28 
modification, the object being simply to knock the insects from the 
trees by means of a strong stream of water. By such means as this 
the Superintendent of the Military Academy kept the elm trees green 
at West Point several years ago. In every large city, where the fire 
department is necessarily kept in the best condition, an engine is 
oceasionally retired. The transfer of such a retired engine to the 
street department could no doubt be readily made, and a little work 
by a competent steam fitter could transform it into a most admirable 
insecticide machine. In this way the initial expenditure for machinery 
would be avoided. 
When the spraying apparatus has once been provided, the funds 
necessary for the purchase of insecticides and the necessary labor at 
the proper time must be available. If the work is not done promptly 
and at just the right time, more or less damage will result, and a 
greater expenditure will be necessary. During the latter part of May 
and the first part of June, in the case of nearly all prominent shade- 
tree insects, one or two thorough sprayings must be made. In fact, a 
second spraying, begun immediately after the completion of the first 
one, will in ordinary cases be as much as need be expected. In addi- 
tion to this spraying work, a force of men must be employed for a time 
in July to destroy the elm leaf-beetle larvie as they are descending to 
the ground and to burn the webs of the first generation of the fall 
webworm. This will finish the summer work. The winter work will 
consist of the destruction of the eggs of the white-marked tussock 
moth, the cocoons of the fall webworm, and the bags of the bagworm. 
The number of men to be employed and the time occupied will depend 
upon the exigencies of the case. Upon the thoroughness of this work 
will depend, to a large extent, the necessity for a greater or less amount 
of the summer work just described. 
We have now to consider what can be done by citizens where city 
governments will not interest themselves in the matter. It is unrea- 
sonable to expect that a private individual will invest in a spraying 
apparatus and spray the large shade trees in front of his grounds. 
Therefore, in spraying operations where large trees exist in numbers 
there must be combination of resources. This affords an opportunity 
for the newly invented business of spraying at so much per tree. A 
resident of Bridgeport, Conn., who was formerly, and is yet for the. 
Sey ) ) ’ 
greater part of the year, a roofer and paver, has constructed several 
cart sprayers, and during the months of June and July (at a time, by 
the way, when the men in his employ are apt to be out of work) he 
sprays trees on the grounds of private individuals and along the 
streets in front of their grounds, under contract, at so much per tree, 
guaranteeing to keep the trees in fair condition during the season. 
His work has been directed solely against the elm leaf-beetle, since 
that is the only insect of great importance in Bridgeport. In the 
month of July, 1894, the writer, in driving through the streets of 
— es ee 
