August iS, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



327 



New Haven come to the notice of the people, that remedial 

 action is taken. 



During the spring of 1896 the city authorities of New Haven 

 made an appropriation for spraying the Elm-trees. The work 

 was placed in charge of Mr. T. B. Kelly, Superintendent of 

 Parks, who prepared an outfit for the purpose and used a four- 

 wheeled road-engine connected with hose to an ordinary 

 street-sprinkler. The machine worked well, and many of the 

 large and beautiful Elms of the city were sprayed, not only 

 once, but two and three times. The work began early in May, 

 and a great many cankerworms, which are so destructive 

 here, were killed. The park and street trees in the central 

 part of the city were first treated; then the trees along the 

 streets extending radially from the centre, as much ground as 

 possible being covered before a second application was neces- 

 sary. The people residing in the sprayed district were gen- 

 erally willing and eager to cooperate, and did so by treating or 

 having treated, at their expense, the trees on their own grounds, 

 and often the street trees in front of their residences. The 

 foliage of the Elms throughout the sprayed area was fairly 

 well preserved for the season. There were, of course, a 

 few exceptions — some of the trees being injured by canker- 

 worms before the poison was applied — and here and there 

 a tree was injured by the poison itself, either from being 

 improperly prepared, or more probably from not being kept 

 properly agitated in the tank during the process of spray- 

 ing. Many trees in the outskirts of the city, and probably more 

 than one-half the total number of trees within the city limits, 

 received no treatment during 1896. It is needless to say that 

 these trees were injured, but the injury was less than that 

 received by the same trees this season. Both the cankerworm 

 and Elm-leaf beetle have come and gone, and the trees in the 

 central part of the city that received thorough treatment dur- 

 ing 1896 have retained their green leaves and are compara- 

 tively free from all insects. This personal observation is 

 corroborated by Mr. Kelly. Outside the district sprayed in 

 1896, the leaves of many magnificent Elms were riddled by 

 cankerworms in May ; some were stripped of every leaf. 

 Later, the Elm-leaf beetle attacked the remaining portion of 

 the partially consumed leaves, soon turning the trees from 

 green to brown. It will be interesting to note the appearance 

 of the trees next season, to see if those sprayed in 1896 are as 

 badly affected as the others ; or, in other words, how long it 

 will take for the region again to become badly infested where 

 the work was done thoroughly. 



It occurs to me that treating half the trees in a season, and 

 the remainder the following year, may possibly bean effective 

 and economical way to preserve the foliage of our street trees. 

 I am not aware that this method has been thoroughly tested. 

 I speak of it only because observations here during two sea- 

 sons point in that direction. Of course, the spraying must be 

 well done each year, and a little overlapping each time would 

 help make it a more complete success. Trees along the 

 boundary between the sprayed and unsprayed districts might 

 need spraying every season. Even then it would be much 

 less expensive than treating all the trees, if that were possible, 

 and doubtless would kill the insects in far greater numbers 

 and keep the trees in a better average condition than spraying 

 the same trees every year, where a portion only can receive 

 treatment. Both the cankerworm and the Elm-leaf beetle 

 would be killed if the spraying was begun early in the season. 



I would like the opinions of entomologists, through your 

 columns, regarding the practicability of preserving the foliage 

 of our street trees by the method of' treatment which I have 

 suggested. 



Agr. Exp. Station, New Haven, Conn. W. E. Brittotl. 



Recent Publications. 



A Few Familiar Flowers : How to Love Them at Home or 

 in School. By Margaret Warner Morley. Boston : Ginn & Co. 



In spite of its rather sentimental subtitle, this is a book 

 of practical value in the suggestions it makes for the proper 

 methods of what it has become the fashion to call " nature 

 study." It is not a book for students, but for teachers, and, 

 we may add, for young teachers, giving them hints to 

 make them skillful in helping children to look for them- 

 selves and think for themselves. Only five plants are 

 spoken of — the Morning Glory or Bindweed, the Jewel- 

 weed, the Nasturtium, the Geranium and the Hyacinth — 

 and the object is not primarily to teach children how to 

 add some meaningless names to the different parts of a 

 flower, but to help them discover and understand the func- 



tions and uses of the various parts of the flower and the 

 relation of its structure to its uses. The primary purpose 

 is "to enable the child to feel that the flower is alive, that 

 it does things, and is an individual like the rest of us." To 

 this end no attempt is made to accumulate a great mass of 

 facts, but to hold the interest and stimulate the curiosity of 

 the pupil to investigate the life-story of a plant for himself 

 and become thoroughly acquainted with it. The adapta- 

 tion of the Bindweed-flower to cross-fertilization by bees is 

 set forth at the very outset. It is shown how the color, 

 form and position of the flower helps the bee in its search 

 for nectar, and how the bee helps the plant in placing the 

 pollen where it needs to go in order to form seed. 



No one can read the book without being convinced that 

 by a study of these few plants, under the guidance of a 

 wise instructor, a child can learn more about the essentials 

 of plant-life than he can by pulling it to pieces and 

 labeling its different organs. Even a young child can 

 appreciate the vital facts in the biology of a plant, 

 and if his investigations are properly directed he will 

 find that in every organ and in the position and atti- 

 tude of every part of the plant there is order, and that 

 each organ has a distinct duty which it conscientiously 

 performs in the interest of the whole organism. The study 

 commences with the flower, but the other portions of the 

 plant are taken up in turn, and it is shown how the root 

 and fruit can be made quite as interesting as the flowers. 

 The book contains a little cheap moralizing here and there 

 which could as well be omitted, but upon the whole it is a 

 performance of genuine merit, and we could wish that 

 every young teacher who thinks that she (for the feminine 

 pronoun is invariably used in this work when the teacher 

 is alluded to) has an adequate knowledge of botany be- 

 cause she can give the Latin names to all the common 

 plants which come in her way, would carefully read these 

 simple lessons, or rather would take these five plants and 

 study them in connection with the text of this little volume. 



Notes. 



The Sweet Pea, Queen Victoria, was the most admired 

 flower on exhibition at the Springfield show. It was seen at 

 its best in the collection of Mr. Hartzell, who exhibited the 

 Eckford set of 1896. 



Professor H. V. Wilson says that no visitor to Wilmington, 

 North Carolina, can fail to notice what an admirable street-tree 

 the Laurel Oak makes. Its straight trunk, symmetrical top 

 and moderate size give it an elegance of shape well suited to 

 city streets, and the impression of finish is heightened by the 

 glossy aspect of the foliage. 



Dr. Lintner, State Entomologist of New York, has prevailed 

 upon the Common Council of Albany to purchase a steam 

 sprayer for use against the Elm-tree beetle in that city. The 

 pest has almost destroyed many beautiful trees in the parks 

 and residential streets, so that they are naked as they are in 

 winter. It is to be hoped that this prompt action will save 

 many of the trees. 



The Russian Apricot, Early Montgamet, is being planted to 

 a considerable extent in central New York, where it is consid- 

 ered not only superior to all the Russian Apricots, but to every 

 other variety of that fruit for planting in northern orchards, 

 when its hardiness, productiveness and general quality are con- 

 sidered. Mr. S. D. Willard, of Geneva, an admirable authority, 

 thinks that it can be grown with success wherever the Peach 

 will thrive. 



Our native Prairie Rose, which is figured on another page 

 of this issue, and which has only recently found its way in any 

 considerable numbers into American gardens, is beginning 

 also in Europe to find the appreciation which its merits de- 

 serve. In the current number of The Garden it is stated that 

 a large mass of this Rose in Kew was making a most effective 

 display in the last week in July, and that, in spite of the fact 

 that it lacks fragrance, it was there considered one of the most 

 attractive of the hardy shrubs which flower at that season. 



The autumn meeting of the American Forestry Association 

 will be held at Nashville, Tennessee, on the 22dof September, 

 with papers by George B. Sudworth, Colonel J. B. Killebrew, 

 J. A. Holmes, H. A. Hazen, D. W. Baird and F. H. Newell. It 



