Insect Destruction of Fire-KiUed Timber. 369 



When roads and camps must be built it may require several 

 months to prepare for cutting. If a fire occurs between June 

 first and August fifteenth, it is almost impossible to get at the 

 timber before infestation commences, much less remove any 

 large bodies of it. However, if it can be cut and sawed within 

 six weeks little damage would be done since the borers would 

 still be near the surface, and would be removed with the slabs. 



If timber is killed after the middle of August, there is a longer 

 time for safe removal, although it will be attacked by ambrosia 

 beetles and the bluing fungus till the coming of heavy frosts. 



Lumbermen frequently want to know how to prevent the de- 

 struction of dead material without at once removing it. It is 

 often proposed to cut and bark it, removing it to the mill at a 

 more convenient season. This if carefully done is effective, but 

 more costly than might be supposed. Barking costs about fifty 

 cents per M feet B. M., which is half as much as felling itself 

 costs. There would be no profit in barking small top logs, since 

 it does not pay to handle these except under the best of conditions. 

 It is doubtful if any large amount of timber could be kept from 

 bluing by this method. 



If logs are badly infested and the larvae are well into the wood, 

 it is doubtful if merely barking them would destroy the pests. 

 In such cases it would be better to build skidways in the open 

 above the surface and pile the logs onto them in such a way that 

 the air could get at them from all sides, so as to facilitate season- 

 ing. Care should be taken not to deck them up in tiers, as this 

 interferes with seasoning. Such a method would be more expen- 

 sive than letting the logs lie on the ground ; but would tend to pre- 

 vent bluing, and would probably kill all borers. 



Another remedy often proposed is to cut dead or infested ma- 

 terial and pond it. This not only prevents all infestation, but kills 

 all larvse already in the wood, and prevents fungus attacks. It 

 is not suitable in the Black Hills, since no natural ponds exist, 

 and the cost of building dams large enough for the storage of 

 large quantities of logs is prohibitive. The running of infested 

 material through a log pond to kill the borers has been sug- 

 gested. This works if the logs are in the water long enough. 

 The writer has noticed that good sized logs after remaining in 

 the pond at the Lanphere-Hinrich mill for two or three days had 



