40 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICTJ 
tracts according to the funds available for this phase of the work during the 
different periods. The accumulation of Btanding Infected trees at the beginning 
of the year was 726. The backlog as of June •*'» ( > was 806 trees, all of which 
wen- sch< duled for Immediate removaL 
At the close of the scouting season the available personnel was transferred 
to sanitation work, in conjunction with summer -*•< >n t in^r. men In Connecticut 
arid New v«»rk bad tagged all dead and dying elms over a large pan of the 
infected zone, in New Jersey the tagging did not begin until the elms had 
started to drop their foliage. Throughout the winter the sanitation crews con- 
tinued their scouting for these dead and decadent elms while other crews re- 
moved those possible sources of disease fungus or insect vectors. 
In addition to the sanitation work, a considerable number of relief workers 
were assigned, early in August, to eliminate all elms from several BWamp areas 
in New .Jersey. Concentrations of the disease had been found in these sections, 
and clear cutting was determined as the only practicable method of eradicating 
all possible infection. By rendering these areas elm-free the necessity for their 
periodic scouting was eliminated and an extensive population of Insect vectors 
of the disease was destroyed. 
Sanitation crews destroyed 825.000 dead and dying elms, and clear-catting 
crews in the swamp areas removed an additional 385*000 trees. 
As a result Of the finding of disease in a sample plol Of dead and dying trees 
in Cleveland, a sanitation program was started late in November in an area of 
about 4<) square miles, including a strip along Lake Brie about 2 miles wide. 
This work was still in progress at the end of the fiscal year. 
At the isolated infection center at 01(1 Lyme. Conn., an intensive sanitation 
project, involving the pruning of 1.140 elms, was carried on from August 1 t<» 
October 11. This eliminated all dead and weakened parts which constituted 
the principal sources of infection and insect carriers of the disease. Scouts 
working in this area during June 1936 were able to sample only one tree that 
later proved to be infected with the disease. 
IMPROVED METHOD IN SCOUTING AND ERADICATION 
New equipment and improved methods contributed materially to accomplish- 
ments in eradication of condemned trees. Since many of the newly trained BCOUtS 
had difficulty in acquiring the deftness necessary for throwing a rope through 
a crotch in a tree to he climbed, they were provided with wooden halls attached 
to a draw cord. These balls are easily thrown through a crotch, and it is then 
a simple operation to pull the climbing rope through. This saved considerable 
time previously spent in getting ropes into the taller trees. 
By means of a large photographic reproduction unit, adequate maps were 
prepared for the use of all field crews. Aerial maps were also procured tor 
use of scout and eradication crews as well as the autogiro pilot and SCOUt- 
observer. 
Eradication crews were equipped with well-made hand tools for sawing or 
chopping down trees and burning the logs. Huge kerosene blow torches were 
provided for starting log fires in wet weather, when most of the burning was 
done. 
Much of the work of assembling data showing crew performance, formerly per- 
formed by scout supervisors and state leaders, was eliminated by the establish- 
ment of a statistical unit in the field headquarters to compile all Deeded Infor- 
mation directly from original records submitted by each crew. 
Probably of greatest assistance in expediting eradication work, particularly 
in the Clear-CUtting of swamp areas, were the power saw units. Bach of the 
four units in operation consists of an air compressor mounted on a caterpillar 
tractor. The compressor is of SUfficienl capacity to operate two pneumatic chain 
saws. A :'. ' - ton truck is used to transport the tractor and equipment between 
work sites. Trees 'hat ordinarily would require 2 or .", days for hand crews to 
eradicate may be taken down and destroyed in from 6 t<> 8 hour-, bj the power 
saw unit-. There are also available 12 gasoline-powered drag saws. These 
an- used principally in the clear-cutting operations. 
Research workers of the Bureau of riant [ndustn snd this Bureau in coop- 
eration developed a method of treating stumps with copper sulphate which pre- 
vents sprouting and which, at the s ■ time, offers promise of preventing bark- 
beetle attack on these Btumps. This method of treatment Involves pouring the 
powdered copper sulphate Into pockets made by separating the hark from the 
