26 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



A PALLIATIVE MEASURE 



It frequently occurs that for some reason or other spraying 

 with poison is not or can not be resorted to readily. The habits 

 of this insect are such that large numbers can be destroyed at 

 times with little labor, as has been pointed out year after year. 

 It is well to understand that any such measure is not a remedy 

 for the evil in the true sense of the word, it is simply a palliative. 

 Everyone interested in the welfare of their shade trees should 

 at least destroy the thousands of larvae and pupae found on the 

 trunk or around the base of infested elms. If the base of the 

 trees, their surroundings and other adjacent shelters be thor- 

 oughly drenched with boiling water, or sprayed with kerosene 

 emulsion, kerosene or similar preparations, thousands of these 

 insects would be killed. As it requires at least five days for the 

 larvae to transform through the pupal stage to beetles, this 

 operation need not be performed more frequently than that, in 

 order to ensure the destruction of all that pupated within reach 

 of such measures. The nearly simultaneous descent of the grubs 

 is very favorable to this method of checking the insect and 

 reduces the necessary labor to a minimum. To make this method 

 more effective, it has been recommended to inclose a limited 

 smooth area, preferably cemented, around each infested tree with 

 boards so arranged as to prevent the larvae escaping to shelters 

 where they could be less easily destroyed. In the case of small 

 trees with relatively smooth bark and no overhanging limbs, such 

 an inclosure might be advisable, but it would hardly pay to 

 treat larger trees thus on account of the large number of larvae 

 pupating in the crevices of the bark or else dropping from the 

 tips of overhanging limbs. The great objection to fighting the 

 insect at this stage is found in the fact that the destruction has 

 already been accomplished, but even this is much better than 

 allowing the insect to go unchecked because it has some influence 

 upon the future abundance of the beetle. 



