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ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGICAL WORK IN THE PARKS OF NEW YORK 



CITY. 



By E. B. SouTHWiCK, Xew York City. 



The work of the entomologist of the Department of Public Parks in 

 New York City is the care of trees, shrubs, and plants in an entomo- 

 logical sense, and is under the direction of the Commissioners. 



The ground to be covered is about 4,000 acres more or less, but most 

 of the work is confined to the Central and other parks of the city 

 proper. Two men, with the entomologist, constitute the working force, 

 save when the Orgyia cocoons become very abundant, then laborers 

 assist in their removal. 



The work is continued the year round every day save Sundays and au 

 occasional holiday. A one-horse spraying machine carrying 2^ barrels 

 of liquid is used for the ordinary work of spraying, and a one-horse 

 machine with a powerful force pump for knocking oft' plant-lice, cot- 

 tony scale, etc. Various other tools and appliances are used for the 

 removal of egg masses, webs, bag worm cases, larvfe, etc. The poisons 

 used are those that are now quite commonly accepted to be the best, 

 viz, London purple, Paris green, kerosene, crude petroleum, crude car- 

 bolic acid, bisulphuret of carbon, hellebore, pyrethrum, and others. The 

 insect that requires the most attention the year round is Orgyia lenco- 

 stigma. This species is reduced in several ways. 



(1) By hand-picking, by which means barrels of the cocoons and 

 egg masses are removed each year. This work is carried on through 

 the entire winter, when ail the parks have to be gone over and the trees 

 put in as good condition as possible. 



(2) By jarring the larvae down with a pole so arranged that a blow 

 from a mallet on a projection placed at the larger end of the pole will 

 jar down any that may be on the limb. 



(3) By poisoning the foliage with London purple, which is quite 

 effective, and used especially on very large trees that can not be treated 

 otherwise. 



(4) By spraying the trunks of large trees that are covered with 

 cocoons with an emulsion of petroleum and carbolic acid. This sjjray 

 put on with force will penetrate most of the cocoons and destroy the 

 pupae or larvae within and many of the eggs that may have been depos- 

 ited on the outside. This last method is only resorted to when we are 

 unable to subdue them in other ways. Large quantities of the cocoons 

 of this insect are collected each year and taken to the arsenal, where 

 the parasites when bred are allowed to escape from the windows of the 

 building to continue their work of parasitism. 



The bag- worm, that at one time defoliated whole sections of the i^ark, 

 has been so subdued that it no longer gives us much trouble. Barrels 

 of their cases have been removed from the trees, and each year we 



