The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-03-11
A Promising New Treatment for
The San Jose Scale.

! Of agriculture.
The San Jose scale is just now ex-
ceedingly abundant and destructive
in many orchards in the Benton:
! Vile, Ark, section, and growers
state they are unable to adequately
control the pest with the usual
dormant tree treatments with lime
sulphur spray While the bureau
/ Of entomology believes that thor
ough spraying with dormant tree
strength of lime sulphur Will con-
! rrol the San Jose scale, yet TO pleet
/. the desire Of orchardists for other
than Iime-sulphur treatments, a
number oe experiments with sprays
We're undertaken. The purpose aot
the present article is. to call at
tention TO results secured in the
treatment of the scale by the use
Of spray containing 2 per cent
Of lubricating Or engine Oil enllisi-
! fed with potash fsh-on soap.
F., The careful experiments in Flor
ida by W. W. Yothers with various
sprays for the control of citrus
scale insects and the orange white
/ fly. as published in Farmers Bull
letin 933 and elsewhere, resulted
! in a formula of engine-oil spray
which has been found remarkabls
effective in view Of the small
amount of oil used, namely, l per
cent, emuslified with potash fish
oil soap. Mr.. Yothcrs found that
any one Of several oils Of the luhri-
eating type, when thoroughly enaul-
siied and used at the dilution in
dicated, was quite effective against
these scale insects and the white
| fly, and these sprays have now come
into large commercial use In Flor
ida
The surprising efficiency of q
spray containing such a lew per
cent of Oil suggested the desirabii-
ity of testing sprays of this char
acter against the San Jose scale.
The abundance and destructive
ness of the scale in the Bentonville.
section Of Arkansas and the desire
of growers for other than lime sui
phur spays, has offered excellent
opportunity for testing various di-
! lutionS of engine oil sprays against
this pest. The experiments were
carried out by a. j. Ackerman, OF
the office Of deciduous fruit insect
Investigations, and have included
tests Of lubricating oils OF d
strength of from 1-2 per cent to 4
| per cent or per cent, thoroughly
enulsifed with potash fish oil soap.
The results showed practically COM
plete killing of the scale by one
Thorough application Of the spray
of a strength as low as 2 per cent
of oil. .Orchardists have been SO
pleased with the results that the Q
per cent Oil spray will be extensively
used in their present necessity or
bringing the pest under -subjection.
A point yet to be established Ia
connection with the present exper-
iments, is the possible injury Of the
oil spray which may result to the
/ trees, twigs, or fruit buds, and sev-
eral seasons experience will b
necessary before a final decision on
! this question can be reached. In
view Of the experience in Flo ida
] in sprayiag citrus trees: in foliage
, with l per cent Of oil, it IS felt
that dormant deciduous trees viii
probably stand without injury one
annual treatmen containing 9 per
cent of Oil.
In order that entomoaegists who
desire to do so7 may make tests sef
the treatment the present winter,
land also to render the treatment
available to orchardists who May
wish. to test it on a. small scale,.
The following directions for making
he stock emulsion are given:
Red engine OH, or oil'o similar
grade Gallon III
Water - 10
Potash, fsh<oil soap pounds
The Oil, water, and soap are
placed in kettle or other recepta.
Gle and heated until the contents
come to a boil. a brown scum
| appears on the surface Of the mix
ture as it first begins to boIi. After
! boiling for few minutes the brown
scum begins to disappear and sat
this stage the kettle is removed
from the fire and the entiro naiEs
ture is pumped twice under pres
sure Of about 60 pounds while still
very hot. A proper emulsion can
not be made by stirring nor should
the mixture be allowed to cool be-
fore it is pumped. Too much
pumping viii often break up the
emulsion During pu"ping, ordi-
nary pump packing is burnt mp
rather quickly by the hot oil mix
ture. For making the stock en1ul-
sion on a large scale an all-metal
pump would be necessary.
The stock emulsion contains 90
2-3 per cent Of Oil. To make az
per cent emulsion for use in a .290-
gallon spray tank it is necessary to
use 6 gallons Of the stock eruul-
sion.
Precaution should be taken. to
prevent the stock emulsion from
freezing, which occurs at teu.
;,erature Of about Is degrees I.
above zero.
In case difficulty is experienced
in making proper emulsion. due
TO hardness Of the water, the water
used should be Softened by the ad-
dition Of l pound Of caustic soda
or I've per 100 gallons of diluted
spray. The caustic soda should be
dissolved in > or 5 gallons of water