The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-29
ENEMY OF MAGN0LIAS
BEING FOUGHT.
BY Spraying Trees With Emulsion
of Kerosene Oil.

BY Spraying Trees With Emulsion
of Kerosene Oil.
Chairman Daffin of the Park and
Tree Commission when asked yester-
day concerning the insect which is in
Testing the magnolia trees and which
has already caused the death of one
tree in front of Chatham Academy, re-
piled that the only thing he had to say
was that the commission is looking
after and taking care of the magnolia
and other trees of the city. I'VE are
attending to all that is necessary in
regard to this insect" he said.
Capt. C. S. Ellis, one of the mem
bers of the commission, who has made
considerable study of this particular
pest, said: This insect pest is not a
new one and we have had to deal with
it before. 1t seems to appear yearly
and though by spraying with certain
Insecticides we have been able to get
rid of the pest temporarily, yet it re-
appears every year. We do not antici-
pate any serious trouble this year. In
past years we have been able to check
the work Of the pest and in most cases
have been able to counterfeit all of its
effects. The pest is a little insect
which is called, as near as 1 am able to
recall, the 'mealy-bug.
I'VE have always been accustomed
to spray all trees on which the insect
appears with an emulsion of kerosene
oil and this seems to destroy it, though
after a certain length of time it again
makes an appearance One tree that
came under my personal observation
last year was unusually thickly COW
cred with the insects and when they
were crushed they appeared filed with
reddish substance which they SEEM
ed to have drawn from the trees.
thought the tree had been killed, but
after spraying with the emulsion of
kerosene oil the insects disappeared
and the tree came out as strong and
healthy as ever this year. 1 do not
believe that any more trees will be lost
this year. We have the men at work
spraying them and hope to soon be rid
of the insects.
1.-THE insect and bug pest on the trees
is conundrum which has been both
ering the entire country" said Capt.
Ellis, land which the most expert en-
tomologists have been trying hard to
solve. The state of Massachusetts
spends hundreds of thousands of dol
lars annually in preserving the trees
of the state from the depredations of
insect pests, and the spraying of the
trees is done by a force of men en-
ployed by the state. Yet in spite of
all that they do they find that the
pest problem is one of the hardest of
all to solve. In Georgia the state
does not pay so much attention to
the matter, but rather leaves it to
the various localities. We do have an
entomologist who experiments in the
various insecticides and their effects
on the different pests which infest the
trees of the state. The results of his
work is sent to the different locali-
ties. This is of course a great help
to the communities and gives them a
good idea of just how to act in re-
gard to the pests. The emulsion of
kerosene is found to be one of the best
remedies to apply to this particular
insect and the tree commission is now
spraying all the trees which begin to
show the least signs of being infect
ed by the little bugs"
Mr., 1. A. .Solomons, when asked his
opinion concerning the insect said that
he had had no time to investigate
the matter closely. Other residents
of the city who have made a study of
plants and flowers and the insects
which sometimes infest them, seemed
to he at a loss as to the exact nature
of the little scale-like bug, which
is doing so much damage to the trees.