5i8 Forestry Quarterly. 



Dr. Hopkins has located a forest insect field station at Spar- 

 tanburg, S. C, for the purpose of more effectively co-operating 

 with timber owners in eradicating the southern pine beetle, about 

 which he says : "It has been known for more than forty years 

 that this particular beetle has existed in the Southern States, 

 and our extensive studies of it within recent years indicate that 

 it has occupied the region since time immemorial. It appears, 

 however, that only at long intervals does it increase to such num- 

 bers as to cause widespread depredations, such as, for example, 

 the great invasion of 1890-1893 in the Virginias. Under the 

 normal conditions of its life and habits, a few scattering trees are 

 killed by it each year in nearly every county throughout the 

 Southern States where the pine is common. If, however, there 

 are from any cause favorable conditions for the multiplication 

 of the insect, it is thus able to kill groups of trees, and if these 

 groups increase in number and size the following year, they 

 constitute the danger signal of an outbreak with resulting wide- 

 spread depredations. These are just the conditions found in the 

 localities observed, and, from the reports received from differ- 

 ent sections of the South ranging from Texas to Virginia, it is 

 evident that they prevail throughout the greater part of at least 

 the shortleaf pine belt. Therefore there is every reason to be- 

 lieve that unless prompt and properly directed action is taken by 

 owners of pine timber throughout the region during the coming 

 winter, a large percentage of the best old as well as middle aged 

 and young pine will be killed within the next two or three years." 



At the last session of the Pennsylvania Legislature, a bill was 

 passed providing for the appointment of a commission to investi- 

 gate and combat the chestnut blight. The sum of $25,000 was 

 appropriated for the expenses of the commission, whose members 

 shall serve without pay, and there is a further appropriation of 

 $250,000 available on the approval of the Governor for the 

 performance of the duties required, as for quarantine, removal 

 of diseased or other trees, etc. The commission, which is to be 

 called "The Commission for the Investigation and Control of 

 the Chestnut-tree Blight Disease in Pennsylvania," is composed 

 of Mr. Winthrop Sargent, Chairman ; Mr. Harold Pierce, Secre- 

 tary; and Messrs. T. N. Ely, Samuel T. Bodine and George F. 

 Craig. Mr. S. P. Detwiler, Assistant Professor of Forestry at 



