18 THE GIPSY MOTH AS A FOREST INSECT. 



for the possible injury by the blight), hickory, paper birch, sugar 

 maple, and ash all find conditions greatly to their liking in one or 

 another part of New England, and all are desirable substitutes for 

 oak. There are certainly some, and probably numerous localities in 

 which, through nothing more than the exercise of a little care and 

 intelligent management, the oak may be removed and its natural 

 replacement by these other hardwoods may be secured with a mini- 

 mum of expense. 



It is in the pure stands of oak, or in those of oak mingled mtli much 

 less valuable trees, all too frequently to be found throughout the 

 infested area, that the problem becomes acute. Here the land must 

 be allowed practically to go to waste, or planting must be resorted to, 

 or else some attempt must be made to maintain a growth of oak. 

 The most simple method would seem to be the leavmg of reserve 

 trees. The chances at present are that this may not work very well, 

 but unless the relief which we have every reason to expect through the 

 further development of the parasites be denied us, there is a chance 

 that in the near future it will prove to be a fairly satisfactory, cheap, 

 and eventually remunerative alternative to permitting the forests to 

 be entirely destroyed. It must not be forgotten that when the oaks 

 are left to die from the gipsy-moth attack they very rarely sprout, 

 and a pure oak stand is apt to degenerate into a thicket of gray birch 

 or -something even less intrinsically valuable. If the oak be thinned 

 in advance of the gipsy-moth invasion the sprouts \\dll be resistant, 

 for a period of years at least, perhaps until the parasites become so 

 efficient that they will protect the stand of reserve trees. It is even 

 possible, if the thinning be done far enough in advance of the inva- 

 sion, that the reserve trees will have increased sufficiently in vigor 

 to resist the attack of the moth until the parasites shall have multi- 

 plied sufficiently to hold it in check. 



All these suggestions are to be treated as such and as nothing 

 more. The author is no forester and can not pretend to recommend, 

 but only to suggest. He has had the advantage, however, of four 

 years' study of the insects injurious to American forests under the 

 direction of the foremost forest entomologist in America, and through 

 subsequent study of the gipsy moth in America and abroad has 

 reached certain pretty definite conclusions. The gipsy moth is 

 distinctly a menace to our forests, but it is really no more to be 

 feared than any one of several forest insects native to this country. 

 If the situation be rightly viewed, and a serious attempt be made 

 to cope with it, it is certain that the results will redound not only 

 to the benefit of the forests in general but to that of the country 

 at largre. 



