154 



Canadian Forestry Journal, November-December, 1912. 



The poplar timber-beetle enters later 

 on these scraped surfaces, and 

 through its tunnels spores may reach 

 deeper layers. 



Damage to killed and injured 

 spruce and pine bj^ cerambycid and 

 buprestid borers is extensive. Piled 

 lumber cut in the fire areas by port- 

 able mills showed abundant evidence 

 of their borings. The fires occur usu- 

 ally early in the spring. These beetles 

 lay their eggs in slits or crevices in 

 the bark late in June and in July. 

 They seldom deposit their eggs on 

 barked surfaces. The grubs cut large, 

 rounded or flattened tunnels through 

 the bark and wood. 



To prevent the injury by these bor- 

 ers it is necessary to bark the trees. 

 or put them in water when possible, 

 before the young grubs have worked 

 through the bark and into the wood, 

 or to saw before they are deeper than 

 the thickness of the slab. Some spe- 

 cies will continue their borings in pil- 

 ed lumber, or even in parts of l)uild- 

 ings, for months or even years, if they 

 have penetrated deeply before the 

 logs were sawed. 



Every effort should be made to get 

 on the ground as early as possible and 

 to rush the sawing during the first 

 part of the season. Much of the 

 trouble might thus be left in the 

 slab. 



Throughout the reserve the poplar 

 is badly infested with fungi, and with 

 boring grubs of the long-horned 

 beetles (Cerambycidae). The only 

 conceivable method of controlling 

 either the fungi or the beetles is to 

 cut and burn, at the proper season, 

 all infested trees. Such an operation 

 could not be considered at the present 

 time, and these diseases of the poplar 

 are likely to continue. 



About fifty years ago there must 

 have been a considerable outbreak of 

 Pissodes beetles (spruce and pine 

 weevils) particularly in white spruce. 

 The grubs of certain species of these 

 weevils destroy the terminal shoots of 

 young trees. One, two or three lat- 

 erals then develop as terminals and 



produce a distorted trunk, frequently 

 with two or even three tops. Tliese 

 'double-tops' are fairly common 

 throughout the parts of the reserve 

 visited, as trees forty or more years 

 of age. No recent work of this kind 

 was seen. 



In spite of the inclement .season, 

 an important advance was made on 

 this visit in our knowledge of the in- 

 jurious insects of that region. 



It is a pleasure to notice the excel- 

 lent condition into which the reserve 

 is being put. New ranger-stations 

 were being built, important trails 

 were being cut, and telephone lines 

 laid to connect the ranger-stations 

 with each other and with head- 

 quarters. A wide fire-guard already 

 surrounded a large portion of the 

 reserve. 



Aside from the value of the wood 

 it contains, and the abundant game 

 which it supports, this reserve is in- 

 valuable as the source of several small 

 rivers which sustain the fertility of a 

 wide belt of surrounding wheat- 

 lands. The value of such forest re- 

 serves, through the West, at the 

 sources of water-supply, cannot be 

 overestimated. Upon the permanence 

 of the reserves practically depends 

 the fertility of the surrounding re- 

 gions. 



DOUGLAS FIR VS. NORWAY 

 SPRUCE. 



Some experiments made in the Ardennes 

 with the Douglas fir as compared with the 

 Norway spruce (Picea excelsa) gave the fol- 

 lowing results: — 



Douglas fir — Age, 25 years; height, 4 to 

 16 m. (13 to 52 ft.); average height, 14m 

 (46 ft.) ; volume per acre, 2,032 cu. ft. 



Norway spruce — Age, 25 years; height, 4 

 to 14m. (13 to 46 ft.); average height, 8m 

 (26 ft.) ; volume per acre, 812 cu. ft. 



These data confirm the great superiority 

 of the Douglas fir with reference also to the 

 quality of the timber. This tree seems par- 

 ticularly well suited to damp climates, such 

 as Belgium. The slower-growing blue Doug- 

 las seems less adapted to such a climate. — 

 Bulletin of Ag. Statistics (Canadian edi- 

 tion), Vol. I, No. 8, July 20, 1911. 



