106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



These figures will vary with the efficiency of the men, the 

 distance water must be carried, and other considerations that 

 may come in to help or hinder the work. 



The question of who shall bear the cost of suppressing 

 noxious shade-tree insects is being settled rapidly by public- 

 spirited citizens, so far as street and park trees are con- 

 cerned. Such trees being public property, their protection 

 is a public duty, and there is no better index to the charac- 

 ter of a community than the care given its shade trees. 

 While municipalities afflicted by outbreaks of shade-tree 

 pests are dealing with them energetically as a rule, there is 

 one factor that often hinders the success of municipal work. 

 I refer to the unrestricted occurrence of these insects on 

 private estates. It profits little to spray street trees for the 

 tussock moth, for example, if on adjoining estates the in- 

 sects are allowed to run riot and reinfest the treated trees. 

 Such negligence is clearly of the nature of a public nuisance, 

 and should be dealt with accordingly. 



If the municipal machinery is organized to care for shade 

 trees in public places, it may well be used to prevent the 

 injury coming from unsprayed private estates, the expense 

 being levied upon the owner, or met from the municipal 

 treasury, as the community may elect. The essential thing 

 is to keep these pests in subjection, but the question of who 

 shall bear the expense has often prevented thorough remedial 

 treatment. A view which commends itself to the writer is 

 that by the suppression of these pests, wherever they occur, 

 property owners in the entire municipality are protected, 

 and hence can well afford to bear their part of the cost in 

 taxes, as a premium paid for immunity from direct loss. It 

 may be that before such operations can be carried on addi- 

 tional municipal or State legislation will be necessary. If 

 the plan appeals to the judgment of tree, lovers, let them 

 give it their serious consideration, for the need certainly is 

 a pressing one. 



In the matter of tree protection all citizens should take a 

 lively interest. See to it that the care of your trees is 

 placed under proper supervision and in the hands of a com- 

 petent man. The growing tendency of making all munic- 



