PARK AND CEMETERY. 
272 
square foot, while in sound bark they 
cover about half that amount. 
The first evidence of attack which can 
be seen is the presence of reddish bor- 
ing dust in the crevices of the bark on 
the trunk and larger limbs. This does 
not always appear in great quantities 
and would scarcely be noticed unless one 
were looking for it. If the beetles at- 
tack the smaller branches, as they some- 
times do, the foliage turns yellow and 
dies. Trees that are not in perfectly 
Tussock Moth. 
J. J. Levison, forester of the Brook- 
lyn parks, and one of the leading au- 
thorities on trees in this country, gives 
the following good advice on the treat- 
ment of the Tussock moth: 
“The most common injurious caterpillar feeding 
upon the trees of this town is known as the Tus- 
sock Moth Caterpillar. Every one of you has un- 
doubtedly seen these caterpillers, when they hatch 
from their eggs in early June, suspend themselves 
from the trees by the thousands on silken threads, 
get into ladies’ peekaboo waists or into men’s col- 
lars and with their stinging hairs cause a sensation 
OYSTER SHELL 
BARK LOUSE. 
Often Mistaken for 
San Jose Scale. 
SAN JOSE SCALE 
ON BRANCH. 
(Quaintance). 
TUSSOCK MOTH. 
TEN CATERPILLAR ON 
WEB, AND EGGS ON TWIG 
(QUAINTANCE). 
healthy condition should be examined 
carefully for these borers several times 
a year. 
Owing to the peculiar habit of this 
beetle as contrasted with our more fa- 
miliar shade-tree pests, the problem of 
control consists in preventing an attack 
of the insect rather than checking an 
attack already made. The beetles are so 
small and their life habits so peculiar 
that Mr. Chapman knows of no way to 
check the adults after they have once 
begun to bore into the bark, except to 
strip off the bark entirely, and that 
would kill the tree. On the other hand, 
the preventive method can be applied 
in many ways; first, all injured branches 
or dying trees should be barked or re- 
moved during the fall or early spring so 
that any insects they may contain will 
be destroyed, but if they are left as trap 
trees they should be examined often and 
removed only when the bark is full of 
broods of larvae. Second, other meth- 
ods of prevention may be used success- 
fully, such as coating the upper trunk 
and larger limbs with tobacco water, 
lime, Spanish blood, fresh cow-dung, etc. 
Third, co-operation should be insisted 
upon by those who are interested in the 
shade-tree problem, for in order to pre- 
vent an attack of this beetle it is neces- 
sary to remove all centers of infestation 
from which it may spread to sound 
trees. 
not so easily forgotten. In the heart of Brooklyn, 
it comes in such vast numbers that it strips whole 
row of trees of every leaf. It prefers the Linden 
and Horsechestnut to other trees. When these cat- 
erpillars first emerge the best means of destroying 
them is by poisoning their food, that is, by spraying 
the leaves with a poisonous chemical. This is an 
expensive process for an individual to undertake be- 
cause it requires special apparatus, experienced men 
and special chemicals. In Brooklyn where the city 
cares for all the street trees, this method is very 
applicable because a city can afford to have the neces- 
essary apparatus, men and chemicals. But for the 
private individual there is a better method of pre- 
venting a horde of caterpillars during the summer 
and in order to understand this method I will have 
to say a word about the habits of the insect. 
After the caterpillar has done feeding, some time 
in July, it changes its form, wraps itself in a bag 
or cocoon and remains in a dormant state for two 
or three weeks. A mature moth then emerges 
which lays a cluster of eggs. These egg-clusters 
which appear like white spots remain, on the bark 
of the tree all fall, winter and early spring. Each 
one of these egg clusters sometimes contains five 
hundred eggs. The majority of these eggs are 
apt to produce caterpillars which later on will pro- 
duce other egg clusters and it is therefore evident 
that the removal and destruction of every egg mass 
means the destruction of a vast horde of future 
caterpillars. The egg cluster can be destroyed by 
cleaning them off with wire brushes and then col- 
lecting and burning them or else by applying to 
them crude creosote. These egg clusters are also 
found on all neighboring objects and in cleaning the 
egg clusters from the trees it is equally necessary 
to remove those found on other objects, or else 
they will hatch into caterpillars and reinfest the 
cleaned tree. 
“Then there are many other insects which can 
also be best handled in winter by removing and 
burning the cocoons or bags in which they are seen 
suspended from the trees. Sometimes the losses 
from insect pests may mean millions to a munici- 
pality. Just see how Massachusetts spends sev- 
eral hundred thousand dollars every year in try- 
ing to combat the Gypsy and Brown-tail moths. 
Only a few of these insects were once imported 
and allowed to escape. At that time when the 
pest was found in small numbers no one appreci- 
ated its importance and nothing was done. But 
now the pests carry off every bit of vegetation in 
the infested areas and it takes all the efforts of 
an able superintendent and assistants and a vast 
sum to merely keep the pests in check. 
Elm Leaf Beetle. 
Spraying authorities generally agree 
that spraying for elm leaf beetle should 
begin as soon as possible after the leaves 
are formed in the spring, that is, early 
in the month of May, and the best in- 
secticide to use is arsenate of lead. This 
is on the market in several standard 
preparations. One spraying may be suf- 
ficient so far as the elm leaf beetles are 
concerned, provided it is made at the 
right time. For large trees a power 
sprayer is necessary to do efficient work, 
and towns or cities that are not now 
equipped with such a machine should 
provide themselves early in order that 
it may be delivered, and in good running 
order, promptly when the spraying sea- 
son is on. This is the only thoroughly 
efficient method known to keep the pest 
in check. 
Christopher Clarke, the efficient city for- 
ester of Northampton, Mass., is a stanch 
advocate of a subsidiary treatment with 
boiling hot water in the early autumn, 
when the worms are on their way to the 
ground. He prescribes sweeping the 
worms down with a broom and then ad- 
ministering boiling water with the gar- 
den watering pot. This kills the worms 
and does no injury. Mr. Clarke urges 
the need of prompt preparation by pro- 
viding extra long ladders and engines 
for spraying to be ready for the work 
in May. He also criticises the scraping 
of the solid bark of trees, which is being 
done in some towns. He declares it to 
be worse than useless and an injury to 
the appearance of the trees. Loose, 
dead bark may well be removed, but the 
solid bark should not be destroyed. 
San Jose Scale. 
One of the most widespread and de- 
structive of the tree pests is the San 
Jose scale. Prof. Alwood, of Virginia 
Experimental Station, after two years’ 
experience, says: “The San Jose scale 
is so minute that the best observers may 
overlook it in its incipiency. It moves 
for a brief space of time only and then 
leads an obscure life with practically 
nothing to herald its presence to the 
ordinary man, until it is so numerous 
that the plant infected is seriously in- 
jured or is about to succumb. 
“It breeds by such an enormously in- 
creasing geometrical ratio that the mind 
is staggered at the mere statement of its 
fecundity. It never leaves its host plant, 
winter and summer, and is liable to be 
disseminated by the most trifling inci- 
dent, as the insertion of a scion, the 
placing of a bud, the purchase of a sin- 
gle plant, the blowing of a leaf or the 
