THE RED SPEUCE. 27 



this type of fungous growth which prey upon the spruce, but those 

 enumerated are the most common and most destructive. 



It is obviously impossible to introduce intensive protective measures 

 in our wild and uncultivated forests. However, it is possible, and 

 in the long run it will be profitable, to adopt such measures as will 

 certainly aid in prolonging their health and usefulness. In the 

 process of lumbering, particularly where the selection system is 

 being employed, a careful scrutiny should be made of all trees which 

 are to be left. Merchantable trees in a defective condition, whatever 

 their size, should be removed in order to get the present value of 

 their sound portions and at the same time prevent so far as possible 

 their becoming a menace to the healthy trees remaining. This 

 would include the cutting of standing dead and down timber when 

 marketable. In similar manner, areas upon which the timber has 

 been killed by fire, windfall, or serious insect attacks, should be 

 lumbered immediately upon the discovery of the damage. If such 

 timber is cut immediately, its value will be only slightly, if at all 

 impaired, and it will yield as good lumber as before its death. This 

 logging will, in certain instances, entail a somewhat greater expense. 

 The disposal of slash by burning after lumbering, using suitable 

 safeguards, is another precaution which will be found desirable. If 

 slash is allowed to remain on the ground, it constitutes a center of 

 infection for fungous diseases and insect pests, thus jeopardizing the 

 health of the remaining timber. 



INSECTS.i 



Spruce has many insect enemies which prey upon its bark, wood, 

 twigs, and foliage. Those known as bark and wood miners cause 

 the greatest damage. They attack the old and valuable timber and 

 are either primary or secondary causes of its death. Young trees 

 are subject to injury by the white-pine weevil (Pissodes strobi Peck) 

 and the spruce gall louse (CTiermes sp.). The latter affects the young 

 twigs and the former the terminal shoots. As a result of their work 

 the trees become deformed or stunted in growth. 



Among the bark miners the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus 

 frontalis Zimm.) and the eastern spruce beetle (Dendroctonus pice- 

 aperda Hopk.) are considered the most serious pests. To the former 

 has been attributed the destruction of a vast amount of spruce timber 

 in West Virginia and the adjacent region, while the eastern spruce 

 beetle is accounted responsible for the ravages of past years in 

 Maine and New Hampshire. The attacks of the southern pine 

 beetle are disastrous to both pine and spruce in areas south of Penn- 



1 Those desiring detailed information concerning forest insect pests and methods of combating them 

 should com.municate with the Division of Forest Insect Investigations,- Bureau of Entomology, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



