220 
P A R K AND CEMETERY 
little twig girdler which cuts of¥ sizable 
twigs from the oaks and maples. The first 
announcement of its presence consists of a 
fallen twig. The girdler, a whitish larva, 
is in this twig and his own work of de- 
struction is completed. If, however, the 
fallen twigs are allowed to remain about 
the larvae in them develop into beetles, 
come out of the twigs, and multiply the in- 
festation for another year many fold. It 
is a safe principle always to burn up in- 
sect injured twigs or branches as quickly 
as possible. The white pine weevil stands 
as another illustration of the small boring 
insects. One adult weevil deposits in the 
spring many eggs in the topmost shoot or 
leader of the white pine ; the eggs hatch 
into larvae and in July or August the shoot 
is killed by their work, resulting in a mis- 
shapen tree. Watch your white pines in 
midsummer, and cut such infested shoots 
cleanly off an inch or two below the shriv- 
eled point. Burn the severed tips im- 
mediately, or, if you care to take the time, 
put them in a tight box covered with a 
fine screen which will retain the weevils 
imt will allow their parasites to escape. 
Larger borers are not so easily handled. 
One of the most important and dangerous 
so far as it has gone, is another importa- 
tion from the old world, the leopold moth. 
If you secure the insect publications from 
Washington you will find a very' compre- 
hensive bulletin devoted to this insect. The 
treatment of such large borers which at- 
tack the larger parts of the trees is, in gen- 
eral, the same, and consists of first remov- 
ing such infested parts as may be con- 
veniently taken, the destroying of the bor- 
ers in their burrows by means of wire or 
knives, and, in some cases, the injection of 
carlion bisulphide into the burrows which 
are then plugged up with grafting wax. 
The sugar maple borer, the locust borer 
and the carpenter moth are important 
shade tree pests. 
Now, just a word as to another kind of 
shade tree pest which also threatens some 
of the best timber growth of the country, 
not an insect, but a fungus disease known 
as the white pine blister rust. In connec- 
tion with some of the insects which I have 
just mentioned you have noticed that they 
originated in other countries. So also is 
this menace to the five leaved pine .a pres- 
ent from Germany to be treasured with the 
rest of our affectionate manifestations 
from that country. It was presumably 
brought over on imported nursery pine 
something like twenty years ago, and it 
has now become scattered throughout New 
England and a’ large part of New York. 
In fact, recent investigations have proved 
that extermination of the disease is im- 
possible and that control can probably only 
be effected so far as this section is con- 
cerned in specified areas. Every effort is 
being exerted, however, to prevent the 
disease spreading into the great sugar pine 
regions of the West, and there is much 
hope of success. The principle of control 
is perfectly simple. The fungus requires 
two host plants ; the white, or other five 
needled pine, and the currant or gooseberry- 
plant. It cannot spread from pine to pine 
without the currant or gooseberry. Elim- 
inate the latter for a reasonable distance 
about the pine and the disease is checked. 
Practice, however, is another thing. The 
necessary distance for eradication is yet 
to be determined. People value their cur-- 
rants much higher when they come to part 
with them than they have ever before 
done, and the cost of the work, from a 
practical standpoint, is rather high. 
I urge you, however, on general prin- 
ciples, to do away with all currant and 
gooselierry plants if you have five-needled 
pines m \'our cemeteries, and to use all 
your influence to have owners destroy all 
wild, cultivated or ornamental currant or 
gooseberry plants in the vicinity. 
To summarize, then, the points which I 
have tried to present are these : 
First of all, secure as much available 
literature as possible, especially the bul- 
letins of government and state depart- 
ment.'i. 
Classify your insects according to the 
manner of their feeding and li\'ing. 
For those which devour the leaves, first 
destroy eggs and hibernating quarters and 
band the tree trunks ; then spray with a 
poison material, preferably arsenate of 
lead or arsenate of lime. 
For the sucking insects spray first for 
the scale insects with lime-sulphur or 
miscible oils before the buds open, and 
spray for the aphis with nicotine solution 
as soon as their appearance is noticeable. 
For the borers, destroy infested parts 
wherever possible, dig out or otherwise 
kill the insects. 
Above all, let me warn you in closing 
that the same principle applies to trees 
as to animal life, namely, that an un- 
healthy or weakened body invites parasitic 
attack. The well-pruned and fully nour- 
i.shed tree is resistant to such attack. 
The Probate Court and the Cemetery 
Address Before the Barre Convention of Ceme- 
tery Superintendents by Judge Frank J. Martin. 
Some days ago, our venerable grave- 
digger, Elanton, requested me to address 
this convention, and the reason for his se- 
lecting me, was his very strong desire to 
have everything conform to the ancient 
command. "Let the dead past bury its 
dead,” and the subject assigned is no less 
appropriate : “The Proliate Courts and 
Cemetery Superintendents.” Truly, a dead 
and dried subject for real live men to 
consider; “Dead Men’s Courts and Dead 
Men’s Guardians.” 
The Probate Courts of this country were 
born of the Ecclesiastical Courts of Eng- 
land and were early established in this 
country by the Legislative enactment of the 
several states. The common law of Eng- 
land is unknown in our Probate Courts, 
therefore, in order to have any clear idea 
of the jurisdiction, powers and relation- 
ship of those Courts, it is necessary to 
have a clear idea of the statute laws 
establishing and giving jurisdiction to 
Probate Courts in the various states, a 
discussion of which is plainly impossible in 
the short time allotted me for the con- 
sideration of this subject, for which reason, 
I am sure you will pardon me for making 
reference only to laws of our own State 
of Vermont, which has been made famous 
by its men, women and tombstones, and 
now, by the cemetery superintendents. 
The duties of Probate Courts in this 
State are many and various, but the pri- 
mary object and duty of all such courts 
is the devolution of the property of de- 
ceased persons. 
The pastor ministers to the soul and 
comforts the mourners, the friends, assist- 
ed by the undertaker, dispose of the per- 
sonal remains, and the Probate Courts dis- 
tribute the property of the deceased, 
among the living, in accordance with the 
law of the state in which the deceased re- 
sided at the time of his death, or in which 
his property was situate, and this is the last 
act in the great drama of life. All of the 
rest, residue and remainder consist of a 
memory which in most communities has 
been by law decreed to cemetery superin- 
tendents, in trust, to so care for and em- 
bellish the sacred and consecrated ground, 
that that memory shall forever remain 
green, in the minds and hearts of posterity. 
We cherish the memory of our fore- 
fathers and most of us glory and boast of 
our puritan ancestry, but we are silent and 
in wonderment when we learn that from 
1777, when the people of this most glor- 
ious, most beautiful and only independent 
state ever admitted into the Union, first 
organized civil government, to 1854, ljurial 
grounds, now called cemeteries, were al- 
lowed to be used as common pasturage for 
the beasts of the field, for in that year 
the Legislature imposed a fine of twenty- 
five dollars on any person who should 
knowingly turn any horse, cattle, sheep or 
swine, into any burying ground laid out 
for the purpose of interring the dead, or 
who should knowingly suffer the same to 
run in any bur^dng ground which is prop- 
