26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



hind. Narra is a fine cabinet wood and is adapted to fine fur- 

 nitnre making. 



The stumpage charges now exacted on government tracts in the 

 Philippines are extremelj' reasonable. They range from seventy- 

 five cents to three and a half dollars per thousand feet, while the 

 mills receive very good prices for the lumber. 



Large amounts of Philippine hardwoods are now finding their 

 way into this country. In another decade they should be very 

 popular for cabinet wcrk and even in home construction, espe- 



cially for the more costly residences. Mr. Cameron-Forbes, gov- 

 ernor-general of the islands, is having an elaborate country home 

 built in Massachusetts of Philippine hardwoods. This perhaps is 

 the first structure to be put up iu this country of material solely 

 from the Philippine forests. All the leading Philippine lumber 

 concerns have opened branch oflSces in all the principal Pacific 

 coast ports, and where the natives once kept all their product 

 for their own use it will not be long before it will find a ready 

 sale throughout all the countries of the world. M. W. 



i\-< l»»i!»ili»«TO« M»Ma«VI«««0«»«V<«rottM 



t^i*m^ittfTOi>;;;tsg^)^TOTOroaiTOW)a^iiiw-5i^^ 



Insect Enemies of Oak Trees 



If the oaks were not a strong, vigorous, persistent class of trees 

 the last one would have perished from the earth long ago. The tree 

 is preyed upon by more than a thousand species of insects. Some of 

 these are comparatively harmless, others are extremely destructive. 

 They include all shapes, sizes, and characters, from the- tiny four- 

 winged g.all flies, so small that they are revealed by the microscope 

 alone, to the formidable carpenter moth larva which is sometimes 

 three inches long and which starts a work of destruction that is apt 

 to kill the tree, though years may be required to do it. 



The thousand species of insects, with countless millions of irdi- 

 viduals, have four favorite lines of attack upon the oak. Each species 

 has a particular method of warfare. Some are in search of food, 

 others are preparing places to deposit eggs. Every insect has a 

 special object in view. One class confines its activities chiefly to the 

 bark and to the soft layer of new wood immediately beneath ; another 

 to the twigs and smaller branches; a third to the wood of the trunk 

 and the large limbs, including the wood of the roots; and the fourth 

 class attacks the leaves and the small twigs. It is difficult to deter- 

 mine which class is most destructive, but all of them are extremely 

 injurious, if the attacking insects are sufficiently numerous. The 

 oak survives because it is hard to kill. It bears abundant croi)s of 

 acorns, and the acorns sprout quickly, strike root deeply, and the 

 seedlings are always much more numerous than the casual observer is 

 apt to suppose. They are likely to remain small while in the shade 

 of the parent tree, but they grow rapidly when the parent falls, and 

 sunlight reaches them. 



The user of oak wood is coastautly encountering defects and 

 injuries due to insect activity while the tree was growing. Some of 

 these are worm holes which perforate the wood; some show in dis- 

 torted grain, poor color, and the generally low-grade character of the 

 material. The work of very small insects may stunt a largo tree, 

 and spoil its wood for many useful purposes. 



The thunderbolt beetle (Arliojialuti fuh>iinaiis) may be taken as a 

 representative of the numerous insects which attack the soft inner 

 bark of trees. Although this creature had a formidable name, it is 

 no worse in the harm it docs than many others whose names are far 

 less terrifying. In fact, no person who would judge the insect by 

 its looks would think of giving it such a name, and it is not known 

 why it was so named, unless, as some claim, it is because trees infested 

 by swarms of these beetles -wither as if scorched by lightning. The 

 beetle itself is about the size, but not the shape, of a house fly. It 

 has, of course, two thick and two thin wings, and six legs, as all 

 beetles have, but its destructive work is done before it has grown 

 any wings, and while in the larval stage. It then looks like a small 

 grub. It hatches from an egg, works it way to the soft inner bark, 

 and at once enters upon its destiny, which consists in doing all the 

 injury possible to the tree that furnishes it a home and food. It not 

 only consumes the juices, starches, sugars, and other substances which 

 the tree must have to maintain its growth, but the destructive insect 

 so runs its galleries that, they cut off the flow of sap and cause it to 

 dry up without doing any good either to the tree or to the insect. 

 It is a wasteful vandal, a genuine pirate, destroying what it cannot 

 use. It usually confines its operations to the soft inner bark, but 

 occasionally it bores an inch or two into the sapwood, but seldom or 

 never into the hoartwood. Tliereforc, when users of oak find worm 



holes in the heartwood tlie blame should not be laid at the door of 

 the thunderbolt beetle, as it probably belongs to another class which 

 will be spoken of below. The thunderbolt beetle's damage is more 

 " jiathological" — that means, in this instance, that the character and 

 quality of the wood deteriorate; it is poor in color, irregular in grain, 

 and does not work well. These defects are due to the stunting of the 

 tree's growth. It might be pretty hard for an inspector of oak 

 products to tell just what the trouble is, except that the wood is "ofl' 

 class. ' ' 



All blame for poor oak of that kind does not belong to the thunder- 

 bolt beetle. He has the help of scores of others which bore the bark, 

 sting the twigs, gnaw the leaves, and puncture the roots; but he does 

 his share of the damage. 



The oak pruner (Klaphidion viUosum) attacks a different part of 

 the tree, but the damage it does affects the wood. The insect is a 

 beetle about three-fourtlis of an inch long, and its attacks are con- 

 fined to the twigs and .small limbs. The insect lays its egg in -a 

 crevice or a puncture in the bark of a small twig. When the larva 

 hatches it bores its way straight to the pith of the twig, and turning 

 at right angles, begins to eat a passageway down the twig's center 

 toward the tree's trunk. While it is doing this, it is in the form of a 

 grub, and its appetite is like a wolf's. It eats practically all the 

 time, and as it increases in size it makes a larger hole in the twig, 

 and advances downward where the limb becomes larger. 



Late in summer the larva attains its growth and prepares to change 

 into a winged ini-ect. It is then that it does its destructive work. 

 It enlarges the end of the g:illery until the limb is almost severed at 

 that point. The bark and a few fibers of wood hold it. The larva 

 then retreats a short distance up the gallery, plugs U() the passage 

 with bits of wood, enclosing itself in a snug chamber in the center 

 of the limb, and ends its activity for that stage of its life. The 

 next strong wind snaps the twig at the point where it was gnawed 

 nearly asunder, and the branch falls to the ground with the grub 

 securel.y corked up within it. Sometimes the ground under oak trees, 

 and under other trees as well, is covered with branches thus broken 

 off. They vary in size from a foot or more in length, and half an 

 inch in diameter, up to six or eight feet in length and an inch or 

 more in diameter. Each branch contains the larva which gnawed it 

 off'. After lying some months on the ground the beetle is hatched 

 and escapes from the twig chamber where it had lain so long, and it 

 flies away to deposit eggs on other trees, to start the life cycle over 

 again. From the time of the deposit of the eggs on the twig till 

 the full grown beetle emerges and flies away, is a period of about 

 one year. The beetle is slender, and is grayish-brown in color. 



The insect, in common with most forest pests, is hard to combat. 

 The first visible evidence that a tree is infested comes when branches 

 begin to fall. The damage has then been done, as far as that tree 

 is concerned. The fallen branches may be gathered up and burned, 

 with the insects in them, and that will help to save other trees, but 

 this is seldom done, except iu parks and private grounds, because 

 the work is impracticable under ordinary forest conditions. 



The wood of a tree so attacked is injured in much the same wiiy 

 as if defoliation by caterpillars had taken place, or as if the bark 

 had been injured. Orowtli i^ stunted, and the quality of the wood 

 is inferior. 



