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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



prevention of bark-beetle outbreaks. Particular empha- 

 sis is placed upon trap trees to which the beetles are at- 

 tracted and then destroyed. This method of control 

 would not, however, be applicable in most of the forest 

 region of Maine due to the vast amount of green slash 

 and trees weakened by the budworm. The Canadian en- 

 tomologists are also obtaining remarkable results in 

 control of bark-beetles. 



The control of both budworm and bark-beetles neces- 

 sitates the locating of infestations in their infancy, and 

 in order to do this it is essential that a considerable 

 amount of the wild lands be patrolled, and that a forest 

 entomologist be on hand to decide upon the necessary 

 measures to meet the many varying conditions. In Maine 

 the forests are admirably patrolled by a system of fire 

 wardens and their assistants who for the most part are 

 woodsmen acquainted with the budworm and its ravages. 

 These men with the help of foresters and lumbermen 

 who are constantly travelling through the forests should 

 prove fairly efficient in locating insect outbreaks. Noti- 

 fying the office it will be possible in most cases to get 

 into the area and map out the control measures neces- 

 sary. In this connection a general type map of the so- 

 called Maine Forest District is in process of making. 

 This map will show the danger areas in the State so that 

 it will be possible in most cases to decide whether a small 

 infestation is likely to spread over a wide area or not. 

 For example, an infestation located in an area that is typ- 

 ically hardwood or mixed softwood, is not likely to prove 

 serious, whereas an infestation located in an area where 

 there are vast stands of spruce and fir is likely to prove 

 very serious. 



There is serious need of more research work along 

 the lines of control and prevention here in the Northeast. 

 The time is fast coming, if it is not already here, when 

 a timberland owner will think twice before he will sit 

 still and watch a third of his timber crop wiped out. 

 The loss in many areas is absolutely inconceivable to 

 those who have not seen it, and reports coming into the 

 office from timberland owners who have made cruises 

 on their lands for the damage are astounding. James W. 

 Sewall, a Forest Engineer of Oldtown, Maine, who is 

 probably as well acquainted with conditions in the Maine 

 forests as any man in the State, estimates, from a large 

 number of cruises he and his rfien have made through- 

 out the State, that one-third of the total spruce and fir 

 crop of the State was destroyed by the last outbreak of 

 the budworm. The damage in Quebec and New Bruns- 

 wick is beyond all belief. One of the most unfortunate 

 results of the budworm damage is that the reproduction 

 following an outbreak is largely fir. Owing to this ever- 

 increasing percentage of balsam in the forest the next 

 outbreak of the budworm is going to be far more severe 

 than the last and it is essential that control or preven- 



tive measures be undertaken before an epidemic starts. 

 Unfortunately, it is the usual custom to wait until the 

 damage is done and then regret. 



Other forest insects yearly take heavy tolls from the 

 forests in the Northeast. The larch sawfly has so thor- 

 oughly killed off the larch or hackmatack that in most 

 sections of the State it is a tree of the past. Poplar, 

 birch, and maple are seriously injured by borers. The 

 white pine weevil reduces the value of our pine crop by 

 fully fifteen per cent, it being the direct cause of the so- 

 called "cabbage pine" in which the tree becomes forked 

 and much crooked. 



A WOODLAND GARROTER 

 TN the August number of AMERICAN FORESTRY 

 appeared an account of a duel to death between a 

 strangling fig-tree and a swamp-bay. The picture of the 

 struggle attracted widespread attention. From Miami, 

 Florida, comes an unsigned letter enclosing a picture of 

 a strangler described by the writer as the largest of its 

 kind which he has ever seen in Florida. This picture is 

 reproduced herewith. The strangler has reached the top 

 of an oak 50 feet in height. Its binding limbs are 22 

 inches wide and nine inches thick. The grip on its victim 

 is declared to be as tight as a steel bridge buckle and the 

 picture makes this easily believable. 



