43 



The serious and immediate question with affected New England cities 

 is bow to bring about general and prompt spraying. Tn most cities 

 there are no appropriations for the si^ecific care of shade trees. In gen- 

 eral they are under the control of the street and sewer department or 

 board of public works, and only very small sums can be diverted to 

 their care. It will be important for the board of aldermen in each Con- 

 necticut Kiver Valley city this winter to appropriate from 81,500 to 

 $2,000, all of which may be used for the destruction of shade-tree insects, 

 and particularly the elm leaf-beetle. This appropriation should be made 

 available well before spring to enable the supervisor of streets or the city 

 forester (if there be such an officer) to make his plans and get his apj^a- 

 ratus ready. This having been done, I firmly believe that it will prove 

 economical in the end for each town to have a steam sx^raying apparatus 

 rigged up for this si^ecific puri^ose. A small portable engine with 

 abundant throwing and tank capacity can be put together, according 

 to estimates submitted to my office by manufacturers last spring, for 

 from 8300 to 8-tOO. An apparatus of this sort, throwing from three or 

 four nozzles a perfect spray at the rate of several gallons per second, 

 would alone cover the threatened trees in a city the size of Springfield 

 in a few days. 



Without such an apparatus the city steam fire engines may be util- 

 ized, or the construction of several tank carts with strong hand force 

 pumps will be necessary, full details concerning which can be had from 

 the exi)eriment stations at Amherst and Kew Haven. 



I am perfectly aware of the probable difficulty in securing such an 

 appropriation from the average city government^ but a determined and 

 widespread popular sentiment frequently expressed will bring it. I 

 almost wish that there were no alternative, so that the work could be 

 done properly and thoroughly and by the proper authorities; but truth 

 compels me to state that there is a fairly good alternative in private 

 enterprise. Out in California for some years back individuals have con- 

 ducted orchard spraying and fumigating operations commerciallj' on a 

 basis of so much per orchard or so much per tree. A pioneer in this 

 business in the East appeared last year or the year before in the person 

 of Mr. AY. S. Bullard, of Bridgeport, Conn., who I am sure will not 

 object if I give him some prominence in this connection. Mr. Bullard 

 is a gentleman whose regular business, that of a contractor for rooting 

 and i)aving, ordinarily leaves him some leisure in June and July, and 

 this leisure he has utilized in an enlightened way by constructing sev- 

 eral good tank-cart spraying apparatuses and contracting to keep the 

 elms on the places of many wealthy Bridgeport citizens in good con- 

 dition through the summer at a certain rate per tree. JNIr. Bullard is 

 not making a fortune at this business, but he keeps his men employed 

 at an otherwise dull time, and he does his work well. The result is 

 that owing to his efforts I saw more green elms in Bridgeport the third 

 week in July than in any other badly infested city which 1 visited. 



