Vol. VIII. Xo. 187. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



207 



apparent that there is room for selection work in this 

 connexion, with the object of bringing about increased resist- 

 -ance to disease. Further experiments are to be carried out 

 at St. Kitt's this year. 



The four Icinds of ground nuts in question were also 

 tried at Xevis last year. 'Carolina Running' and ' Spanish " 

 did best, giving j-ields respectively, of 1,400 B). and 810 lb. 

 per acre. Both these varieties matured in slightly less than 

 four months. ' Tennessee Red ' germinated fairly well, 

 .matured early, and yielded a crop at the rate of 360 ffi. per 

 acre. The ' Dixie Giant ' variety failed to do well, many of 

 the nuts rotting before coming to maturity. The total 

 return obtained was at the rate of no more than 120 lb. per 

 acre. A local variety, grown under similar conditions, gave 

 a yield at the rate of 570 tt). per acre. 



DEPREDATIONS BY FOREST INSECTS. 



In the Year-hooh of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture for 1907, an interesting ami instructive 

 article appears, entitled 'Notable Depreciations by 

 Forest Insects,' by Dr. A. D. Hopkins, of the Bureau of 

 .Entomology, who is in charge of forest insect inves- 

 tigations. 



The bulk of the paper is made up of accounts of 

 different species of insects in Europe and North 

 America, and the extent of their depredations on the 

 forests of those continents. 



The introductory and the concluding remarks of 

 the article are likely to be of interest to the readers of 

 the Agrividtaral iVeitw, and they are given herewith. 



In a review of the principal recorded depredations by 

 ■forest insects in Europe and North America during the p^st 

 400 years, one is forcibly impressed with the idea that 

 insects have exerted a most important influence on the 

 history and modification of the forests, and thus indirectly 

 on that of the countries themselves. 



Among the natural destructive influences which have 

 •brought about changed conditions, storms, insects, and 

 di.seases have doubtless been primarily concerned in causing 

 radical changes in local conditions, such as the successive 

 disappearance of generations of matured trees, the disappear- 

 -anceof one or more tree species to be replaced by other 

 species, or the total destruction of the forest cover. 



The insects primarily concerned in depredations on 

 living trees, and in the killing of the timber over large areas 

 fall, according to their food and breeding habit.s, into two 

 groups. One includes those species of bark-beetles and bark- 

 boring grubs which bore in the living bark and excavate 

 burrows and galleries through the vital cambium on the 

 ■main stem or trunk, thus serving to gii-dle and kill the tree. 

 The other includes those species which feed on the leaves and 

 occur in such numbers as completely to defoliate the trees 

 during two or more successive seasons, thus preventing the 

 perfornrarice of the necessary vital functions of the foliage to 

 such an extent as to cause the death of the trees. 



A striking feature of nearly all of the'great invasions by 

 forest insects in Europe and this country [America] has been 

 their more or less periodical nature, and the more or less sudden 

 ■ check of the outbreak after a large jiercentage of the timber 

 had been killed, and within two or three years after the 

 insect had become so abundant as to threaten the total 

 de.struction of the kind of trees attacked by them. This is 

 to be explained by various natural causes, which, however, 



operate only after the greatest damage has been done, and 

 often the invasion is far beyimd human control. Therefore 

 the object in future management of forests should be to 

 utilize the authentic technical information relating to the 

 species involved, and the vital features in their seasonal 

 history and habits, with a view to preventing destructive out- 

 breaks, or promptly adopting the proper measures for their 

 control as soon as the first evidence of the insects' presence 

 in destructive numbers is noted. In fact, the first evidence 

 of an outbreak of a destructive insect should receive the 

 same prompt attention as that required in preventing the 

 spread of an incipient forest fire. Fortunately, most of the 

 bark-beetles can be kept under complete control, with little 

 or no expense, by proper adjustments in forest management 

 and lumbering operations. 



The history of eft'orts toward the control of forest insect 

 depredations in Eiu'ope, as well as in this country [America] 

 shows that one of the greatest obstacles has been the failure to 

 realize the importance of expert entomological information. 

 This has resulted in the waste of time, euerg}-, and large 

 sums of money in absolutely worthless and often detrimental 

 efforts before proper measures have been adopted and aiiplied. 



CONSUMPTION OF FOREST PRODUCTS 

 IN AMERICA. 



The accompanying article which appeared in 

 Science for May 28, 1909, is likely to be of interest to 

 readers of the Agjucaltuiul Ncivs, and should be 

 considered in connexion with the editorial which, 

 appeared in a recent number (see Vol. VIII, No. 185, 

 May 29 last) and the note on ' Depredations by Forest> 

 Insects ' on this page. 



It has been estimated that the amount of wood annually 

 consumed in the United States at the present time i.'? 

 twenty-three billion cubic feet, while the growth of the forest; 

 is only seven billion feet. In other words, Americans all 

 over the country are using more than three times as much, 

 wood as the forests are [iroducing. The figures are based 

 upon a large number of state and local reiJorts collected by 

 the government, and upon actual measurements. The State 

 Forester of i^'onnecticut, in a recent report, has supplied figures 

 on growth and use for New Haven County, which give more 

 details than are generally to be obtained, and illustrate how 

 the forest is being reduced by over-cutting. .Tn this county 

 a very careful study was made on each township of the 

 amount of forest, the rate of growth, and the amount of 

 timber used. For the year 1907 the timber used was 

 120,000 cords, in the form of cordwood, lumber, ties, pole.s, 

 and piles. The annual growth on all types of forest land^ 

 including the trees standing on abandoned fields, for the year, 

 reached a total of 70,000 cords. Thus the amount cuti 

 yearly exceeds the growth by "i0,000 cords. The amount of 

 standing timber considered as merchantable and available 

 for cutting within the next few years was found to be 

 1,200,000 cords. Each year the annual growth increases the 

 supply on hand by 70,000 cords, while the use decreases it 

 by 120,000. The net reduction is therefore 50,000 cord.'s 

 a year. If the cut and the growth remain at the presenti 

 figures, the supply of merchantable timber will be exhausted 

 in about twenty years. At the end of that time there will 

 . be a large amount of forest standing in the country, but it 

 will be in tracts under forty years of age, containing wood 

 below the most profital:>le size for cutting. (Jordwood could 

 still be cut, but sujiplies of the liiost profitable products, like 

 ties and lumber, would be practically exhausted. 



