Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/222

218 be applied not later than midsummer, that is, before the newly matured beetles have begun the function of reproduction, and they must be continued intact until frosts have killed the last of the beetles for the year. They also must be renewed annually as long as the tree stands. One might feel justified in employing such a remedy to save a few favorite trees, but it involves too much labor to be of practical value for general application.

The foregoing statements, which are assumed to be indisputable, show that the prevailing condition of the black locust tree in the land of its origin warrants the conclusion that it is fated, not to extinction, but to destruction as a profitable natural product; and that this fate is beyond the effective reach of any known general remedy. The biological aspect of this subject is one of very great interest, but this article has purposely been confined to a presentation of its economic bearings, the significance of which is too obvious to need explanation.