54 



THE FORESTER. 



March, 



As to the likelihood of an overwhelming 

 swarm of beetles, with consequent de- 

 struction of large proportions, the writer 

 is not inclined, from present lights, to feel 

 alarmed. The reasons for this are : First, 

 the slowness on the average with which 

 the work of destruction for the last two 

 years has progressed ; and secondly, the 

 check which the insects in some localities 

 appear already to have received. There 

 are indeed some localities within the area 

 of their distribution where as much as a 

 quarter or half the timber has been killed 

 by the beetles, and where they are now 

 multiplying very rapidly. In other localities 

 the insect has apparently been holding its 

 own, doing some, but not great, damage 

 each year. Other regions again there are 

 where with ample field for it and but a 

 small amount as yet killed, the work of 

 destruction appears to have nearly or quite 

 ceased. It would appear probable, there- 

 fore, that some secondary agent, the nature 

 of which we do not know, is at work check- 

 ing the progress of the destructive agent. 



There need not be under present condi- 

 dions any comparatively great loss. Ex- 

 tensive lumbering is being carried on 

 through the region in which the insect is 

 known to exist. The bodies of uncut 

 timber are nearly all accessible. Cutting 

 can be turned in the direction of the dam- 

 aged or endangered localities, and cutting 

 serves not merely to save the dead timber 

 to use, but also, it would appear to carry 

 away much of the source of infection. 

 The bunchy way in which the dead timber 

 stands is also in our favor. Evidently the 



J 



normal flight of the beetles is short, for 

 the dead trees, as a rule, stand in groups ; 

 those killed one, two or three years ago 

 together with the insect colony working, 

 perhaps, in green timber close beside 

 them. This trouble, indeed, may also be 

 regarded, in one way, as a benefit to our 

 forests. So far as it may determine a 

 policy of thinning rather than stripping 

 the land, it will exert a favorable action 

 which will never be entirely lost on the 

 reproduction of Spruce. 



The favorable forecast made above, 

 however, rests on no certain basis. That 

 could be reached only by long and minute 



study. Knowledge is required of the sec- 

 ondary as well as the primary elements in 

 the case, particularly as to insect enemies 

 and fungoid disease. These facts have a 

 practical as well as theoretical bearing, for 

 just as it has aided in offsetting the dam- 

 age to know the cause of it, with its 

 marks and the method of its working, so 

 will knowledge of the secondary elements 

 aid in the contest and serve the more 

 firmly either to forewarn or reassure us. 

 The whole field of the relation of in- 

 sects to timber seems to have been very 

 lightly worked as yet in this country, 

 though it is a field that promises to yield 

 very substantial rewards to investigators. 

 Numerous matters can be suggested on 

 which practical men could utilize informa- 

 tion, and doubtless every want satisfied 

 will create a dozen which are now un- 

 known. The important point, it would 

 seem, is the utility of the work, yet the 

 men who can hold firmly to that idea 



j 



through prolonged and intricate investiga- 

 tion would appear to be rare. Prof. Hok- 

 kins has shown us how, and it is reason- 

 able to believe that his example will be 

 followed. Certain it is that entomologists 

 who will undertake this work in the right 

 spirit, not despising the practical wants of 

 their countrymen, but retaining through 

 their study a desire to be useful, have be- 

 fore them a very promising field. 



AUSTIN GARY, Forester, 



Brunswick, Maine. 



ADDENDA 



E. S. Coe, of Bangor, Me., who died 

 some time ago at the age of nearly ninety 

 years, owned and controlled many hun- 

 dred thousands of acres of timber land in 

 Maine and New Hampshire. He was a 

 civil engineer by profession, and was very 

 popular among his many employees. He 

 was a sound, conservative business man 

 and managed his lands conservatively, per- 

 mitting as a rule only the grown timber to 

 be cut. He devoted intelligence and study 

 to his holdings. Only his advanced age 

 prevented him from making still further 

 progress in the line of actual forestry. The 

 management of the lands he controlled so 

 long devolves upon J. W. Sewall. 



