34 The European Elm Scale 



smell suggest something mysterious, half -diabolical, "scientific." 

 Then, too, there is something still attractively novel and up-to-date 

 about the appearance of a spray pump, especially when operated by a 

 gasoline engine. 



There was once an old woman whose family was very large and 

 whose cares were correspondingly many. A neighbor asked her, 

 "How is it, Mrs. Murphy, that you ever succeeded in raising so large 

 a family?" Mrs. Murphy answered, "Sure, when they reach a cer- 

 tain age I just give 'em to God and let 'em go ! " "We seem to follow 

 much the same plan with our elm trees. 



Human disease is often due to the fact that unwise ways of living 

 have supplied the conditions under which disease flourishes. How natu- 

 ral it is then to go to a doctor and demand some mysterious "cure" 

 rather than change our rooted habits and ways of living. With our 

 elms it is much the same. Gossyparia spuria flourishes on crowded 

 and neglected elms. We supply ideal conditions for its growth and 

 spread. Let us first change those conditions with axe, pruning saw 

 and grubbing hoe; then fight the battle out with the garden hose, 

 using the spray pump as a last resort. 



