Nursery at Saranac, which was the first permanently established in New York State. 



should be free from weeds and rocks and the 

 ground must be well fertilized to obtain the best 

 productivity. 



Many interesting discoveries have been made in 

 connection with researches and observations of the 

 deleterious pests frequently found in tree gardens. 

 Forester Woodruff submitted a report on the larvae 

 of the June bug or May beetle which has attracted 

 considerable attention. He states that in 1907 the 

 tree nurseries at Wawbeek and Saranac Inn sta- 

 tion were infested by an insect never before ob- 

 served in forest tree nurseries. The one and two- 

 year-old white and Scotch pine seedlings appeared 

 to be dying. It was found that each plant had 

 been cut off from one-quarter to one-half inch 

 below the surface of the ground, and that their 

 roots had completely disappeared. On digging 

 into the ground a white grub an inch and a half 

 long and as thick as a man's finger was found. 

 It was sometimes caught in the act of eating roots 

 of living seedlings immediately adjoining those 

 lately destroyed. In the fall their depredations be- 

 came less apparent, and ceased entirely during the 

 last week of September. This was probably due to 

 the fact that the grub burrowed deeper into the 

 ground to pass the winter in a torpid state. 



A single grub would destroy four trees in twenty- 

 four hours. After devouring the roots they some- 

 times feed on the tender stems of the young seed- 

 lings, drawing them down below the surface until 

 the leaves were level with the ground. 



Because of the hidden, subterranean life of the 

 larvae, its history is imperfectly known. Reliable 

 observations are almost wholly wanting. The fe- 

 male of the adult beetle, soon after pairing in 

 June, creeps into the ground and deposits her eggs 

 one at a time. These hatch in the course of a 

 month, and the grubs growing slowly do not attain 

 full size until the early summer of the third year. 

 During the summer months they feed near the sur- 

 face of the soil, but with the approach of winter 

 descend to a depth of about two feet as protection 

 against the cold. In June or July of the third 

 year they construct an ovoid chamber, and within 

 this begin to change to the beetle. They remain 

 under ground in this state until the following 

 spring, when they emerge in large swarms to be- 

 gin the reproduction of their species. 



Out of many suggestions as to how to prevent 

 the depredations of this pest, and to destroy it, 

 the most feasible was the employment of trap lan- 

 terns. These traps are ordinarily kerosene Ian- 



Another Section of Lake Clear Nursery Showing Transplants, two and a half years old. 



7 



