STATE WORK 



191 



much to be said for the big calosoma beetle. 

 In appearance it is a hard-shelled insect, al- 

 most as large as a miller's thumb, and col- 

 ored in iridescent hues, with green pre- 

 dominating, as in the so-called scarabs, or 

 sacred Egyptian beetles. In speaking of the 

 beetle, Mr. Fiske said: 



"The chief objection to giving too much 

 attention to this beetle has been the length 

 of time it requires to propagate. The moth 

 pest needed quick action, and the generation 

 of the beetle is about three years. Never- 

 theless, they are known to live for several 

 j^ears, retiring before cold weather into cells 

 they dig in the earth. The periods of ac- 

 tivity of the adult beetles correspond in a 

 general way to those of the gypsy moth, and 

 they feed voraciously on the live caterpillars. 

 They appear to seek out the places where 

 the caterpillars are plentiful, and there they 

 remain to feed on them. The eggs of these 

 beetles are deposited in the earth near the 

 base of trees infested by caterpillars, and 

 as soon as the larvae hatch they climb the 

 tree in search of their prey. Even at this 

 stage they are strong and active enough to 

 attack the full-grown caterpillar of the 

 gypsy moth. When the pupae of \he beetle 

 are thus supplied with food they grow rap- 

 idly, molting twice before reentering the 

 earth, where they undergo the subsequent 

 transformations to pupae and the adult form." 



New York 



In connection with the investigation in 

 New York into the forest land purchases of 

 the state, Commissioner James S. Whipple 

 states that he estimates the amount spent 

 by the state for this purpose at about 

 $3,500,000. His report recently presented to 

 the legislature shows that the state's hold- 

 ings of forest lands aggregated on January 

 I, 1,841,523 acres, which included 1,530,559 

 acres in the Adirondacks and 110,984 in the 

 Catskills. The state entered upon the 

 policy of purchasing forest lands in 1897, 

 which was the first year of the administra- 

 tion of Gov. Frank S. Black. Governor 

 Hughes has appointed as commissioners for 

 the purpose of investigating the management 

 and affairs of the state forest, fish and game 

 commission, and the purchases of land made 

 by the state within the forest preserve, Roger 

 P. Clark, his legal adviser, and H. Leroy 

 Austin, district attorney of Greene County. 

 The investigation has the full approval of 

 Commissioner Whipple. No specific charges 

 have been filed, but since the Allds-Conger 

 bribery scandal developed criticism has been 

 directed against certain transaction in con- 

 nection with the purchase of forest lands 

 which the governor felt could no longer be 

 ignored. The governor is greatly interested 

 in the possibilities of the forest reserve and 

 in the development of the water-powers of 



the state and believes that the people have a 

 right to know that their money, which goes 

 to add to the forest reserve, is being hon- 

 estly expended. 



One of the largest spring water companies 

 in New York State has been reforesting land 

 for several years to protect its springs and 

 maintain the purity and regular supply of 

 water. In a letter to Commissioner Whipple 

 of the forest, fish and game commission, it 

 reports planting approximately 350,000 trees, 

 consisting of Scotch pine, white pine, bull 

 pine, red pine, larch (commonly called tam- 

 arack), arbor vitae or white cedar, balsam, 

 and hemlock. This work covers an area of 

 over 300 acres. A very large percentage of 

 the trees has lived, the exceptions being 

 those that were purchased in poor condition; 

 but these exceptions do not apply to any 

 state nursery trees, all the native product 

 having been in uniformly good condition. 

 Scotch pines set three years ago show a fine 

 growth, many reaching a height of three feet. 

 In some instances eighteen inches growth 

 was added the past summer. 



Through Commissioner Whipple's efforts 

 180 private parties planted 1,200,000 trees last 

 year and practically every purchaser reports 

 ninety per cent of the trees living. 



Oregon 



The Oregon state board of forestry plans 

 an active educational campaign for the com- 

 ing year. A report by the secretary of the 

 board shows the number of forest fires in 

 the state during 1909 to have been 413, burn- 

 ing over an area of 61,037 acres, classified as 

 follows: "Merchantable timber, 33,137.5 

 acres; second growth and not yet merchant- 

 able, 5,607.5 acres ; cut-over land, 22,202 

 acres. A total of 191,213,590 board feet of 

 merchantable timber was destroyed in these 

 fires. The timber destroyed represented a 

 value of $2,485,776.67 if it had been manu- 

 factured. During the year about $45,000 

 was expended in fighting and preventing for- 

 est fires in the state. Of that amount, indi- 

 viduals and lumber companies contributed 

 approximately $40,000, the forest service 

 spending only $5,220.84 for this work. 



"While Oregon had only 413 forest fires 

 during the year, Washington had 1,309 fires," 

 said Mr. Wastell. "At the same time, the 

 state of Oregon sustained a loss of nearly 

 200,000,000 feet, board-measure, of standing 

 timber, while Washington, with three times 

 as many fires, only lost about 150,000,000 feet 

 of standing timber. 



"The hazard in Washington was greatly 

 accentuated by reason of a very dry season 

 and a large proportion of the fires were 

 caused by sparks from locomotives. The 

 cost of fighting fires, as paid by individuals, 

 is as complete as it was possible to obtain. 

 While the state of Washington assumed $15,- 



