51 



CONCLUSION. 



The conditions in the New England forests are very favorable to the 

 growth and development of timber-destroying fungi, conditions which 

 are made still more favoralile by an ever increasing supply of dead 

 wood. Radical changes will be necessary in the present lumbering 

 methods in certain localities before any betterment can be hoped for. 

 During the summer of 1899 the wasteful cutting of timber was noticed 

 in particular in the region north of the Moosehead Lake, where the old 

 S3^stem of measuring logs by the top scale is still in vogue. The lum- 

 berman cuts the logs on the stumpage plan, and in his endeavor to 

 obtain as high a scale as possible he cuts the tree high up on the trunk 

 and low in the top, leaving almost half the top in the woods. This is 

 not only wasteful lumbering, but ofl'ers an excellent opportunity for 

 the development of several of the fungi described in the foregoing 

 pages. From the dead trunks and limbs their spores spread to stand- 

 ino- trees which mio-ht otherwise remain sound. The same is true for 

 the insects, as recently pointed out by Hopkins.^ 



In the foregoing it has been pointed out that as trees grow older 

 they become more liable to insect and fungus attack. An old tree has 

 many vulnerable points, such as old branches and wounds made by 

 animals or by hail, where insects or fungi may gain entrance to begin 

 their work of destruction. 



As a tree grows older the chances that it will be attacked become 

 greater. This point ought to be taken into consideration in the 

 harvesting of a timber crop. In certain sections of the Maine forests, 

 particularly in the Rangeley Lake region, the trees have reached an 

 age where it appears that the rate of annual accretion, and con- 

 sequently the annual increase in value, is very small, while the danger 

 of infection is increasing every year. It is recommended that such 

 trees he cut immediately where practicable, as they are practically ripe 

 and proba))ly at their point of greatest value. This may not alwaj^s 

 ])e possil)le, owing to practical difhculties in reaching water courses, 

 etc., but the principle should ])e established that it will prove more 

 protitable in the long run to cut trees after they have reached a certain 

 age, to prevent depreciation due to the attack of fungi or insects. 

 Future investigation will have to determine what the exact age is at 

 which it will be most profitable to do this cutting. 



It has also been pointed out that there are several fungi which attack 

 trees after they have been killed by insects or other agents. This is of 

 gi-eat practical significance, for it may often l)e possible to harvest such 

 dead trees before the fungus in question has had time to l)egin its work. 



' Hopkins. A. I). Ptvliininary Report on llic Insect p]neniies of the Forests of the 

 Northwvst. I'.iil. No. 21, Div. of ImiLpiiiuIo^'v, V. S. Dcpt. Agr. 181)9. 



