Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-06-05

mental to the tree, and some kind ~
gum probably is the only material
that can be used.
Another instance was reported from
Williamstown some time ago. There
the treatment was applied to the elm
trees and was offered as a srenedy
against the elm leaf beetle by some
young men who harvested good sea-
sons pay for work that was worse
than useless. Their argument sound
ed logical to those who did not know
the habits of the beetle. and their
work so improved the general appear
ance of the trees that 1t became fad
in the town to have the elms treated
on private and public property. The
scraping was not deep enough to do
any harm, but belt of dangerous ma
terial was tied around the trees as a
pretended guard against elm-leaf bet
ties crawling up the tree trunks. This
binding or belt was the most useful
part of the work. because the elm bet
tie slugs move downward and not up
ward over the tree trunks. and if there
was any mineral oil in the binding 1t
was harmful to the trees. The BEETLES
fly to the treetops lay their eggs on
the leaves. where they hatch, and when
the slugs or caterpillars have fed
enough they go down.
Love for trees has created a fertile
field for impositions by men who pre-
tend to know what ought to be done to
trees to improve them, and these i'm
posters sometimes represent them
selves as coming from reputable frm
of experts, as they did in Newton re-
Gently and harvested hundreds OF dol
lars for job which did not pass in
spection and had to be done over
again after they had disappeared Yet
the trick tried in Newton was not so
original, even if as plausible. as the
game" tried on some estates in Hyde
Park. An alleged scientific man rep
resented that he had found prepara-
ration which if injected into the tree
would send its fumes through the trae
trunk and branches into the leaves ana
give them taste or odor that; would
keep all insects away He would drih
a little hole in the tree, squirt. his con-
coction into the hole and seal it up, and
before the deception became known he
had disappeared with his reward for
service performed.
Many tree owners seem to- have the
idea that If they scrape off the bark
to smooth surface, they make the
tree grow better. State Forester Rafie
says the treatment has no merit be-
'yond the removal of loose bark which
might make hiding places for moths.
or moth eggs. Nature has placed the
bark there for a natural purpose.
When it is scraped too deep it exposes
the camblum to the action of weather
and wind and results in the evapora.
ton of that substance, starvation OF
the roots and inevitable death of the
tree. This is easily understood when
! 1t is known that the moisture or nour-
ishment which the tree takes up from
the ground. through the roots works
| Il way up through the cells in the wodd
| until 1t reaches the leaves and there
is assimilated or digested so that II
can go back into the roots in the form
of purified fluid which is called cam
blum. This cambium flows between
the bark and the newest tree tissue
where the bark separates from the
tree when peeled off. It always moves
downward, even in the winter and
when the outer bark is removed to
sueh an extent that it exposes the
mud to an unnatural evaporation that
| Huid aries before it reaches the roots
stafVes the roots and incapacitates
them from taking up sufficient nour-
, ishment from the ground to send nm
again through the cells and keep the
| tree alive. .tsss- r =
l. is pointed out that in every city
anu town there is a tree warden. "a
PUBIC official, who may be consulted
Tree or charge on any treatment thAt
TIE trees appear to require, and an "a
guard against impostors these wardens
VIII inspect. all jobs before the bills
are paid-Boston Transcript.