97 



but he observed last fall that they had commenced to die in Poca- 

 hontas county where the timber had been heretofore unaffected. 



INFORMATION* CONCERNING CAUSE OF DEATH OF TREES. 



The general supposition by people living here is that the timber 

 died from the effect of the drought of 1882, some claimed that the 

 trees had come to maturity and were dying from old age, giving 

 giving their reasons that the larger trees seemed to die worse than 

 smaller ones, while a very few thought that it might have, been 

 caused by insects. Col. Hutton has obrerved that at certain times 

 in the year, while the timber was dying the air would be full of little 

 1 -bugs;" that from the numbers would get in one's hair and be other- 

 wise annoying. He had cut into green logs and trees and found 

 "bugs" in the sap wood, thus concluding that they had something 

 to do -with the death of the trees. He supposed, however, that the 

 other insects found in the bark only attacked the trees after they 

 were dead. 



Captain Parsons, a railroad surveyor who has conducted surveys 

 through this forest at different times, stated that he had often ob- 

 served that in a few years after they made such a survey the timber 

 commenced to die on either side of the path made by the hacking 

 and cutting necessary in their progress through a forest of this kind, 

 and that if small bushes or trees were cut and lodged -against living 

 ones would often cause them to die. 



Mr. S. L. Riger, of Phillippi, who has observed the spruce for- 

 ests before and after the trees commenced to die, stated that his 

 theory as to the first cause of the trouble was, that the deer hunters 

 made burnings in the forests from which the green trees would com- 

 mence to die on all sides and the trouble would continue to spreed 

 until checked by some unknown cause. He said that it was sup- 

 posed by some that the trees had lived their natural life. Others 

 supposing that their death was from drought, others that it was 

 caused by a "bug," and still others who were confident that the 

 trouble was caused by a fly which they had observed flying around 

 the trees. He further stated that the trees seemed to die worse in 

 the fall and winter than at other times. 



ANSWERS TO CIRCULAR LETTERS. 



In answer to the following questions mailed to lumber and tim- 

 ber companies operating in the spruce as to when the timber com- 

 menced to die in their respective localities. 

 No. i, Huling Lumber Company, Tucker County: answers within 



ten or fifteen years. 

 *No. 2, Black Water Lumber Company, Tucker County, about 



1887. 

 *No. 3, Silas Sharp, Pocahontas County: In the year 1887. 



"These localities are widely separate from that in which the investigations here re- 

 ported were made; no general drought has been reported since 1882. 



