18 BULLETIN 333, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DAMAGE TO FRUIT, NUT, SHADE, AND FOREST TREES. 



Termites occasionally injure a great variety of living trees, bushes, 

 and shrubs. In Florida, according to H. G. Hubbard, termites have 

 caused considerable damage to newly planted groves of orange trees, 

 the bark being eaten away about the collar and root and the tree com- 

 pletely girdled. There have been many records since then of injury 

 to young orange trees in newly cleared land (Marlatt) . Similar dam- 

 age by termites x has been recorded to apple, pear, cherry, and plum 

 trees in the Southern States and California, 2 the roots being attacked 

 or the trees injured near the base. H. S. Smith states 3 that " termites 

 were reported to be damaging lemon trees in the vicinity of German- 

 town " (California). On May 17, 1890, a piece of solid pear root 

 damaged by termites was sent to the Bureau of Entomology from 

 Mineral Park, Mohave County, Ariz. On May 9, 1902, a similarly 

 damaged root of apple stock was submitted to the bureau from 

 Moran, Okla. 



Such damage is more common in the new soil of recently cleared 

 woodland containing old decaying stumps or much humus. Similar 

 damage by Leucotermes spp. is recorded to pecan, chestnut, and 

 walnut. 



Comstock records damage of the same kind to guava bushes in 

 Florida, at or just below the ground. 



In cities shade trees in great variety are injured by termites, the 

 insects infesting the roots and the heartwood at the base of injured 

 trees. Sometimes the infested trees are plastered with earthlike tubes 

 or galleries. 



In the forest termites rapidly 4 render insect, fire, and disease 

 killed timber unmerchantable. They also damage the roots and lower 

 trunk of injured living trees, especially oak and chestnut, sometimes 

 following the attack of large wood-boring beetle larva?. 5 In a letter 

 dated October 24, 1915, A. B. Champlain states : " Termites are very 

 bad on hickory saplings at Lyme, Conn. They quickly attack the 

 infested trees, utilizing the Magdalis galleries, Goes galleries, or any 

 other mode of entrance ; in wounds on green trees as well as in trees 

 of every stage of decay." Where the heartwood is decayed in living 

 trees or in dead standing trees termites will work for considerable 

 distances above ground (40 to 50 feet), completely honeycombing 

 the interior. (PL IX, fig. 1.) The earthlike tubes, in the form of 



1 Leucotermes sp. 



2 Essig, E. O. Injurious and Beneficial Insects of California. Supplement Mo. Bui. 

 State Com. Hort. California, v. 4, no. 4, 541 p. (p. 28-29), 503 figs., 1915. Damage by 

 Leucotermes lucifugus to various species of fruit trees ; i. e., apricot, cherry, lemon, 

 orange, peach, and pear. 



3 Smith, H. S„ In Mo. Bui. State Hort. California, v. 4, no. 1, p. 53, Jan., 1915. 



4 The rapidity of destruction varies with the resistance of the wood of the species of 

 tree and the geographical locality. 



5 Prionidae. 



