148 PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



hollowed out, break as soon as any strong wind comes, and may 

 often be found covering the ground in great numbers, whilst the 

 trees themselves look as if they had been artificially trimmed by 

 cropping : this is particularly the case when the injury has been 

 repeated frequently, as from the constant loss of the side- shoots 

 the crowns assume a pointed, cypress-like shape. The insect is, 

 from this peculiarity, generally known as the Waldgdrtner or wood- 

 land-gardener throughout Germany. The beetle itself hibernates 

 in fissures of the bark, or under moss, and more frequently still 

 inside the thick bark of the lower portion of the bole into which 

 it bores its way. 



This insect does less damage during the larval stage than is 

 occasioned by the fully developed beetle. Owing to the strong 

 exudation of resin from the healthier stems, its attacks are 

 principally confined to felled timber, or to sickly and unhealthy 

 crops; healthy trees are only attacked when the swarms have 

 become excessive. But the imago does very considerable injury 

 in the portions of the growing-stock attacked, especially along 

 the edge of compartments and in pole-forests, where it is chiefly 

 to be found, by annually repeating its interference with the 

 normal development of the crown ; it often completely cripples 

 the crops in growth. Thus woods in the vicinity of timber 

 depots, saw-mills, &c., often show exceedingly bad development, 

 in consequence of the attacks of this beetle. 



The protective and exterminative measures available against it 

 are similar to those adoptable against the Spruce bark-beetle. These 

 include keeping the woods as clean as possible, the removal of all 

 sickly trees, or of individual stems which the bore-dust lying at 

 their base, the white shells of resin, and the entrance-holes in the 

 thick bark indicate to have been already infested, and the placing 

 of decoy-stems here and there in spring and during summer, 

 combined with the peeling and burning of the bark at the proper 

 times. The timber and fuel obtained from the winter fall acts 

 very beneficially in this way ; but if not removed from the woods 

 before the end of May, it should certainly be barked -then. 



Sweeping together the hollowed shoots and twigs, which lie 

 scattered on the ground, is of little avail, as they have usually 

 been quitted by the beetles before they break off. 





