THE NEW FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF FOREST TREES. 



General Remarks Four-footed Enemies of Forest 

 Trees. Insects and Diseases. 



SECTION I. GENERAL REMARKS. 



BOOKS have been written on this subject by such authorities 

 as Hartig, Marshall Ward, Schlich, and others, to whose works 

 we must refer the reader for a full account of the almost 

 endless list of plagues that attack trees. Here we propose 

 only to give prominence to those diseases and insect pests, etc., 

 that do most damage to the timber trees recommended for 

 planting in this work, and for the names and descriptions of 

 some of these we are indebted to the authorities named. 



We hope we shall not be considered as under-rating the 

 services of able and patient investigators of forest tree enemies 

 and diseases if we say that the subject looks much more for- 

 midable on paper than it does to the practical forester, either 

 in this country or on the Continent. The name of the plagues 

 that are now described as enemies of forest trees is "legion," 

 but in this country the number the forester has reason to fear 

 and be really anxious about might almost be counted on the 

 fingers of the two hands, and these few, rabbits and the 

 like excepted, he has hardly any practical means of combating 

 except by giving effect, as far as he can, to those conditions 

 relating to climate, soil, exposure, and choice of species, etc., 

 that control tree life. Preventive measures of a practical 

 kind are not likely to ever extend further, and such authorities 

 as Hartig and Marshall Ward seem to realise that. The 

 latter, in his preface to the English edition of Hartig's 

 " Diseases of Trees/' says, that the practical forester may 

 object that the author gives too little information as to the 

 details of combative or therapeutic treatment of the special 

 diseases, but that it is not necessarily the duty of the scientific 

 pathologist to devise plans of remedial treatment, which may 

 or may not be true ; but it might be replied that a mere list 

 of names is of no service to the forester who is not a scientific 

 pathologist, and we always thought that the investigation of 

 disease and its prevention or cure went hand in hand, and at 

 least endeavoured to keep pace with each other. 



