INSECT DEPREDATIONS IN NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. 91 



given out to the public is not only the best available but that it is 

 limited to the range of exjx'rt knowledge of the subject possessed by 

 the in.-lructor or investigator. 



Elementauy and Tkciinr'ai- Knowledge of Forest Entomology for the 



Forester. 



While it may be desirabje that every professional forester should 

 have an expert knowledge of forest entontology, it is rarely possible, 

 even under exceptionally favorable conditions, for him to acquire 

 more than the necessary elementary knowledge, and even this has not 

 been possible under the conditions which have necessarily prevailed 

 in the forest schools, and in the practice of forestry, in this country. 

 Little or no time has been available for ac(iuiring the necessary in- 

 formation from subsecjuent study and practical experience. There- 

 fore this feature in the education of the American forester has been 

 practically neglected. 



TRESENT requirements of INSTRtTCTION. 



As long as expert forest entomologists and authentic text-hooks 

 based on American insects and conditions are not available for giving 

 a complete course in technical and applied forest entomology the 

 requirements of such a course should be limited to instruction in ele- 

 mentary entomology, and in elementary princii)les of applied forest 

 entomology, which will give the necessary foundation for intelligent 

 observations and utilization of available information as required in 

 future practice. 



CONCLUSION. 



There is conclusive evidence that insects have been in the past, and 

 are now, important factors in the waste and reduction of timber 

 supplies, and will continue to be such in the future (pp. 57-58). 



They attack perfectly healthv trees of all ages and kill them 

 (p. 58). 



They have at times killed a large percentage of the best timber over 

 thousands of square miles of heavily forested lands (pp. 58-00). 



They reduce the value of living timber and that of ci-ude and 

 finished products (pp. (lO-tJO). 



The accmnulated evidence through many vears of investigation and 

 observation in the princi])al forest areas of the entire country by the 

 writer and the field assistants in forest insect investigations furnishes 

 the basis for the following summari7A'd statements and estimates: 



A large i)ercentag(> of j)ine and sjiruce timlier was killed by the 

 southern pine beetle in 18I»()-1802 over an area of "5.000 scjjiare miles 

 in West Virginia. Maryland, Pennsylvania. Virginia, and North 

 Carolina (p. 58). 



