416 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
order to avoid further losses and were shown how to prevent losses 
of newly acquired supplies that were free from insects. 
The same sort of work was done in regard to insects affecting 
lumber and stored wooden implements. Early in 1917 a conference 
was held with representatives of the branches of the War and Navy 
Departments, Shipping Board, etc., which were responsible for the 
supplies drawn from the forest resources of the country. The 
object of this conference was to offer the services of the entomolo- 
gists and to explain how they could help, through special investiga- 
tions and advice, toward preventing serious losses of forest resources 
and damage by wood and bark boring beetles. Investigations of 
logging and manufacturing operations in Mississippi to meet the 
demand for ash oars, handles, and other supplies required by the 
war service showed, for example, that one company had lost more 
than 1,000,000 feet of ash logs through failure to provide for prompt 
utilization after the trees were cut, thus preventing the attack of 
the destructive ash-wood borers. Serious losses to seasoned ash and 
other hardwood sap material from “powder post,” it was pointed out, 
could be prevented through the adoption of certain methods of man- 
agement by the manufacturers and shippers with little or no addi- 
tional cost. 
The urgent demand for spruce for the construction of airplanes 
led to an exceptional effort by the Spruce Production Board to 
utilize the great resources represented by the Sitka spruce of the 
Pacific coast. It was soon realized that damage by wood-boring 
insects to the logs was a serious matter and that the advice of the 
expert entcmologist was essential to prevent losses of the best ma- 
terial. 
The problem was investigated by the entomologists, and it was 
found that the prevention of the damage and loss was a matter of 
methods of management in the logging operations and prompt 
utilization during a short period in the year when the insects were 
abundant. 
Early in the war, and especially after the United States issued its 
declaration, the shortage of sugar made necessary an increase in the 
supply of supplemental sweets, and since none of these could be 
increased more economically and more promptly than honey, and 
since none of them have a higher value as food than honey, great 
efforts were made by the bee experts of the Bureau of Entomology 
to increase the honey production of the country. It was known that 
there was nectar available annually to provide for a profitable 
increase of ten or more times the then present honey crop, provided 
beekeepers were instructed in matters like proper wintering and 
disease control. So all apicultural investigational work, except that 
