INSECT DEPREDATIONS IN NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. 75 



officer should ho fiiniished Avith instructions for the h)cation <^f l)ootle- 

 infotod trees, and with ecjuipnient and directions for lakin<r the 

 necessary action whenever the conditions demand or warrant it. 



In private forests. — Private forests shouhl receive tiie same atten- 

 tion as pnhlic forests, hut this is often far more diflicuh on account 

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

 jjive the matter the required attention. AVhile it may lie advisable 

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

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

 law should apply only to the more extreme cases or as a last lesort 

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

 will not be necessary, and moie ultimate good will icsult without 

 than with stiict law.s. especially when it can be made clear to the 

 owner that his ]>ersonal interests demand that he take tlie i)i'<)per 

 action and that, wlien necessary, his neighbors will render assistance. 

 as is done in the case of a forest fire. 



InaccesKiblc 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 depredations 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. A^liile under such natural control much 

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

 by young growth, either of the same species of trees or of a dift'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 l)e completely denuded, never to l)e reforested 

 under natural conditions. Therefore it will evidtMitly not be very 

 long before it will pay to ado])t insect-control policies even in the 

 areas that are inaccessible for j^iofitablc lumbering. 



I>XAMri.i s oi SrccK.s.sKir, Conthoi oi I'.aukiuiti.! s. 



AVe have a sufficient number of examples of .'-ucce.s-ful control of 

 depredations by the destiuctive barkbeetles to demonstrate th(» prac 

 ticability of the advice ba.sed on the results of recent entomol(»gic;d 

 investigations. 



Coaffol of the eastern spruce beetle. — The control of an alaiiinng 

 outbreak of the eastern spruce bi'etle {Dendrortnuns pieeap<rila 

 iro])k.) in northeastein Maine in lOOO and IDOl was effected by the 

 concentration of regular logging operations into the areas of infested 

 timber 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 ex]>enso. there was a saving to one firm, according to its esti- 

 mates, of more than $100.0nO. 



12877— r.nll. .".s, pt r.— OU i 



