108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



may it not be possible that the English sparrow helps a little 

 while he is rearing his young? 



Mr. Kirkland. I think a paper has just been published 

 by Mr. S. D. Judd, on the "Food of nestling sparrows," 

 that covers that point very well. The sparrow feeds its 

 young in part on spiders and soft-bodied insects, but changes 

 the diet to grain as soon as the young can stand it. 



Ex-Governor Hoard. I have seen them feed them on 

 cabbage moths when nearly full grown. 



Mr. Kirkland. There is no question but they eat more 

 or less insects, but of course they are grain-eating birds, 

 and should not be classed as insectivorous birds. 



Mr. James Draper (of Worcester) . I should like to say 

 a word or two to supplement one or two points not brought 

 out by the lecturer. In addition to the treatment he sug- 

 gested, we commenced the scraping of the bark of the elm 

 trees, going up fifteen to twenty feet from the ground, 

 getting off all the bark we possibly could and gathering it 

 and burning it, and in that way we destroyed millions and 

 millions of the pupae. Then, in addition to that, at the first 

 treatment, several years ago, we sprayed the trees with 

 kerosene emulsion, but we gave up the spraying process 

 later, and took a stiff fibre brush which we could rub up and 

 down quicker than we could spray the trunk. 



Mr. Kirkland. The spray used was for the trunks of 

 the trees? 



Mr. Draper. Yes. Then we followed up the spraying 

 process as suggested by friend Kirkland very effectively, and 

 wherever the work was thoroughly done the trees were pre- 

 served. But we ran across this trouble : parties owning 

 trees on private estates did not care to have them sprayed, 

 and those trees would be the nesting place for a large 

 quantity of beetles, and those trees have been injured very 

 seriously. There is the great difficulty that we labor under. 

 We take care of our shade trees and park trees and perfectly 

 protect them, and yet the owners of private trees do noth- 

 ing, and their trees are injured. You say, " Why don't 

 you go in and take care of them?" We have no right to 

 enter upon private estates for that purpose, nor have we 



