CHAPT,ER VIII. 







THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE TREES. 



IN no way can the good taste and public spirit of our citizens 

 be better shown than in the planting of shade trees. Regarded 

 simply from a commercial point of view one cannot make a 

 more paying investment than setting out an oak, elm, maple 

 or other shade tree about his premises. To a second gener- 

 ation it becomes a precious heirloom, and the planter is duly 

 held in remembrance for those finer qualities of heart and head, 

 and the wise forethought which prompted a deed simple and 

 natural, but a deed too often undone. What an increased value 

 does a fine avenue of shade trees give to real estate in a 

 city ? And in the country the single stately elm rising grace- 

 fully and benignantly over the wayside cottage, year after year 

 like a guardian angel sending down its blessings of shade, 

 moisture and coolness in times of drought, and shelter from the 

 pitiless storm, recalls the tenderest associations of generation 

 after generation that go from the old homestead. 



Occasionally the tree, or a number of them, sicken and die, or 

 linger out a miserable existence, and we naturally after failing 

 to ascribe the cause to bad soil, want of moisture or adverse 

 atmospheric agencies, conclude that the tree is infested with 

 insects, especially if the bark in certain places seems diseased. 

 Often the disease is in streets lighted by gas, attributed to the 

 leakage of the gas. Such a case has come up recently at Mor- 

 ristown, New Jersey. An elm was killed by the Elm borer 

 (Compsidea tridentata), and the owner was on the point of 

 suing the Gas Company for the loss of the tree from the sup- 

 posed leakage of a gas pipe. While the matter was in dispute, 

 a gentleman of that city took the pains to peel off a piece of the 

 (88) 



