324 



YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FIG. 36. Wormholes in chestnut work 

 of the chestnut timber- worm. ( Adapt- 

 ed from author's illustration.) 



This insect breeds in great numbers in the trunks of old dead trees 



and in the stumps and logs of felled ones, and is ever ready to attack 



living trees wherever a slight wound in 

 the bark offers an opportunity. It will 

 also attack f reshly split stave bolts, heavy 

 unseasoned lumber, squared timber, and 

 the like, and cause serious damage. 



The losses occasioned by the oak timber- 

 worm are enormous. The finest old trees 

 of the forest are often found by the lum- 

 bermen so injured that they are either 

 left standing or after being felled are left 

 in the woods. Saw logs which appear to 

 be sound at the ends are often found so 

 damaged in the middle that they must be 

 discarded or worked into cheap lumber 

 and culls. Therefore, the losses fall on 

 the owner of the forest and the manufac- 

 turer of the crude products, while the 

 consumer loses in the extra high prices 

 he must pay for clear lumber. Nothing 



can be done toward remedying the damage already done to standing 



and felled timber, but the insect's habit 



of breeding in dead standing and felled 



oak trees and old logs in the forests and 



of entering ax and other wounds in 



living trees, suggests the importance of 



clearing out and burning all such waste 



material whenever practicable, and of 



avoiding as far as possible all unneces- 

 sary wounds to living trees. Indeed, 



the disposal of all prolific sources of 



trouble from this insect will always be 



an important feature in the manage- 

 ment of American hardwood forests 



and farmers' woodlots. 



PlNHOLE AND WoRMHOLE INJURIES TO CHESTNUT 

 WOOD. 



Wormholes in chestnut wood are such 

 a common defect that no one who has 

 had anything to do with this kind of 

 wood can have failed to notice them. 

 Indeed, scarcely a chestnut tree of any 

 size can be found in the Eastern hardwood forests the wood of which 

 does not show more or less injury of this kind, while that of nearly 



FIG. 37. Wormholes in red oak work 

 of the oak carpenter-worm. (Adapted 

 from photograph.) 



