700 Forestry Quarterly 



in the manufacture of ukuleles, (Hawaiian gmtars), and fine cabinet 

 work and furniture. The wood is of about the same hardness as 

 oak, and is not difficult to work. In the early days it was used 

 for common structural purposes, and for interior finish, but is 

 now too scarce for such uses. Several local companies have from 

 time to time exploited the koa, under the name of Hawaiian " Ma- 

 hogany," particularly on the island of Hawaii, where the choicest 

 timber occurs. In the vicinity of the crater Kilauea are the 

 remains of the old camps and lumber mills. 



Of much greater seriousness than htmian exploitation have been 

 the ravages of wild goats, cattle, and insect pests. The goats, 

 cattle, and other wild live stock have done irreparable and in- 

 calculable damage to all the forests, and the magnificent koa 

 groves have suffered with the rest. Hawaii's carelessness and ig- 

 norance in allowing wild live stock to roam and multiply un- 

 checked in all her forests for over a hundred years, has heaped up 

 for her a heavy penalty of ruined woodlands. Moreover, when 

 the Hawaiian forest has once been ravaged and despoiled, it is 

 exceedingly difficult to restore the primitive conditions, as foreign 

 undergrowth has taken possession of the land, and inhibits natural 

 reforestation. In many places where formerly existed splendid 

 groves of big koa, there is today nothing but a dreary tangle of 

 naked dead and decaying timber. The goats and cattle devour 

 the seedlings, and kill the young trees. There are a number of 

 lepidopterous larvae, mostly Scotorythra, which feed upon the 

 leaves and often defoliate the tree. Several coleopterous borers — 

 ex. Aegosomus — ^riddle the wood with their tunnels. When decay 

 has once set in, the tree is attacked by a variety of bracket and 

 wood-destroying fungi, which complete the ruin and destroy the 



tree. 



The tree of third rank in our woodlands is the cosmopoUtan 

 kukui, (Aleurttes moluccana L. Willd.), popiilarly known as the 

 candle-nut tree.* It inhabits the lowlands and lower forest zone, 

 up to 2,200 feet elevation in moist and mesophytic districts. It 

 will not stand prolonged drought, and the groves which at present 

 occur in semi-arid regions are the vanishing remnants of what was 

 once a humid forest. The kukui is abundant in the South Pacific 

 and in many tropical countries. 



* MacCaughey, V. The Kukui Forests of Hawaii. Paradise of the Pacific 

 Magazine, 1911, pp. 19-24, 6 figs. 



