198 
TREES AS GOOD CITIZENS 
ropean variety is most subject to attack. 
The scale infests trunk, limb and bran¬ 
ches. After passing the winter, partly 
grown, on the bark it matures in early 
June and produces a new generation. 
Breeding is repeated several times during 
the summer. The young insects are vis¬ 
ible to the eye as they crawl along the 
bark before settling down and implanting 
their beaks in the bark. Because of the 
enormous multiplication by rapidly suc¬ 
ceeding generations, a slight infestation 
in the spring may become very serious 
during the season. 
The mature scale is the size of a pin¬ 
head, or smaller, and is scarcely percep¬ 
tible unless present in abundance. Severe 
infestation encrusts trunk and limbs with 
ashy-gray scales which produce a yellow, 
oily fluid when scraped with a knife; the 
foliage appears spotted and diseased. A 
slight attack merely checks growth of the 
part affected, while a heavy attack causes 
branches and twigs to die and sometimes 
kills young trees as well. 
mant season, between late fall and early 
spring, when the tree is bare of leaves. 
For heavy attacks one treatment should 
be given in the fall after the leaves drop 
and another in spring just before the buds 
swell. 
BEECH 
LEAF-CHEWING INSECTS 
Gipsy Moth 
Habits This leaf-eating insect is 
and prevalent in New England, 
Damage, where it has caused the death 
of thousands of trees. The 
male is dark brown with black wing mark¬ 
ings; the female is white with black wing 
markings. The grubs are hatched in the 
spring, from eggs laid the previous July 
on the trunks or underside of branches of 
trees, in cavities in the bark or on stones 
and rubbish. The egg mass is rounded or 
oval, coated with yellowish hairs and 
resembling a sponge in appearance. The 
young grubs eat holes in the opening 
leaves, and in case of severe attack, the 
end of June brings total destruction of the 
foliage. Trees weakened by severe infes¬ 
tation are subject to attack from boring 
insects. It may be safely said that the 
gipsy moth, where prevalent, is the most 
destructive of all insect enemies of the 
trees. 
Remedies. The conspicuous appear¬ 
ance of the egg masses makes 
them easily located during the fall or 
winter. Since it is impossible to gather 
these egg masses without scattering the 
eggs and thus spreading the infestation, 
other methods of control are necessary. 
In Massachusetts the attempt to gather 
egg masses is forbidden for this reason. 
Creosote with a small amount of lamp¬ 
black added, is effectual if applied with a 
brush to the egg clusters. In Massachu¬ 
setts a creosote mixture quite generally 
used is made up of five parts of creosote, 
two parts of carbolic acid, two parts of 
spirits of turpentine and one part of 
coal tar. 
Placing a sticky band around the trunk 
prevents caterpillars from climbing a tree, 
and is useful after the treatment of the 
egg clusters. The bark should be first 
scraped, to give a smooth surface, and the 
