9 



future it is proposed that the State forests of Britain shall be the 

 mainstay of our native timber supplies, and extensive afforestation 

 schemes are proposed to be carried out under a new Government 

 Department. The success of these schemes depends to a large 

 extent upon immunity from insect and fungoid attack, so that the 

 importance of my subject is apparent. 



The woodland crops of the future are likely to consist chiefly of 

 coniferous trees, of which our indigenous species are : Pinus 

 si/lrextris, the Scots Pine ; 'ra.rHs barciita, the Yew : and Jioiiperus 

 coiininoiig, the Juniper. Of these, FiuKs M//r(^s(//,s is the 

 only species which can be used for silvicultural purposes. The 

 exotic conifers which are commonest in this country, and can be 

 used for silviculture, are Pinns laricio, the Corsican pine, with its 

 many varieties ; Pinus stiobiis, the Weymouth pine ; Picea e.rcelsa, 

 the Common Spruce ; Abies jiectinata, the Common Silver Fir ; 

 and iMri.c eiiropaa, the Common Larch ; these trees have been long 

 enough in this country to become attacked by many insects and 

 fungi, and it may be remarked that Pinns strobiis is in danger of 

 extermination by the rust fungus I'erideiiiiiuiii struhi. None of the 

 trees above named, except, perhaps, the Larch, are likely to prove 

 as valuable for silvicultural purposes as some more recent introduc- 

 tions from the Pacific coast of North America, such as Pseiifiotsiic/a 

 doiii/lasii, the Douglas Fir; I'irea sitc/ieusis, the Sitka Spruce; 

 Abies (iraudis, the tall Silver Fir; and Tluda plicata, the Giant 

 Arborvitje. These trees have not been here long enough to enable 

 us to form a true opinion of their value or of their possible 

 enemies. 



The insect enemies of Silviculture belong to all orders, their 

 number is legion. The conifers, to which I propose to confine my 

 remarks, are host-plants to over two-hundred species of insects in 

 Britain, though many of such insects do very little harm. Britain 

 is blessed by the absence ot some of the worst of the pests which 

 destroy conifers in the forests of Europe, such as I 'endreliiiuts pini, 

 L., and ThaioKetojioea piti/ocanijxj, Schitf, while others which occur 

 here, such as Oaierifi dispai-, L., and IJiiaris }iinnacha, L., are not 

 found in sufficient numbers to do serious injury. We have, how- 

 ever, plenty of injurious insects, though most of them are far 

 less showy than those named above. 



During my journeys about the woodlands of England in recent 

 years I have seen many cases where coniferous trees have been 

 felled, the trunks of the trees, in due course, converted into pit 

 prqps, railway sleepers, and the like, and the branches, etc., left 

 lying about for a long time before they were burned. These 

 branches, logs and bark, form excellent breeding places for "lany 

 insects. Hi/liiriiits pi}iij)erda, h., the Pine Beetle, finds an aei^i spot 

 in which to rear large families ; it is far too common an insect for 

 a collector to trouble about, and probably goes unnoticed until 

 someone in charge of the woods discovers that the standing Scots 



