344 



THE MUSEUM. 



ing the work already done by the Gyp- 

 sy Moth Commission and urging the 

 State to give it all needed support and 

 encouragement. 



The elm leaf beetle and the meth- 

 ods of his extermination was handled 

 by Professor L. O. Howard. This 

 pest is comparativel}' new in New En- 

 gland, though it has been at work in 

 Washington and other Southern cities 

 for forty years. But it is spreading 

 up the Hudson and along the Connec- 

 ticut River, and is far more deadly at 

 the North than it has been in the 

 South. Handsome old trees have 

 been killed by it in three consecutive 

 years, because the shortness of the 

 season gives them no chance for refol- 

 iation such as there would be in the 

 longer summers of Virginia. Arsenic- 

 al spraying is the most effectual rem- 

 edy, especially if combined with scrap- 

 ing and the use of kerosene to kill the 

 larvae around the base of the tree. 

 This may be trite instruction, but the 

 main thing is to get people to do the 

 practical work needed. It is a strik- 

 ing fact that in most of our cities no 

 appropriations are made for the care 

 of our noble shade trees. Every city 

 should set apart from $i,ooo to $2,000 

 annually to the killing of shade tree 

 insects, and for many places it would 

 be economical to provide a steam 

 spraying apparatus throwing from four 

 nozzles as many gallons a second. 

 Something has been done by private 

 enterprise, as at Bridgeport, where 

 more green elms can be seen than in 

 other neighboring cities as the result. 



Mr. W. S. Bullard is a pioneer in 

 this work. But public sentiment 

 should be aroused to demand the ap- 

 pointment of regular city foresters 

 with sufficient funds. Beware of pat- 



ented or secret mixtures, like those 

 sold by the Norvvalk Tree Inoculating 

 Company, whose preparation is sim- 

 ply sulphur and carbon, and is wholly 

 useless. Professor C. L. Marlatt also 

 read a paper on the elm leaf beetle in 

 Washington, claiming that early and 

 thorough spraying was the key to the 

 situation there and elsewhere. 



Passing over the proceedings of the 

 other affiliated societies, full as they 

 were of material for thought and ad- 

 ditions to knowledge, we come to the 

 beginning of the sessions of the parent 

 Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, without which the minor or- 

 ganizations might not have sprung in- 

 to existence, or at least would not 

 have been grouped thus delightfully 

 together. The duty of preparing the 

 general business devolves on a coun- 

 cil, to whose intelligence and activity 

 we owe the success of every detail. 

 They depend in turn, for the local 

 features, on the committee of the cit- 

 izens of Springfield, who engaged the 

 halls for the meetings and planned 

 various excursions, and did other work 

 that costs much thought, considerable 

 money and great patience and wisdom. 

 Every attention that could be desired 

 was paid to the distinguished scientific 

 guests, together with the less brilliant 

 seekers after truth who perhaps may 

 shine in future assemblies. Indeed it 

 is interesting to note the number of 

 young persons who avail themselves of 

 these privileges. 



The reception at the Art Museum on 

 Wednesday evening, August 28, was 

 given by the City Library Association, 

 of which Colonel James A. Rumrill is 

 the president, and the occasion was 

 made remarkably by the opening of 

 the G. W. V. Smith collection ^of 



