522 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



were very enconrao^inp:, and it is believed tliat a practical method of 

 control can be perfected. Attention was also pjiven to the question of 

 preventing the spread of the ant in the United States. 



OTHER WORK. 



During the 3'eat as much attention as possible was paid to the cotton 

 red spider in South Carolina and other States. It appears that this 

 is a pest of more than local importance. Moreover, it is especially 

 important to devise means of reducing injury by the red spider, on 

 account of the invasion by the cotton-boll weevil which will take 

 place before many years have passed. An agent was placed in South 

 Carolina in the fall and in the spring, and experimental work was 

 begun which will be carried through the coming year. The prin- 

 cipal hope seems to be for cultural methods, the perfection of which 

 will require some little time. 



The investigation of insects injurious to cultivated cactus was 

 practically completed during the year. A few observations and 

 experiments must be repeated on account of the unusual weather 

 conditions of the last year. In several cases good methods of con- 

 trol have been found. Insects interfering with the development of 

 cactus as a farm crop will probably be controlled as a result of this 

 investigation. 



INVESTIGATIONS OF INSECTS DAMAGING FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS. 



In the course of the Bureau work on forest insects, Dr. A. D. Hop- 

 kins in charge, investigations of special problems have been carried on 

 by experts and agents in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, West Virginia, 

 Virginia, IMaryland, New York, New Jersey, South Dakota, and 

 Ohio. Information has been given to correspondents in nearly all 

 of the States and Territories, and to forest officials in 62 national for- 

 ests. Cooperation in the inauguration and demonstration of prac- 

 tical control has been carried on with the Forest Service in certain 

 of the national forests of Colorado, Montana, and Oregon, with the 

 Department of the Interior in a national park, on the public domain 

 in Montana, and with private owners of timber in Montana, Wash- 

 ington, and Oregon ; also with manufacturers of agricultural imple- 

 ments, machinery, and vehicles in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and 

 with the state entomologist in a forest insect survey of Illinois. 



PRINCIPAL DEPREDATIONS. 



The principal depredations during the year have been the continued 

 and extensive damage to living timber in the Rocky Mountain and 

 Pacific slope regions by the Black Hills beetle and the mountain pine 

 beetle on the pine, by the Engelmann spruce beetle on the spruce, and 

 by the Douglas fir beetle on the Douglas fir. An enormous amount 

 of choice timber has been killed during the year, and a threatened 

 destruction of the larger trees in whole forests in Montana, Idaho, 

 Washington, California, and Colorado can only be ayoided by prompt 

 and radical action by the Government, state officials, and private 

 owners. Damage to the wood of important hardwood timber in the 

 forests east of the Mississippi River has continued practically 



