Christmas tree pests and weeds of different pests, most of which cause cosmetic damage to the trees, important in the Christmas tree industry. The balsam woolly adelgid ("Adelges picae") are small soft-bodied insects which attack the Fraser fir. The insects appear as white, woolly spots on the tree and are fatal to the fir if left untreated. The woolly adeligid was native to central Europe where it affected the silver fir; it was introduced to the United States, where it has no known native predators, before 1900. Balsam twig aphids ("Mindarus abietnus") are another type of tree pest which affects fir and spruce trees in
Charles Sherwood Noble Knox, North Dakota. In 1902 Noble moved to the Claresholm, Alberta area in what was then part of the Northwest Territories. The next year, he married Margaret Naomi Fraser. In the following years Noble purchased large tracts of land southeast of Claresholm. He constructed many of the area's first buildings and the hamlet of Noble (later renamed Nobleford) was established in 1909. By 1922 Noble had accumulated about of land but a series of poor crops, falling prices and too much debt meant he was unable to keep up the payments on the land. In the autumn of that year