508 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



yince, instead of the former annual death of more than 10,000 trees 

 within the area, there were this year only 2,000 requiring treatment 

 Avithin an area of more than 100 square miles. This is undoubtedly 

 the direct result of the control work, which costs nothinf^, because the 

 treated trees, when utilized for fuel and lumber, are worth far more 

 than the cost of treatment. 



Under an arrangement with the Interior Department by which 

 that department allotted $700 for insect-control work on the Glacier 

 National Park under the immediate instructions of an expert from 

 this bureau, 1,295 trees in the vicinity of McDonald Lake were 

 treated during the year, and present conditions indicate that the 

 work has been successful in arresting the spread of the damage. 



Investigations by an expert in the Black Hills during the summer 

 of 1910 show that an end has come to the extensive depredations 

 which have been continuous during the past 10 years and which 

 have resulted in the death of at least 60 per cent of the merchantable 

 timber of the area. These depredations were already diminishing 

 in 1907, so that the treatment of probably not more than 10 per 

 cent of the merchantable sized trees infested in 1907 and 40 per cent 

 of those infested in 1908, in connection with the natural increase of 

 factors detrimental to the beetles, was sufficient to end the trouble. 



The most extensive control work that has been attempted in this 

 country was undertaken in northeastern Oregon in the fall of 1910 

 and completed on June 30, 1911. The work was done in cooperation 

 with the Forest Service, private owners, and the General Land Office 

 of the Department of the Interior, under an arrangement by which 

 the Federal and private owners of the timber furnished the money 

 necessary for carrying on the control work under the immediate 

 supervision of experts from this bureau. 



The preliminary reports indicate that 27,158 trees were treated at 

 a cost of $33,180 to the Forest Service, and that 6,853 trees were 

 treated at a cqgt of $2,806 to private owners; the total of 34,011 trees 

 at a total cost of $35,986. More than 100 men were engaged in the 

 w^ork during May and June. The results of this large control dem- 

 onstration can not be known until the close of the fiscal year 1912, 

 but it is believed that they will prove to be successful and that the 

 demonstration of methods and training of men for control work will 

 be of the very greatest value in the future. 



A review of the control work carried on in the Rocky Mountain 

 region under instructions from this bureau or according to its rec- 

 ommendations shows that since the forest-insect service was estab- 

 lished in July, 1902, over 155,400 trees have been treated at an ulti- 

 mate cost of $31,211 ; 114,607 trees having been utilized, so as to more 

 than cover the cost of treatment, while 44,519 trees were treated at 

 a direct expense of $30,925. 



It is estimated that the timber saved as the direct result of control 

 work represents a stumpage value of over $2,000,000. 



INSECT DAMAGE TO TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH POLES. 



During the past year it has been determined through special investi- 

 gations conducted by the bureau in cooperation with telephone and 

 telegraph companies that serious and extensive damage is being done 

 in certain localities to standing poles by wood-boring insects. The 



