SAN JOSE SCALE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 226, 17 June 1908, Page 3

SAN JOSE SCALE.

HOW IT BREEDS AND TRAVELS. ; , A-TERRIBLE PEST. . San" Joso scale, which has broken out ill Nelson orchards, is the black cloud on the horizon/ of tho present season.._ San Jose scale attacks various trees, and is regarded as tho.-most destructive of all tho scale in-, sects. . Its fecundity is extraordinary. _ It does not lay eggs, like the aphis,-it givqs / birth to living young. The birth-rate is so rapid, and the youth reach bearing age so early that it is estimated that the oifspring of a single pair in one sesson may : number a billion. . The lime-salt-sulphur mixture and soluble oils (1 to 12) are the ' weapons generally used against tho pest, and the applications of theso preparations . are made frequently during the dormant period. ■ Tho scale, if unchecked, . quickly sucks "out the vitality of the branches of peach and; othor trees, and poisons tliein, killing the tree sometimes in twelve months. Spread by Birds. Just.as the aphis pests are carried from place to place on'the ( feetj of bird 3 that hop along tho branches, or on tho bills of ducks that burrow around the roots, so the San Jose scale travels from tree- to tree and from orchard, to •orchard, and from province to province ;on the feet of birds. The apparent'immobility of the scale itself is therefore no guarantee .that it will not travel many miles in the course of a season, and. •the owners of orchards in Nelson and elsewhere should learn the appearance of San •Jose and keep constant watch : for its ar- .. rival. 1 . , \