164 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 11 
that is, to emphasize that research work is possible for extension work¬ 
ers to do, but extension should not be drawn away by research. It 
does seem to me that if they have the right spirit, they can do a good 
deal of research work and it would be a very great advantage to them 
as well as to the station with which they may cooperate. 
President R. A. Cooley: I will now call for Mr. Hunter’s paper, 
“ Municipal Control of the Spring Canker Worm.” 
MUNICIPAL CONTROL OF THE SPRING CANKER WORM 
By S. J. Hunter, University of Kansas , Lawrence 
During the last two years the spring canker worm has been unusually 
abundant and destructive in cities of the eastern half of Kansas, as 
well as in the native woods. This has afforded an excellent oppor¬ 
tunity for the study of the biological problems connected with its life. 
Since this phase of the work has recently been published in Bulletin 
No. II, 1 of the Department, this paper will be confined entirely to the 
methods used in dealing with this insect in the city of Lawrence during 
the spring of 1916 and 1917. 
When, in January of 1916, our scout work revealed the probable 
forthcoming outbreak of the canker worm, announcement was duly 
made and in accordance with instructions given through the press, 
many property owners placed bands on the elm trees and covered them 
with the “ Tanglefoot” or other sticky substance one or more times. 
A few kept the bands properly renewed with the “ Tanglefoot” through¬ 
out the spring, in accordance with the instructions given. The results 
were unsatisfactory because there were enough worms bred on the un¬ 
protected and partially protected trees to defoliate them, and also to 
travel from adjoining trees through interlocking branches to trees 
which had been properly protected. 
In a letter of December 21, 1917, a prominent citizen of Topeka, 
Kansas, gives this point as follows: 
“ My property here in Topeka is protected on two sides by fine elm trees. I have 
been battling to save the lives of these trees for the past three years, against the 
ravages of the canker worm, both by banding and spraying my trees. I have perhaps 
helped them a lot but still they have suffered severely and I am afraid that I am going 
to lose some of them. The loss of this shade to my place which faces the western sum¬ 
mer sun, would make a Kansas summer almost unbearable and cut the value of the 
property in two. I am going to do everything I can to save them, but if your neigh¬ 
bor doesn’t band his trees and look after the banding most vigilantly, it apparently 
does no good.” 
1 W. H. Wellhouse, Bui. No. 11, Department of Entomology, University of Kan¬ 
sas, October, 1917. Pp. 281-315; plates I—III. 
