INSECT DEPRKPATTONS IX NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. 75 



officer should \)v fiiniisluMl with instructions for the h)cation of hcctlc- 

 infested trees, and witli equipment and directions for taking the 

 necessary action whenever the conditions demand or warrant it. 



/// priratv forcstx. — Private forests should receive the same atten- 

 tion as ])ublic forests, but this is often far more difficult on account 

 of intervening forests, where the owners either can not or will not 

 give the matter the reciuiied attentioi'. While it may he advisal)le 

 to have some laws to govern the treatment of timber infested with a 

 dangerous pest, when the owner refuses to take any action such a 

 law should :i]iply only to the more extreme cases or as a last resort 

 on authoritative advice. It is probable that in most cases legislation 

 will not be necessary, and more ultimate good will result without 

 than with strict hiws, especially when it can be made 'clear to the 

 owner that his personal interests demand that he take the proper 

 action and that, when necessary, his neighbors Avill render assistance, 

 as is done in the case of a forest fire. 



Inacces.sihle areas. — There are yet huge inaccessible areas in the 

 East and West where it is not practicable or possible at present to con- 

 trol the depredaticMis by these beetles and which must therefore be 

 left to the same natural adjustment that has been going on in all for- 

 ests from their beginning. AMiile under such natural control much 

 of the older matured timber will be lost it will usually be replaced 

 by young growth, either of the same species of trees or of a diti'erent 

 species, so that under normal conditions the forest will be perpetu- 

 ated: but under exceptional conditions and combinations of detri- 

 mental influences, such as secondary insect enemies, fire, drought, etc., 

 extensive areas may be completely denuded, never to be reforested 

 undei' natural conditions. Therefore it will evidently not be very 

 long before it will pay to adopt insect-control policies even in the 

 areas that are inaccessible for j:;i-ofitable lumbering. 



EXAMPLKS OF SrcCKSSKTM, CONTROL OK I'..\KKnKi:TI,KS. 



^^'e have a suflicient niiiiiber of examples of successful control of 

 de])i-edations l)y the destructive l)ark'l)eetles to demonstrate the prac- 

 ticability of the advice l)ased on the lesults of recent entomological 

 investigations. 



Control of the ca.sfcrn .spruce beetle. — The control of an alarming 

 outbreak of the eastern spruce beetle { /fciu/roftonn.s j/«<<(ip( nla 

 Hopk.) in iioitheastern Maine in 1!»0() and I'.iOl was effected by the 

 concentration of regulai' logging operations into the areas of infested 

 timi)er and placing the logs in lakes and streams and driving them 

 to the mills on the Androscoggin Kiver. Thus, with little or no addi- 

 tional expense, there was a saving to one firm, according to its esti- 

 mates, (.f more than $100,000. 



