160 AMERICAN FOKESTKY 



upon their spreading quickly over the country; but tlie important thing is 

 tliat even if the i)ara.sites do not get control in a number of years, it will 

 still be possible to get a very good situation in regard to forests in New 

 England, because of recent facts discovered about the life and character of 

 the Asiatic moths. There are large owners of pine trees who are particularly 

 apprehensive of the loss of their trees; in fact, the gipsy moth, once on their 

 pine tree, in a pine grove not particularly well cared for, would increase to 

 such an extent that in two years they would kill the tree. 



We have found by careful study that the young caterpillars hatched from 

 the egg-mass high up on the trunk of the trees try to eat the leaves and they 

 find they cannot. Then tliey fall to the ground and eat the oak scrub, until 

 they get full grown, and then they climb up and eat the leaves, thereby killing 

 the trees in two years. Therefore, we put a tanglefoot band around the tree, 

 and we found there was no despoliation, even though the tree above was 

 plastered with egg-mass. In investigating the matter further, we found that 

 there were other varieties of trees which the caterpillars acted on in the 

 same way, such as maples and chestnuts. Where those trees were growing 

 in a mixed grove of trees, the oak scrub and brush were all eaten from the start, 

 but with the eggs laid upon the other trees, the same procedure was followed. 

 They had to find subsistence for the early part of their lives upon the oak 

 scrub, and then they climbed the trees. Therefore, it becomes a system of 

 forest management. An oak forest alone cannot stand the loss; but where 

 you have a mixed forest, and you eliminate the oaks and birches to a con- 

 siderable extent, you are going to be able to have a forest that will not be 

 harmed by the gipsy moth. 



The insect situation on the whole is very good at the present time, and 

 we are elaborating methods of control, which, by the co-operation all over the 

 country of the different States, will enable us to handle this serious matter. 



*Address at the annual meeting of the American Forestry Association. 



Bids have just been opened at the Forestry Bureau for the cutting of 

 stumpage timber under Government supervision on the Sitgreaves and Apache 

 I^atinnal Forests and the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The cutting com- 

 prises (;()0,0()0,000 feet, ;j()0,()()0,0()0 feet on the Indian reservation and .SOO.- 

 000,000 feet on the two national forests. 



The largest tract of timber that the Oovernment has ever offered will be 

 advertised by the Forest Service shortly on the drainage of the north fork of 

 the Joaquin River in tJie Sierra National Forest. Eight hundred million feet 

 are in the tract, consiting for the most part of sugar and yellow pine, white' 

 fir and cedar. Its development will probably mean the construction of about 

 70 miles of railroad. A line can be built in on the Southern Pacific at Friant. 



A rich citizen of San Antonio, who oicns extensive gardens, has an- 

 nounced his intention of giving away thousands of trees and shrubs. Not all 

 of his neighbors are on the receiving list, however, for this man will not give 

 a tree or shrub to other rich people. He will present such things to the owner 

 of a home that is tcorth less than .^2,500. Persons who own costly residences 

 can buy their own shrubbery. 



