RANA GERUMP SAYS 



XI 11 



Practically no Benefit. 



Office of State Entomologist 

 Geological Hall, Albany, N. Y. 

 To the Editor : 



I do not consider scraping- the rough 

 bark from trees of material benefit in 

 controlling insect pests, except in a few 

 special cases. Removing of the rough 

 outer bark is of slight service in check- 

 ing the elm leaf beetle, since a larger 

 pioportion of the grubs usually descend 

 to the oase of the tree and it is therefore 

 possible to destroy more of the assem- 

 bled insects with applications of hot 

 water, kerosene emulsion or some other 

 contact insecticide. This method of 

 checking the beetle is, however, of very 

 little value compared to thorough spray- 

 ing for the destruction or the parent 

 insects and the voracious grubs. This 

 latter method is really the only satis- 

 factory one and, as' a consequence, 

 scraping of trees is practically negli- 

 gible so far as controlling elm leaf beetle 

 is concerned I have known instances 

 where this work has been done with 

 practically no benefit, aside from the 

 presumably large profits accruing to 

 the party doing the scraping. 

 Very truly yours, 



E. P. Felt, 

 State Entomologist. 



Entirely Unnecessary— "and Disfigures 

 Trees." 



Washington, D. C. 



To the Editor: 



In my judgment the scraping of 

 bark from large trees and also coat- 

 ing trunks with whitewash, etc., are 

 entirely unnecessary, while in some in- 

 stances actual damage may be done to 

 the vitality of the trees. There is no 

 question but that treatment of this kind 

 disfigures trees. 



Very truly yours, 



Geo. B. Sudworth, 

 Dendrologist, Forest Service, Washing- 

 ton, DC. 



"Serves no Useful Purpose." 



_ , New Haven, Conn, 



lo the Editor: 



The scraping of the rough bark from 

 the trunks of shade trees is useless, so 

 far as the elm leaf beetle is concerned 

 and it is not to be recommended for 

 other insects except in localities infest- 

 ed by the gypsy moth. Such practice 



injures the appearance of the trees and 

 serves no useful purpose. It is better 

 to allow the elm leaf beetle larvae to 

 descend the trunk to the ground, where 

 they will transform. It is better yet, 

 to spray the trees with arsenate of lead, 

 so that there will not be any larvae left 

 to transform. 



Many so-called tree experts carry 

 this scraping process altogether too far. 

 They go too deep cutting into the cam- 

 bium and really injure as well as disfig- 

 ure the tree. If the expense of this 

 work could be diverted toward the 

 proper spraying of the foliage, it would 

 go far to preserve the leaves for the 

 whole season. 



Very truly yours, 



W. E. Britton, 

 State Entomologist of the Connecticut 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, New 

 Haven, Conn. 



"Unnecessary, Expensive and 



Unsightly." 



Stamford, Conn. 

 To the Editor: 



I consider the scraping of trees un- 

 necessary, expensive, unsightly, and 

 many times injurious to the trees. Very 

 few insects nre destroyed, and where 

 the scraping is done deeply, it destroys 

 both the live tissues and allows attacks 

 of sucking insects such as aphis anc 

 scale. 



The Frost & Barteett Co. 



F. A. Bartlett. 

 President. 



:s 

 d 



Stop Disfiguring the Trees. 



It is a strange anomaly that the great- 

 est disfigurements to trees on many ot 

 the streets in our towns or cities, is 

 made by those who are supposed to be 

 experts in the care and culture of trees. 

 Here is an illustration of one of the 

 most beautiful streets in Stamford, 

 Connecticut, showing how the bark has 

 been scraped. Such treatment is piti- 

 ful. The worst of it is that this en- 

 dangering, and disfiguring, and con- 

 sequent expense to the owners or to 

 the city, are absolutely useless. We do 

 not know who did this particular deed, 

 but we know from observation through- 

 out the state that there are plenty of 

 others guilty of the same thing, "evi- 

 dently with a mistaken notion as to the 

 value of such treatment. It is, indeed. 



