Mr..
Stephens find any of the scale remain
ing, while on "A single tree near the
house accidentally overlooked by the |
the scale still exists.
The inspector i'll turn will visit each |
Of the townships of the county. For |
each premises inspected he fills out a
report to H. a. Surface, State Zoolog |
st, giving the name and address of |
the owner or tenant, the number and |
Kind of trees, whether young or bear,
ing, whether or not insects have been
found, when, how often and with what
the orchard has been treated
'or San Jose scale.