534 NEW JERSEY ^GEICULTUEAL COLLEGE 



were unjustly accused of the injury. Elms suffered less than some 

 other trees, except that the injury directly due to the elm-leaf beetle 

 was much intensified by the drought. Maples of all kinds suffered 

 from one cause or another, and the hard maples were, on the whole, 

 much more injured than the soft varieties. The latter were the especial 

 hosts of the cottony scale, but that insect met with the expected 

 natural check in the form of the little geminate Hyperaspis, as is 

 detailed at some length in another portion of the report. The hard 

 maples became infested after midsummer by the false scale {Pseudo- 

 coccus aceris], but that was not accountable for the mortality among 

 them. The trouble was described thus: "This begins by the top and 

 outer extremities, or perhaps a limb dying the first year, and then the 

 rest of the tree goes, until in two or three years the entire tree is dead.'* 

 Complaints of this character came from many places, but more, on 

 the whole, from the hilly towns on and near the base of the Watchung 

 mountains. To attribute a probable cause to this effect would be mere 

 guesswork, and as the insects were certainly not in fault, its investi- 

 gation was not matter for this department. 



Shade trees, as a whole, have had more care and attention through- 

 out the State than ever before, and there has been a steady demand for 

 copies of Bulletin No. 181, dealing especially with the insects injuri- 

 ous to them. 



During the past season the Shade Tree Commission of the city of 

 Newark has made systematic efforts to improve the condition of the 

 trees in the streets and city parks which were placed under its juris- 

 diction. A 150-gallon Niagara gas sprayer was purchased, together 

 with an outfit of poles, nozzles and hose that would make it possible to 

 reach the tops of the highest trees. The sprayer worked well and 

 proved especially satisfactory, because there was nothing in the way of 

 machinery to get out of order, and because exactly the amount of 

 pressure needed was always available. Kill-0-Scale as a contact in- 

 secticide and arsenate of lead as a stomach poison were used, and the 

 insects especially dealt with were the cottony maple scale, the elm leaf 

 beetle and the vaporer moth. Incidentally, of course, quite a number 

 of other species were reached, and, altogether the condition of the 

 trees was materially improved. 



During the winter the trees had been shaped up, borer-infested limbs 

 were cut off and dead wood generally was removed, all of which sim- 

 plified the task of spraying materially. 



