70 THE FOREST TREE CULTURIST. 
come (as often termed) powder-ported. The old Hemlock 
stumps and logs are often found quite filled with large, 
whitish worms of two or more inches in length. The Lo- 
cust, the Wild Thorn-Apple, Beech, and many other kinds 
of trees, are much infested with borers, and very few trees 
are entirely exempt. 
Some kind of insects attack the trees while they are 
growing, while others do so.only when they are decaying. 
All these borers or worms are but the larvee of some kind 
of winged insect hatched from their eggs, deposited in or 
under the bark or soft wood at some period of its growth 
or decay. Some species of these worms feed entirely upon 
live wood, while others upon that which is dead or decay- 
ing. The habits and appearance of most of these insects 
are well known to entomologists, and fully described in the 
various works on that subject. 
When trees are cut down in the fall, the sap which was 
in a fluid state in the spring has now become wood, and 
the outer surface is comparatively dry, so much so that 
few insects have the power of inserting their ovipositor 
(egg placer) into or through the bark, consequently a less" 
number of eggs will be deposited than if the tree had 
been cut in the spring. But when we cut small timber 
for posts, stakes, etc., it is always best to take off the bark, 
for if left on it will absorb and retain moisture to an ex- 
tent that will hasten the decay of the wood. If cut in 
spring, the bark comes off readily and leaves the wood 
clean; but at any other time it is removed with difficulty. 
Thus there appears to be an objection to both seasons, and 
no intermediate one is any better. When large trees are 
