55 



the time that myriads of the beetles were descending the elms in Hawk 

 street not a single example could be found in Washington Park, three- 

 fourths of a mile west of the Capitol Park, nor leaves showing larval 

 feeding on any of its at least half dozen species of elm. As narrow- 

 ing the infested area still more closely, on Washington avenue, within 

 three blocks of the capitol and about three-eighths of a mile from the 

 stripped Hawk street trees, are several English elms which are so 

 absolutely free from attack that for this reason it was questioned if 

 they could j^ossibly be some other species, until they were identified as 

 the U. campestris by the State botanist. 



Recommendations for controUing the insect. — While it is undoubtedly 

 true that the best remedy for this pest is spraying with an arsenical 

 mixture, so as to furnish the larv?e of the first brood with a poisoned 

 diet upon their hatching from the eggs, yet experience has shown that 

 this remedy is not the one to be relied upon or urged for the protection 

 of the shade trees that line the streets of our cities. The labor and 

 expense attendant upon it will certainly prevent its ever being gener- 

 ally accepted, or even an ai^proach to such an acceptance. It is, how- 

 ever, the remedy to be depended upon for the preservation of the elms 

 of our city parks and extended private grounds, where the needed 

 appropriation or the necessary outlay may be made for the purpose. 

 Improved apparatus and methods of application can readily be com- 

 manded, by the aid of which the largest elm can be eftectively si)rayed 

 at a moderate cost. 



The lessee or owner of a city residence will not be at the expense of 

 purchasing a iDowerful force pump and sufficient hose — 50 feet or more — 

 to reach up into the tree tops, for the i)reservation of the two or three 

 beautiful elms that may shade and beautify his premises. True, he 

 might, with a simple and inexpensive force pump and the few feet of 

 attached hose, spray the entire foliage of his trees from his house top, 

 but it would be labor almost wholly lost in placing the arsenite upon 

 the upper surface of the leaf, instead of beneath, where needed. 



Instead, therefore, of urging upon the citizens of Albany the imprac- 

 ticable — viz, arsenical spraying — I have contented myself (after indicat- 

 ing the spraying as the proper remedy when it can be employed) with 

 urging in all earnestness, by voice and through the public press, the 

 necessity of a watchful and persistent warfiire against the insect in 

 each home where it occurs, beginning at the time when the larva^ are 

 descending the trees and the first pupa, so readily recognizable in its 

 orange-yellow garb, is seen beneath it, and continuing it for the ensu- 

 ing two or three weeks, or until the last pupa has been killed. The 

 killing of the larva' and pupai is simple and involves no outlay, or a 

 very moderate one. It only requires that hot water be poured over 

 them or that they be sprinkled with kerosene. Where the method of 

 making kerosene emulsion is known, this may be sprayed upon them, 

 using one part of the emulsion to four of water. 



