liable to get the blame for the injury, and while there is 

 no doubt that they increase the injury and may ensure 

 the ultimate death of trees which would not otherwise 

 succumb completely, it is evident that their removal will 

 not entirely answer the requirements of the case. The 

 proper thing to do for trees suspected to be in need of 

 nourishing material at the roots is of course to supply 

 the food in the form of a fertilizer. The material taken 

 from the earth by thrifty trees is very considerable, as 

 may be known from the fact that other plants of vigor- 

 ous growth and large size will not grow well near them. 

 In the forest and thicket they get this nourishing ma- 

 terial from the decay of fallen trees and leaves, and 

 from the annual growth of surface vegetation. Along 

 the streets of a city and on a well groomed lawn the sup- 

 ply from sources such as these amounts to but little, and 

 it is therefore the part of wisdom to supply the deficiency 

 of artificial means. 



Considerations of this sort come strictly within the 

 domain of practical horticulture rather than in that of 

 economic entomology and botany^ yet it is not possible 

 to separate by hard and fast lines these different lines of 

 work and study, so intimately are they bound up with 

 each other. Inquiries sometimes reach the Experiment 

 Station concerning "diseased" shade or fruit trees which 

 it is evident are suffering from a period of neglect on the 

 part of the owners. It requires heroic measures to 

 rescue trees which have exhausted the nutriment within 

 reach of their roots, which are besides bored through by 

 the larv83 of beetles, and whose leaves are gnawed by 

 web-worms, and it may be also infested with aphides 

 and parasitic fungi. And while for advanced cases of 

 disease of this sort it is only to be recommended that the 

 trees be cut down and burned as promptly as possible to 

 prevent further spread of the insect and fungus pests, 



