practical and veiy efficient if thoroughly carried out. This is the 

 destruction of the webs and the contained larvae, either by cutting off 

 the twigs which carry them and burning immediately, or burning the 

 webs without pruning. If this work be done properly and against the 

 early summer generation, the pruning method is unnecessary and inad- 

 visable. By the use of a proper torch the webs and the caterpillars 

 which they contain can be burned off at nightfall without necessarily 

 destroying the life of the twigs, and a second crop of leaves will be put 

 out a little later, so that the tree does not remain disfigured for any 

 length of time. A bundle of rags wired to the end of a pole and satu- 

 rated with kerosene makes a good torch for the purpose; or a porous 

 brick wired to a pole and saturated with kerosene answers the purpose 

 even better. Private persons will find this remedy sufficient. City 

 authorities should apply an arsenical spray. Collecting the cocoons in 

 winter may be carried on simultaneously with the collection of the egg 

 masses of the white-marked tussock moth, but this, as well as other 

 community remedies, will be referred to at another place. 



THE RELATIVE IMMUNITT FKOM INSECTS OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF 



SHADE TREES. 



As regards a number of the principal shade trees that are most com- 

 monly grown, there does not seem to be any great preference on the 

 part of the fall webworm and the tussock-moth caterpillar. If a moth 

 happens to lay her eggs upon or near a given tree standing in a row, 

 the species will naturally spread along the row before it will cross to 

 the opposite side. In this way erroneous ideas of the relative immu- 

 nity of trees have frequently been gathered. 



Taking the insect question as a whole, however, there is a decided 

 difference in the relative value of certain varieties. In December, 

 1893, the Tree Planting and Fountain Society of Brooklyn asked a 

 number of experts to name for the use of the society nine of the most 

 valuable trees for planting in Brooklyn. Three of these trees were 

 to be large-growing, three medium-sized, and three small-growing 

 varieties. 



The reply of Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of Forestry 

 in the United States Department of Agriculture, was comprehensive 

 and of great value. He tabulated nearly 50 varieties, analyzing their 

 good qualities under the different heads of endurance, recuperative 

 power, cleanliness, beauty of form, shade, leaf period, rapidity of 

 growth, and persistence, giving 3 as the highest mark for any one of 

 these qualities and estimating the value of a given tree by the total num- 

 ber of marks given to it. This reply was printed and issued as a cir- 

 cular by the Brooklyn society. Mr. Fernow made no specific rating for 

 immunity from insect pests, although in his introductory remarks he 

 geems to have included the insect question under the head of cleaoUness. 



99 



