San Jose scale (_Aspidiotus perniciosus_ Comstock) is particularly
harmful to tree and fruit of the pear. The pears, possibly, are
malformed more and show the scales with their discoloration more
plainly than the product of any other fruit-tree. A scale-infested
pear-tree is easily recognized. Dead and dying twigs or branches and
moribund trees are evidences of the dreaded pest. Examination shows
the moribund parts to be covered with myriads of minute scales which
give the infected bark a scurfy, ashy look. A reddish discoloration
is discovered if the bark be cut or scraped. A foothold gained on
trunk or branch, fruit and foliage are soon infected. Reproduction is
continuous throughout the summer, and the scales increase by leaps
and bounds. Smooth-barked young trees succumb within three or four
years if the insects are unchecked; the rougher-barked old trees
survive the pest indefinitely, although the vigor is lessened to the
point of unproductiveness in many old orchards. Pear-growers find the
lime-sulphur solution applied in the dormant season the most effective
spray in combating San Jose scale. Several insect enemies of the scale
help to keep the pest down. A quarter-century ago, it was feared that
the pear industry of the State might be ruined by San Jose scale, but
no energetic fruit-grower now fears the pest.
Next to San Jose scale, psylla is the most feared pest of the pear
in New York. Indeed, this insect is much more difficult to combat
successfully than scale, and were it as wide-spread, the pear industry
in New York would be hard hit. The psylla is a minute, sucking
insect, wingless in its immature stages, but winged and very active
as an adult. They are nearly related to plant-lice, and like them
suck the juices of the buds and new leaves. Like plant-lice also
they reproduce very rapidly. The immature insects secrete a sticky
honey-dew which becomes blackened with a fungus, and the presence of
this blackish, sticky substance on foliage and branches is usually
the first indication of the pest. The adult is about one-tenth inch
long, with four membranous wings, the body dark in color and showing
brownish-black markings. Seen through a hand lens, the mature insects
look like tiny cicadas. The adults hibernate in crevices of the bark,
and at the time buds are swelling in the spring come out to lay their
eggs. The eggs hatch in two or three weeks, and there may be four
or five broods in a season. The pest is best controlled by spraying
with such contact insecticides as tobacco extract both to kill the
hibernating insects and later the immature psylla. The winter strength
of lime-sulphur solution will kill the eggs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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