66 



Prof. Smith were large trees and the whole top could be reached 

 only by means of special appliances. A force pump and wheeled 

 tank were used ; to the pump was attached a hose fifty feet long 

 at the end of which was, of course, a nozzle. This was attached to 

 a bamboo pole ten feet long and by this means trees could be 

 sprayed from the ground to a height of twenty or thirty feet, and 

 with a ladder all parts ot the largest trees were reached. Of this 

 Prof. Smith says : " Few shade trees are larger than those sprayed 

 by me and no more apparatus would ever be required. For the 

 largest trees, over fifty feet in height, I use about twenty gallons of 

 water containing about one fifth of a pound of London purple and 

 one pint of kerosene emulsion, at a cost of seven cents and the 

 labor of applying the mixture. The result has been to destroy all 

 the beetles and larvae and most of the eggs, and has preserved fine 

 looking green trees instead of skeletons with fragmentary patches 

 of withered leaves." The importance of using the right means in 

 dealing with insects is shown by an incident in the history of this 

 beetle which happened some years ago in Baltimore. The elms 

 of that city were being greatly damaged by some leaf-eating insect 

 which was hastily supposed to be the canker worm, and the city 

 authorities incurred a considerable and useless expense in protect- 

 incf the trees against an insect which was not there, instead of first 

 making sure of the insect, and then using proper means for its 

 destruction. The insect in this case being the Elm Leaf Beetle, 

 and not the canker worm, the remedy did little good. 

 A very pretty little beetle is 



Chrysomela scalaris, L. Conte. 

 Like the foregoing, this is. a leaf eater. The upper wings are 

 silvery white, spotted with green, while the thin under wings are 

 red. The under side of the body is dark green, as in the thorax 

 and head, while the legs are brown. This beetle is about half an 

 inch long. The eggs are laid in the spring, and again the 

 latter part of the summer. The lar\£e hatch soon after the eggs 

 are laid and develop into short thick grubs not unlike the lai'vae of 

 the ]K)tato bug in shape, as indeed they may be, for the beetle is 

 allied to that insect. These grubs are light above with a row of 

 black dots along each side, and a black line along the back. Both 

 beetles and larvae feed upon the leaves and sojnetimes do consid- 

 erable damage. The usual remedies would be sufficient. They 

 feed upon the basswood, willow alder and elm. A small snout 



