ASH-BArjv BEETLE. 211 



Attention to suitable locality and soil, and such management 

 as may keep the trees in health, is the best method of pre- 

 vention. The Ash has a large number of lateral fibrous roots, 

 and likes " a good dry soil within reach of water." " A free 

 loam with a mixture of gravel " is considered suitable, but a 

 boggy soil or low swampy ground, or stiff clay, are not suitable 

 to its continuous healthy growth. 



Judicious thinning and removal of injured or infested 

 branches are important matters. 



The Ash likes shelter, but if plantations are allowed to run 

 on too long without thinning, it suffers much from the sudden 

 exposure ; and where dead or dying boughs have not been 

 removed, these attract insect-attack, which spreads till the 

 ruin of the whole tree ensues. 



Careful removal of dead, or decaying, or sickly boughs, or 

 such as are suffering from insect-attack, is highly desirable. 



Where felled wood is found to be attracting attack (which 

 may be easily known towards the end of April by the little 

 heap of chips lying at the mouth, or below the mouth, of each 

 beetle-burrow) the removal of the bark is a sure remedy. If, 

 however, barking is a heavier operation than is wished, a good 

 thick coat of mud laid on the timber and well rubbed into all 

 the crannies is a very fair protection, particularly if some 

 paraffin is stirred into the mud before application. 



With regard to attack on live trees, this should be watched 

 for between the middle of April and of May, and if chips are 

 found to be thrown out from small burrows about as large as 

 a shot-hole, measures should be immediately taken. 



The best method is probably to set a man with ladder and 

 pail to rub a good coat of soft-soap into accessible parts of 

 the tree by means of a common scrubbing-brush, or a rough 

 cloth, or in any other way that may be more convenient. 



In a case like this, where the season of attack probably 

 only lasts for a short time and the injury is often to a few 

 trees, it is well worth while to stop it at once; and a coating 

 of any substance that is offensive to the insect, _and,_ like soft- 

 soap, chokes up its breathing-pores, clings to its limbs, and 

 fills up its galleries in the tree, is sure to be serviceable, but 

 any application which is not injurious to the tree, and will 

 gradually be washed off by the rain, will be of use. 



p2 



