m2 
eradication is kalthful out-—door activity; hard physical labor is ine 
volved, and under the experiencec leadership the men quickly adapt 
themselves to regular hours of labor. Conversationswith members of 
field crews indicate a very decided improvement in morale and health 
of men who have had no regular employment for months and, in some in— 
stances, for several years. 
Control of Dutch .elm disease.--The Dutch elm disease.threatens 
the déstruction of the American elms. The disease is caused by a 
fungus, Graphium ulmi, which kills the elm trees and is spread fron 
tree to tree by the elm bark. beetles Scolytus scolytus Fab. and 
§. multistriatus Marsh. During the past summer a serious outbreak 
of this discase was discovered in New Jersey, New York, and Connecti- 
cut, embracing an area within a radius of 30 to 40 miles from New 
York harbor, where the disease entered on elm logs introduced fron 
Europe for cutting into high-class veneer. 
Winter work for control of the Dutch elm disease was carried on 
as a Federal C W A project in the infected area from December 16 to 
February 15. In order to spread: the work over as wide a front as 
possible the infected area was divided into small districts, each 
under the direction of well-trained tree surgeons. These districts 
in each State were coordinated under the direction of a State leader 
furnishet from the regular personnel of the Department. In addition 
to the State leader,there was placed in each State a small force Gn 
trained personnel to aid in training the C W A personnel and in 
fiving technical field direction to the work. Approximately 900 
persons were given employment as tree surgeons, laborers, scientists, 
and administrative workers.. The work involved a systematic examina— 
tion of the native and plented elms within the infected area to 
locate and testroy trees infected with the Dutch elm disease and to 
remove anc destroy trees or parts of trees infested witn the elm Dark 
beetles. At the beginning of the work all trees were sampled for 
the disease and all wood suspected of harboring the beetles isag re— 
moved. This necessitated climbing all large trees, making the work 
slow anc costly. After several weeks of experience the tree in- 
spectors became sufficiently proficient to recognize acute cases of 
the disease and many beetle infestations from the ground, so that 
during the last few weeks of work only one tree in five was climbed. 
From the middle of January on, woodpeakers worked on the beetle— 
infested trees and removed much of the outer bark, thus exposing the 
lighter-colored inner bark, These hishly visible signs of the 
woodpecker work greatly aided the inspectors in finding the affected 
trees. A total of 331,944 elms were examined in the course of the 
work, and 262 diseased trees and 7,705 beetle-infested trees were dis- 
covered. A total of 1,155 trees were removed and destroyed. These 
