288 



INSECTS AFFECTING SHADE TREES 



shrubs. Maple trees in towns and villages are sometimes killed 

 by its attacks (Fig. 289). The English or European sparrows, so 

 abundant everywhere, are disseminators of this scale among shade 

 trees, the young scale being carried on the feet of sparrows, 

 although the active young can crawl from branch to branch. 



^/^fll/ 



FIG. 291. Gipsy moth, female. Natural 

 size. (After Forbush and Fernald.) 



FIG. 292. Egg cluster of gipsy moth. 



Other insects may also be carriers; they may also be carried by 

 infected twigs and leaves blown about by the wind. 



Control. If trees are trimmed in winter and early spring and 

 the cuttings burned, the adult scales on the cuttings and thou- 

 sands of eggs will be destroyed. Pruning and burning may be 

 done in late summer or fall. Spraying with tobacco extract and 

 soap in spring when young lice are crawling over the branches and 

 leaves will reduce their numbers. Strong caustic sprays in winter 

 when trees are dormant will kill the adult scales. When but few 



I 





FIG. 293. Caterpillar of gipsy rnoth. 



FIG. 294. Brown-tail moth. 



are present on a vine or shrub they may be easily controlled with 

 a bucket sprayer or even killed by touching them with kerosene. 

 The Gipsy Moth and Brown-tail Moth. These have become 

 pests of national importance, although at present confined to 

 some of the eastern states. The gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar 

 Linn.) was introduced and accidentally distributed about 1868-69. 

 It has now spread over most of New England. The male is brown, 



