REPORT ON INVESTIGATIONS TO DETERMINE THE 



CAUSE OF UNHEALTHY CONDITIONS OF THE 



SPRUCE AND PINE FROM 1880-1893. 



BY A. D. HOPKINS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



This report is on the work and results of special investiga- 

 tions conducted by the author in the spruce and pine forests of 

 West Virginia, to determine the causes of the unhealthy con- 

 ditions of the timber, which prevailed between 1880 and 1893, 

 resulting in the death and total loss ot many hundred thousand 

 dollars worth of the finest timber in the State. 



The spruce investigation was begun in September, 1890, when 

 in company with Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, (then Botonist of the 

 Station) we found great quantities of dead spruce near 

 Cheat Bridge, in Randolph county. The evidence obtained at 

 the time indicated that the trouble was caused by insects. 

 Hence, a general study of the conditions prevailing in the 

 spruce forests of the State, and a special study of the destruc- 

 tive, injurious and beneficial insects associated with the living 

 and dead spruce was taken up as a special feature of the work 

 of the Entomological Department of the Experiment Station, 

 which received a large share of my attention from time to time 

 until 1894. 



The pine investigation was commenced in 1891, when I found 

 some timber dying in Hampshire county, in July of that year. 

 Enormous quantities of pine and spruce died during 1891 and 

 1892, and every facility necessary to prosecute a detailed study 

 of this trouble was offered, both by the Director of the Experi- 

 ment Station and the owners of large bodies of spruce and pine 

 timber, the latter contributing nearly all of the expense of a 



