The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-20
=. UUCLE SAM 44HHRR ORCFHARDIST Il

The san Jose Scale, the Control of
Which Costs Tens OF Millions
The Borders and Various ROts-In
y Government LabOratOry-Our Big
Peach Crop Saved by Lime-Sul-
pliur SOIutiOn-StOries of Fortunes
in cPaches-HOw One Poor Boy
e,ade GoOd-A Word of Warning
to Orchard Investors.
ICopyright, 1911, by Frank G. Car
penter)
WASHINGTON, D. C.
"The larger f1eas have smaller f1eas
Upon their backs to bite EN-;
And those small fleas have other
fleaS
And so ad infinitum.'
Come with me to the Agricultural
Department and see how Uncle Sa1n
IS waging war on the flies, bugs and
bacteria which are injuring the farm
er He is finding them by the millions
and he has scores Of scientists who
are rearing them, studying their
habits and practicing how to destroy
them / went today through mum Der
OF laboratories where these little be-
ings are cultivated. Some are SO small
that a billion or co can be crowded into
a thimble. and they breed SO rapidly
that a single family will produce more
than sixteen hundred million children
and grandchildren IN a season, many
generations being crowded into that
time,
Take for instance the San Jose
scale, which has cost our fruit grow
ers something like $200,00O,0OO and
for which they are now spending mil
lions to fight / looked at it through
the microscope in the pOmolOglcal
bureau today. The one l examined
was among those on a peach limb
which covered it as closely almost as
the pores Of your skin. Each scale
is d waxlike body not as big as the
head of a pin, and the insect itself
lies under this. using it as shield
while it sucks the life-blood Of the
tree
The little being is male and female
anu the sexes are married and nave
children not unlike human beings the
single female, however, will have 400
young in a season, and the young
reach maturity so quick that one little
wife may produce 400 babies year.
while the Offspring of one parent dur
Ing single season has been estimated
at more than sixteen hundred million
females. When OF is rernem bered that
there are colonies of this insect scat
tered throughout every orchard region
of the United States from northern
Michigan to the Everglades of Florida
and from Los Angeles to Delaware
you may appreciate what job it is
to control them
Chinese Invasion.
Talk about the Yellow Peril. This
little animal came from across the
Pacific 1t was brought in on some
peach stock imported from China and
was running the orchards of Southern
California when one Of the farmers
OF that region gave his trees wash
OF sheep dip. The dip was composed
OF a lime, salt and sulphur solution.
which had come from Australia He
was surprised to find that this liquid
wiped out the scale. The fact was re-
ported to the Agricultural Department
and then, as result Of it's expert
ments. began the wholesale spraying
which now goes on all over the coun-
try. Every winter or spring the COM
mercial orchards of the United States
are sprayed with this mixture. Inc
concentrated spray is too strong to use
after the leaves have come out, but
1t does not injure the trees while vegi-
tatlon is dormant, and if applied to
every bit of the bark above ground
1T wipes out the scale
Moreover, the San Jose scale has no
wings TO fly from tree to tree. although
the young can climb about from their
little homes over the branches, and
can be carried on the feet of birds to
the other trees of the orchard or to
ocher orchards, which may be many
miles off. 1t may also be blown by the
wind a short distance.
The insect has SO spread that there
Is scarcely a locality in the United
states WHICH is free from it, and the
only salvation of an orchard is regular
spraylng from year to year. The
scientists tell me the spraying should
oeSln as soon as the tree are planted
lor the scale may exist on the nursery
STOCK, and single family which may
START with space as big as the finger
hail OF baby will oon populate not
oiliy your orchard. but also those Of
s'ur neighborS. The insects live on
TIE trees of the forests, so that the