Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-08-04
LOCAL COMMENT


The people Of Marshalltown do not
grasp the seriousness Of the situation
that confronts them In regard to the
| protection of their shade trees. Mar
shalltown long has been noted for Its
beautiful trees. They are q matter OF
comment with all visitors. But in q
few years lack of trees will be no.
ticed IL every possible effort is not put
forward to protect the trees from the
| ravages Of the Tussock moth. The
history Of the damage done by this
pest in eastern cities gives all the
weight necessary to this statement
The work done last fall by the chill
dren, and for the most part it was
left to the children. had its effect,
but there were so many eggs deposited
high on the trees, beyond the reach OF
little arms, that the trees this summer
are filled with the caterpillars. Every
one Of the larvae killed means possibly
| thousands of new worms destroyed.
These thousands Will feed on the
leaves of the trees, destroying them in
| time, and shut OF the hrea thing power
OF the trees. The result will be they
| will die. BY killing the caterpillars
now. before they reach the pupa stage.
or destroyed in the pupa stage before
| they become moths to lay more eggs,
is the only practical method of fighting
the pest.
Bands of cotton batting, fastened
. cyht r,-ish rs0 nrl oh
trees, so that the worms car not pass
beneath the bands. probably is the
most practical method Of getting the
caterpillars. They do not appear to
want to go over the fuzzy bands. But
, they will crawl under them, weave
their cocoons, and there can be de-
stroyed. or they may be killed in
wholesale quantities by watching daily.
and several times daily, the trees from
the point below the cotton. One man
who has been watching his trees
closely, killed l29 OF the worms in a
single day on three trees. If these 12S
worms had got high into the trees,
been transformed into moths, and they,
in turn, had laid large clusters of eggs,
it is easy to imagine the damage to
the trees. And this was the slaughter
only of single day, on three trees.
1t Is going to take patience, and con-
slant watchful7ess on the lart of own
ers and tenants of properties if they
combat the ravages of this destructive
insect.
Startling rsyels tions' have been re-
ported TO the city council Of Cedar
pon3Fs n1-. iro ~, he cify
chemis, Of the citys milk supply.
which was shown by the report TO be
grossly impure" OF ten samples ex-
amined only one was Anywhere near"
the required standard. The other nine
were reported by the chsmist to be
unsanitary. II this situation exists in
Cedar Rapids, why not in Marshall
Gown? How are the people of Mar
shalltown TO know whether or not the
milk they feed TO babies is pure? They
are entitled to know. -
The Y. N. c. A. in view of the fact
that its swimming pool is out Of COM
mission for the summer, Is going to
undertake the task Of supervising
swimming in the Iowa river, and make
the sport safer for youngsters. This
is a laudable undertaking on the part
Of the association, for it has been
found that the boys will no; give up
their swimming, and that they go to
the river because the pool Is not avail
able. II the lads must swim, and all
feel that they must, 1t is far better
that they have the supervision OF
elders. than to take chances Of being
alone in case emergencies are to be
COPIED with. One narrow escape from
drowning in the river this week en-
phasizes the danger, however, and one
must not forget that the river at best
is treacherous, and may not be the
same the next day as it was the day
before. 81