Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-12-05
THE FIGHT AGAINST
THE MAPLE SCALE.
How Colorado Springs combated These
Tree Pests.

A department of forestry was Great
ed by the city of Colorado Springs Jan.
l, 1911. that some united action might
be taken against the cottony maple
scale which was injuring so many of
the soft maple, locust and linden trees
OF the city, says City Forester f. r.
McKown In the American City. At
that time thousands Of the trees were
white with the cottony, waxy secretion
formed by this insect, which seems to
thrive In u high. dry country and in
creases very rapidly. The present in
festation has been gaining a foothold
Tor the past ten years, and natural
enemies have done very little IL any.
thing toward holding it In check.
A so called spraying district, con
tanning 200 city blocks, was mapped
out, and arrangements were made for
spraying all infested trees in this dis
trict three times. the city to pay for
the work outside the property lines
and the property owners to pay for
that inside their lots. The principal
object of the first application was to
clean the trees of the old cotton so that
the living scale might be more easily
reached, while the second and third ap
pli%cations were for the purpose Of irri-
tating the soft bodies of the scales,
thus causing death.
Just a word as to the nature of this
insect will show how hard it is to kill
1t is a sucking mouth part insect and
continually has its beak beneath the
bark sucking sap. For this reason a
poison like lead arsenate would have
very little effect upon it. Instead, it
must be killed by bodily irritants such
as kerosene emulsion. The kerosene
in this solution irritates the body. and
the soap upon drying forms a film
over the insects breathing pores which
radiate to all parts of their bodies.
Thus it will be seen that killing this
scale is a slow process and demands
two or three applications.
The most important parts of the OPP
Grafton are the thorough mixing of the
emulsion SO that the oil will not sep
arate from the water and applying it
with force. This city has a four horse.
power gasoline engine, a good three
cylinder pump and a 200 gallon tank
mounted on a substantial truck and
with this outfit can maintain a pres
sure of 300 pounds. By pouring the
kerosene into the empty tank, starting
the engine and pump and then adding
the dissolved soap and boiling wa
ter the solution becomes thoroughly
ag1tated and emulsified and will not
separate.
During the spring of 1911 approx:
mately 5000 trees were sprayed three
times each, and the success Of the
work is unquestioned. Now and then
one finds q scale which survived the
spraying and formed new cotton in.
which to lay her eggs. but this was to
be expected, and In four or Eve years
this district may have to be SPRAYED
again thoroughly. Last spring we
treated a similar area in the same
way. No spraying will be done dur
ing the summer. the hest results in
spraying for the cottony maple scale
being obtained during the dormant pc
Rod Of tree growth from early fall 10
late spring Gradually we will get
owe the entire city. and then we hope
an occasional spraying will keep orr
trees absolutely free from this inju
rious and extremely unsightly insect