attack with the spray-nozzle at the first appearance of scale.
Besides the San Jose there are several other scales more or less
abundant in New York orchards, two of which make the peach their
favorite host. These are the West Indian peach-scale (_Aulacaspis
pentagona_ Targioni) and the Peach-Lecanium (_Eulecanium
nigrofasciatum_ Pergande). Neither, however, is very troublesome as far
north as New York and both are kept well under control by the treatment
for the more common San Jose. The Lecanium is responsible for the
discolored, sooty peaches occasionally found in parts of the State;
for, though the discoloration is caused by a soot-fungus, the fungus
lives in the honey-dew of the scale.
The black peach-aphis (_Aphis persicæ-niger_ E. F. Smith) is sometimes
a serious pest in light peach-soils in New York but is not nearly as
troublesome here as it is in states having a larger proportion of
sandy land since it seems to find life easiest in light, warm soils.
The insect is an intensely black, shining louse with brownish legs.
It lives underground more than above ground, maintaining itself for
most part on the tender roots of newly set or nursery trees, being
found only occasionally on shoots and foliage. An expert eye detects
the presence of the lice by the sparse and jaundiced foliage of young
trees which an untrained eye would say were down with incipient
yellows--indeed countless numbers of young trees have been sacrificed
to the yellow's pyre when they suffered only from lice on the roots.
The pest is easily detected on stock received from nurseries--the chief
source of infestation--and the trees may be dipped or fumigated as for
San Jose scale, thus completely exterminating the aphids. Good culture
and a dressing of some fertilizer will help to carry young orchards
through an infestation though treatment to a dose of a pound of ground
tobacco stems worked in the soil about the roots may be necessary.
There is, too, a green plant-louse (_Myzus persicae_ Sulzer) more or
less common on peaches in the State every season. It is very similar in
appearance to the green aphis of the apple and other plants and makes
its presence known by much the same effect on the leaves. It works on
the underside of the leaves along the veins, causing the leaves to
pucker, curl and crinkle much as with leaf-curl. This green louse,
however, is seldom numerous or harmful enough on peaches to require
treatment. Should treatment be required, no doubt nicotine, now the
standard remedy for aphids on foliage, would keep the pest under.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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