Il8 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



stage for more than one season, and do not change into beetles 

 until the second August or September. This gives them a 

 longer time to feed, and as they grow in size they become more 

 injurious. Often they work until the ground is frozen and 

 start in early again when it thaws in the spring. 



Treatment. — A simple and cheap method of combating the 

 June bug has not yet been worked out. At present in forest 

 nurseries, when the grubs are found to be abundant, they are 

 dug out by hand, the spot where they are working being easily 

 determined by the appearance of the injured plants. This 

 method can be used in transplant beds, but in thick beds of 

 seedlings it is hardly practicable. Where land known to be 

 infested with the grub is to be used for a nursery or a planta- 

 tion, it is a good thing to turn in swine. They will uproot the 

 ground thoroughly and eat the grubs. After that the field can 

 be used safely. 



Inasmuch as old sod and grass land is preferred by the beetles 

 as a meeting place, such land should not be put into nursery 

 use until after a year or two of preliminary cultivation. 



In the case of a similar species, trapping and killing the beetles 

 has been tried in Europe sometimes very successfully. In one 

 section where the insects abounded, the cost of planting was in 

 eight years reduced from the abnormal figure of $53 per acre to 

 between $3 and $4 per acre. In this case trap trees of a species 

 which the beetles preferred were left in the open, and then 

 the beetles, when in the trees, were shaken down upon sheets 

 and destroyed. 



B. FUNGI. 



Chestnut Bark Disease {Diaporthe parasitica). 

 Without doubt this is one of the most threatening fungous 

 diseases which ever attacked a forest tree. It is one of the few 

 diseases which cause the certain death of healthy, vigorous trees. 

 So virulent is it that the chestnut, on which it preys, has been 

 practically exterminated in portions of New England, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The worst injury has been 



