i:;s 



I ciiniiot hclicvc, in view of llic uitmI \aliii' of clicsliml \\(m«1 

 niid the rapidity and vii^or of its •growth, that we can i;el aloiij^ 

 without it in oni* Ponnsylvania forests, or in oni- i-astern forests. 

 I am optiniislic natnrally, and 1 do nol believe that we will ever 

 carry on forest nianaii'enient in this eonnliy without nsini; eliest- 

 iiut. 



A\'ilh the ])ossil)ilily of the eompletx' foiiiiiKicial destruction 

 of (his valuable tree, it is indeed time that the foresters of the 

 (•(Miidry consider what the effect of llic i-cnioval of this tree will 

 have upon the future of the forests and wlielher or not the intro- 

 duction of sonu' special method of mana.ueuu'ut may not make it 

 more difficult for the disease to spread or make it easier for the 

 tree to resist the disease by keeping it in the most liealthful and 

 vigorons growing condition. These are not easy questions to 

 answer, because we have no precedent to follow, either in the 

 ])ractice here or abroad. We have never liad such a seriotis 

 enemy of the forest working in a well settled region of the coun- 

 try, and at a time when both the national and state governments 

 are so well disposed to ap])roi)riate sutlicient funds tor combating 

 the ])est. In tlu? State of Pennsylvania we are now carrying on 

 Avork against this disease which was undr(>amed of when we 

 were snifering earlier from spc^cial insect devastations in our 

 forests. 



A vei-y brief statement of the devastations of two similar ])ests 

 may help us to appreciate somewhat our ])roblems in connection 

 with the blight. In 18S2 the Larch Saw -fly worm appeared in 

 the native larch or tamarack in Maine, ami during the next live 

 years did tremendous damage throughout northern New Englaiid 

 and New Yoi'k. By destroying the needles of the trees it caused 

 their shtw death and not until the territory had been pretty thor- 

 oughly covered by the insect and until certain natural enemies 

 arose did this insect finally disappear. Nothing, of course, was 

 done to comba.t the insect or prevent its spread. While it was 

 not possible to estimate the damages resulting from the work 

 of tliis insect, it must have exceeded several millions of <lollai-s. 

 There was no serious re-occurrence of this jx^st until last year, 

 when it appeared in the tamarack swamps of the Northei-n Lake 

 States. It is re^^orted that Michigan is studying this pest with 



