INSECT DEPHKHATIONS IN NORTir AMEHICAN FORESTS. 77 



rec'omnu'iulations. An expert in l()('atin<r infostod tiinl)or. workiiiLi' 

 iiiuler instillations from this Biiroaii. <i:ive instructions to the niaiiii- 

 ger of the estate in locating and marking the infested trees and in 

 the essential features in the methods of utilization to destroy the 

 necessary number of beetles; he also marked infested timber on an 

 adjoining estate and on the National Forest. Five months later, in 

 May, 1908, this expert reported that the larger clumps of infested 

 trees on the estate had been converted into lumber and the slabs 

 burned, and that the marked trees on the adjoining estate and National 

 Forest had been cut and barked. In November, lOOS. another inspec- 

 tion of the forest on the estate and surrounding area was made l)y 

 the expert, and on December 1 he reported as follows: 



Xothiiiff cduld be more satisfactory than the results obtained liy the cutting 

 of the infested timber on the estate. Your recommendations and instructio'is 

 submitted to the owner, and earefuliy followed i)y tiie manager of the estate, 

 have clearly demonstrated that insect infestation can be controlled, and at no 

 expense to the owner of the timber involved ; in fact a very satisfactory price 

 was realized, resulting in a net i)rotit, I understand, of over $5 per thousand 

 feet, board measure, on the 240,000 feet cut. This, of course, does not include 

 the profit of the milling operations, but for the logs sold at the mill, after de- 

 ducting the expenses of cutting and logging. The sawmill was owned and oper- 

 ated by an Idaho Si)rings tirni, and the manufactured article sold in that town. 

 1 spent six days on the estate, November IS to 23. After a very thorough ex- 

 amination of the timber. I found only three infested trees, isolated individuals, 

 and over a mile from where the large clumps of infested trees were cut. With 

 the exception of those three trees, there is no new infestation on the estate. I 

 also examined the adjoining lands, but no new infestation was observed. The 

 infested trees which I marked in December, 1907. had been cut and barked. On 

 the Pike National Forest, contiguous to the first mentioned estate, where you 

 will remember I marked some clumps of infested trees, no new infestation was 

 found, not one tree. 



This most gratifying result demon.strated two important things: 

 One, that an extensive outbreak by the most destructive barkbeetle 

 enemy of the jiine timber of the central Kocky Mountain forests, in- 

 volving in this case more than 1,000 infested trees, can l)e controlled 

 without expense, and even at a profit, whenever the conditions are 

 favorable for the utilization of the infested timber; the other, that 

 the e.ssential details of the recommendations and expert advice, based 

 on the results of scientific research, can l)e successfully ajiplied by a 

 manager of a jirivate forest oi- by the rangers of national and state 

 forests. It also indicates (jiiite conclusively that the wides|)read tlep- 

 redationsin the Hlack Hills National Forest could have been prevented 

 with very little expense to the (iovernnient if the matter had received 

 prompt attention in 11)01, when the lirst investigations weie made 

 and essentially the .same recommendations submitted. P)Ut. through 

 the lack of public a|)preciation of the importance of the problem at 

 the time, and the lack of siiflicieiit authority and funds later, the out- 

 break was allowed to extend beyond practical control, and in conse- 



