Editor s Box. ^o\ 



THE PINE BEETLE IN HAMPSHIRE. 



Sir, — I send you a few beetles, a piece of bark, and a small shoot 

 of a Scotch fir tree ; you will see the shoot is this and last summer's growth. 

 I cannot find any beetles except in the young shoots on the tree, or in 

 those blown off by the wind, and in the cordwood, which was cut last 

 winter and lying up till lately by the sides of the roads, where, after close 

 observation, I am satisfied most of the beetles have been bred. 



I shall briefly describe them as found, in the hope that some of your 

 readers may be able to suggest a practicable means of getting rid of 

 them. I believe it to be the same as described at page 24'5. 



The plantation is situate about seven miles inland, and 120 ft. above sea 

 level. 



The portion attacked is all Scotch fir, thirteen to fifteen years planted, and 

 thinned last winter for the second time ; the soil a poor black and white sand. 



The trees are slow growing, but healthy. I have not seen the beetle in 

 any quantity till this summer, and now they are mostly on the trees where 

 thinned last winter, when all the. branches were tied up into fagots and 

 cleared out at once, the poles and rough cordwood being stacked along 

 the sides of the roads. On the beetle first making its appearance I could 

 not find it on the dry wood, but after moving a quantity of it I found the 

 beetles in various stages of growth under the bark ; those in the top sticks 

 had gone to the trees, whilst in the bottom of the stacks they were in all 

 stages. 



On many of the trees they have scarcely left a branch or top untouched. 

 I have found as many as eight beetles in one small growth of ten inches 

 long ; having eaten into the pith they travel along it for days — how long I 

 do not know — eating it as they go. The branches are withering on the 

 trees. I have shaken off a quantity of them, and gathered and burned 

 them with a view to lessen the numbers of the voracious insects. "What 

 I should like to know is, how long will the present beetles live, and what 

 will they leave behind them in the shape of eggs ? or will a quantity 

 survive the winter to Ijreed in the spring ? 



Is the dry wood the only place where they will breed ^ If so, we may 

 to a great extent keep them under. 



If you think this (or part of it) worthy of your Journal, you can use 

 it, in hopes that some one better acquainted with the habits of the 

 pest may give us some information about how to extirpate it. 



A Scott. 



Southwick Parle, Fareliam. 



GPtOWTH OF LARCH. 



Sir, — In looking over a plantation of young larch the other day I was 

 much surprised at the growth of some of the trees. Our climate (the 

 north-east coast of Yorkshire, near Whitby) is not as a rule considered a 

 particularly favourable one, and therefore the matter arrested my attention. 



