WEEVILS 73 



fellings all over the estate without any attempt at 

 a concerted plan (which accounts to a considerable 

 ] extent for the great wind damage done to woods 

 in the past in this country). The areas felled over 

 in one spot were also often more extensive than 

 iscientinc forestry, for well-known reasons, would 

 (venture to prescribe. These tracts, therefore, not 

 jonly grew a thick crop of bracken or coarse grass or 

 briers, gorse, broom, and so forth, which gave much 

 trouble, and cost an unnecessary expense to eradicate 

 before replanting ; but, owing to their size, their 

 {replanting was more difficult due to the excessive 

 exposure to which the young plants were subjected. 

 You can see this sort of thing all over the country- 

 side to-day. The stretches of bracken or the tangle 

 of brier, gorse, and broom look very pretty in the 

 spring or autumn perhaps, artistically speaking, but 

 to the trained eye of the forester they appear very 

 dirty and hopeless. 



The mention of the weevil damage of the past 

 brings me to the insect danger of the present and 

 future. Do we realize what the lumbering of the 

 woods will mean, what it is going to result in ? 



All over the country woods have been cut down. 

 All that is utilizable in each tree goes to the sawmill. 

 The useless tops of the trees, of too small size to have 

 any commercial purpose, and trees which have not 

 'been worth cutting, have been left in situ on the 

 area. Now, trees have a number of enemies to con- 

 tend against, and amongst them some bad insect 

 ones. I have mentioned the weevil. Another class 

 are the bark beetles, who breed in, and the families 



