364 Forestry Quarterly. 



"National Forests". In a course on "Forest Protection", how- 

 ever, whether it is to be carried on as a separate course, or in 

 connection with Silviculture, there should be indicated the damage 

 done by different domestic animals to forest growth ; the de- 

 pendence of the extent of the damage upon the kind of animal, 

 composition and age of the forest, time of the year, weather, and 

 other conditions ; the length of time for which different animals 

 should be excluded from forest plantations ; the number of stock 

 which may be permitted ; and regulations governing permittee! 

 grazing, etc. 



5. Protection from Insects. It is impossible and undesirable 

 in a general course in forestry to make the students trained 

 forest entomologists. This is a specialty in itself. Every forest 

 officer in charge of a forest will, however, have to fight injurious 

 insects just as he has to fight forest fires. He must be in a 

 position to recognize an insect attack when or before it occurs and 

 to use known methods of combating it. A course in Forest 

 Entomology in all schools should include the study of the main 

 groups of insects injurious to trees. The previous training in 

 zoology required as a foundation should enable the instructor to 

 teach the students characteristics of the different groups ; to show 

 the nature of the damage done by them ; and the methods of pre- 

 venting infestations by silvicultural operations and combating 

 large infestations so far as such methods are known. 



The student should be taught to identify a restricted number of 

 insect species. Thus he should be familiar with the Dendroctonus 

 family, but it would be sufficient if he has learned the identifi- 

 cation of only one or two species. It is better to have learned 

 thoroughly a limited number of species representing the impor- 

 tant groups than to undertake to learn the identification of a large 

 number of species. 



As stated, an important feature is to teach the student to 

 recognize insect damage when it occurs and to collect specimens 

 and report conditions so that he can secure the assistance of a 

 specialist, who can identify the insect, and if this has already been 

 studied, can determine the general method of attack. The train- 

 ing in the forest should then enable the forester to apply the 

 known methods of attacking the insects. If the insect is a new 

 one, the aid of a specialist on the ground would be required. 



