Forest Preservation 71 



the logs and burning the bark. By thus reducing the 

 numbers of the insects and preventing the balance being 

 again disturbed, the valuable pine and spruce forests of tl e 

 province may be protected, but neglect will probably mean 

 disaster. 



The protection of trees from fungous diseases usually 

 applies more to orchards, parks and city streets than to 

 the forest. In them curative methods are resorted to, as 

 the preservation of the individual tree is the aim, but in the 

 forest the single tree is not considered if it threatens the 

 whole. Fungous growths are always present, but if dis- 

 eased trees are removed or burned and the quantity of 

 decaying wood kept down to the natural amount, the health 

 of the forest as a whole will seldom suffer. 



With disease as with insects, however, there is always 

 the danger of introducing something new, and this has 

 been done in America in the case of the white pine blister 

 rust. This disease came from Europe, and, if not checked, 

 will destroy the white pine forests of America. The best 

 way to fight it is to destroy its alternate hosts, the currants 

 and gooseberries. This is a difficult and expensive under- 

 taking and may mean loss to fruit growers, but the danger 

 is great. The fight is confined to the eastern provinces 

 and the eastern United States, but as the white pine forests 

 of British Columbia are threatened, the western provinces 

 are deeply concerned. 



The combined appropriations of the federal and state 

 governments in the United States for the purpose of fight- 

 ing this disease amount to more than a half million 



