I go 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and as a result of repeated forest fires, our 

 woodlands are deteriorating so that they 

 are producing but one-third or one-fourth 

 of vrhat they are capable of doing under 

 proper and reasonable management. 



"Since the woodlands are almost entirely 

 in private lands, improvements must be 

 effected by educating owners to the impor- 

 tance of improved methods of management 

 to secure the greatest permanent revenue 

 and to pass this valuable resource unim- 

 paired to the next generation." 



The state owns four forest reserves ag- 

 gregating 1,957 acres, which have been 

 placed under systematic forest management 

 to serve as object lessons of what forestry 

 is and what it may accomplish. These re- 

 serves under the care of the state board of 

 forestry will in a few years pay the cost of 

 maintenance and eventually pay a revenue to 

 the state. 



Maine 



A Maine legislative commission is in- 

 vestigating the practicability of harnessing 

 530,000 horse-power in waterways under 

 state control. This is probably the reason 

 for Representative Guernsey's proposed mod- 

 ification of the Weeks Bill, permitting the 

 states to enter national forests to establish 

 and control water-powers therein. 



^ «? «? 



Massachusetts 



The grave menace which the imported 

 gypsy and brown-tail moths have been and 

 are to the trees and woods of Massachusetts, 

 together with the danger that if not con- 

 trolled they may become a national nuisance, 

 attaches great interest to the work going on 

 in the Bay State to assure this control. It 

 is generally conceded that the ordinary phys- 

 ical means of fighting the spread of the 

 pests are only emergency measures and too 

 costly to be a permanent dependence. The 

 ultimate hope of the regions now or likely 

 to be infested is in the introduction of nat- 

 ural enemies that will keep the gj'psy and 

 brown-tail in check without themselves doing 

 damage. Much work has been done along 

 this line, under the direction of Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, of the National Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, cooperating with the Massachusetts 

 forest service. Some interesting details of 

 the work are given in a recent interview, in 

 the Boston Post, with W. F. Fiske, the ex- 

 pert in charge of the state laboratory at 

 Melrose Highlands, Mass. Mr. Fiske is an 

 interesting talker on his subject, modest and 

 unassuming; but an expert who knows his 

 work. 



There have been introduced into the United 

 States some fifty sorts of parasites that prey 

 ttpoh the two destructive moths, and of these 

 fully forty-five have been turned loose m 



Massachusetts. They range from the tiny 

 Shedius, a chalcid fly, which resembles a 

 midge, or black fly, and which invades the 

 egg of the gypsy moth, to the big black and 

 green beetle, known as the Calosoma beetle, 

 which eats the caterpillars alive. Between 

 these extremes are .such versatile parasites 

 as the Gly plana pan* el es fuhines, a fly that 

 attacks the caterpillar at all stages of devel- 

 opment. For five years, now, these various 

 natural enemies of the g>'psy and brown-tail 

 moths have been introduced into Massachu- 

 setts and the question raised has always 

 been as to their efficiencj^ in a new environ- 

 ment. 



"What we intend to do this spring and 

 summer." says Mr. Fiske, "is to find out just 

 how great has been the increase in these par- 

 asites. We feel rather confident that this 

 increase has been even larger than we 

 counted upon at the beginning. For instance, 

 in the case of the M onodontomerus aereus. 

 which was introduced in igo6, we found a 

 year ago last spring only twelve of these 

 parasites to i.ooo brown-tail moth nests ex- 

 amined. Last spring we found 350 of these 

 parasites to 1,000 nests. This estimate was 

 based on examination of caterpillar nes's in 

 search for eggs of the parasites.' We look 

 for a proportionate increase in other de- 

 structive agents, but we know well enough 

 that to find certain of the parasites, such 

 as the tachid flies, is difficult. A great many 

 persons interested in the work we are doing 

 have said that they have not noMced ♦^he 

 parasites, and the reason is simply that either 

 the parasites keen out of sight or that some 

 of them so closely resemble certain common 

 insects that the averaee person does not 

 mark the difl^erence. The tachid flies look 

 very much like common house flies at first 

 glance." 



"We have spent a great deal of time and 

 money in propagating and distributing pari- 

 sites, and now we are going to take stock, 

 so to speak. Many persons think tha* when 

 parasites are liberated in a certain district, 

 they must of necessity dean that district 

 of moths and caterpi'lars before they move 

 on or increase in nnnibers so that they cover 

 other districts. This idea is wrong, for there 

 is no way of controlling the insects, and we 

 find that sometimes thev do thei'" best work 

 at a remarkablv long distance from where 

 they were distributed. Various elements may 

 enter into these unexplainablp immigrations, 

 and the one reassuring fact is that in some 

 cases they mav forestall the moths in locali- 

 ties and_ be there to meet the pests when 

 they arrive. In going over the groimd this 

 spring we shall be able to find out whether 

 the parasites are doing what they were 

 brought here to do, and if they are not we 

 shall remedy conditions by bringing in other 

 sorts with which, up to the present, we have 

 scarcely done more than to experiment." 



Regarding some of the more interesting 

 destructive agents with which Mr. Fiske and 

 his collaborators have been working, there is 



