Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-24
WARM WEATHER SIGNS
Cities Are Beginning Prepare
tons for Summer.
PARKS BEING OVERHAULED
Especial Attention Paid to the Trees
and Statuary
MAKING WAR ON PARASITES
Filling IN Depressions That Hold
Water-Cleaning the Lakes With
Mowers and Knife Dredges.


The cities are getting ready for warm
weather.
Faith. It's no light task, since they have
become so benevoIently paternal. Parks,
Fairgrounds, school farms. recreation piers,
baths, speedways, driveways. musfc-these
are some of the paternal features OF present
day municipal government. All of them
may be said to be designated for spring ana
summer use as far as the large majority OF
citizens are concerned; and SO just now, the
cities are hustling to have these their lnstl-
buttons in readiness for popular use WIN
the first breath of air that tells OF steady
balmness and increasing warmth.
The parks of the metropolis are hives of
human industry these days Little portable
sawmills are turning into cordwood the
branches of the trees broken off by the
winter storms and the trunks of old trees
cut down on orders from the entomoiosists;
These are gathered in various designated
places and to them the Sawmill Is run
Here there, everywhere many men are IN
trees and on ladders. pruning dingentiy ana
) carefully under the sharp eyes or arboffcui-
turists. Others are equally busy, under tne
direction of the landscape architect, MS
gardener and their assistants, digging
holes, partially filling them with rich moid
and planting therein hundreds OF trees,
many full grown and obtained at heaVy
there and also little piece to the south,
two well-known and favorite walks are be-
ing refined with trees, but when the work is
over and new sod has been laid between
them the walks will be as delightfully."- shad-
ed as before. The storms wreak great havoc
among the trees, and generous rep!aht-
ing is absolutely necessary In ofder 10 keep
the foliage UP to the standard the people
have come to take as matter OF course.
These shrubs are coming out of the
ground because the entomologist has con-
demned them as diseased and liable 10
spread their ills to their fellows And those
over there did not grow as was anticipated,
so they are giving way to Others that are
expected to develop the height and sym
metry necessary to make TINS portion OF the
park perfect from the viewpoint OF the
landscape architect. whose hobby is grad
ing the foliage down to the ground en-
masse.
The Battle Against Parasites
There goes the entomologist himself, look
ing as il he were hard at work. His men
are scattered through all the parks. some
are on ladders and In trees, scraping on
the dried cocoons with stiff fiber brushes
fastened on long handles. The trees, al
ready cleaned. are being literally sprayed
with insecticides and fungicides. Such
work Is especially to be done at this time.
The leaves have not yet made their APP
pearance, and for this reason 1t is decld-
sible condition to withstand the onslaugntS
of the insects and fungi that come with
the hot days.
A few years ago it seemed that these
parasites might win ont in their warfare
on city green. But the entomologists have
pursued them so relentlessiy, studied them
SO carefully and devised such efifcacious
sprays that the parasite hordes are being
appreciabiy and constantly reduced In
order to study this parasite life the up-io-
date entomologist maintains an entomo.oS-
ical garden, planted with a great variety
of plants. where the parasites are permit
TED to appear and thrive temporarily Tor
experimental purposes.
Formerly the elm borer wrought consld-
cradle damage to young trees in the parks.
One day the entomoiogist discovered
through laboratory work that bi-suiphide
Of carbon Immediately destroys the insect,
and now his men inject this solution into
the little holes. Hello. tho entemologlst
has stopped among the group of young
elms. See how carefully he is examining
them. He Will hardly find much to claim
his attention in that direction, though. so
well has he waged warfare on the borer
these last two years.
One of his eyer-present enemies is the
caterpillar. The tuGsock moth Is another;
1t Will make its appearance later and al
most drive the good man to distraction,
along with the other winged things. Just
now he Is happy in the thought that he Is
annihiiating some few million creeping par
asites. Watch him sprint! Full well he
knows he's no time to waste, with warm
weather ever nearer. and over half mill
lion trees and shrubs In this park alone to
get ready against the days when the boys
and girls. firing OF the whirl Of May par
ties and the base ball diamonds, seek the
shade of green growing things.
Cleaning the Statuary.
No. the man has not crawied up on that
ladder In order to whisper words of praise
into the heroic bronze ear of General Scott.
He's cleaning the statue. It's highly es-
sential that all statuary should be cleaned
when winter ends. A statue Is fine thing
to collect dirt and debris of all descriptions.
In short while 1t Is possible for statue
to become literally incrusted with foreign
substances Al statue 30 coated Is not only
unsightly ii also fails to acquire the green
patina SO much desired by the artist. since
the dirt interferes with the effect of the
atmosphere upon the metal
The year that this particular city began
cleaning its sfatuaTy, from this same statue
of the Mexican war hero a half bushel of
bird nests. bird lime, dried leaves and
twigs was removed, to say nothing of the
dirt than ran of in the process OF scrub
bling with water and stin fiber brush. A
certain group gave up thousands Of dried
cocoons and wasp nests. besides dried