DAMAGE BY GAME 279 



destroy the larvae. This principle is simple and is in universal use. 

 In the words of Conservateur de Gail: ™ 



"Local officers are instructed to carefully reconnoitre the trees attacked; fell, bark, 

 and limb them at once, make a fire with the branches and throw the bark with its larvae 

 into it." 



If the weather is dry and hot there is all the more danger and it is 

 difficult to distinguish the trees attacked from trees damaged by drought. 

 According to de Gail the value of the trees damaged by insects in the 

 Vosges region was in a few years more than $67,550. It is obvious 

 that large insect attacks demand special study by experts, but the for- 

 ester's rule-of-thumb in France is to fell and burn at once all trees 

 attacked by dangerous insects and to restock blanks with species which 

 are resistant. A typical contract clause from the 12th conservation 

 (Besan9on) reads: 



"Art. 18. Those trees sold which are found to be attacked by insects shall be felled 

 and peeled as soon a-s they have been designated by the local agents; the bark, crowns, 

 and branches unpeeled shall be immediately burned up 'sur place.' If the highest 

 bidder or the contractor refuses to do this work within five days of the extra judicial 

 summons which shall be made, there shall be official proceedings for these costs in con- 

 formity with the provisions of Art. 41 of the Forest Code." 



Damage by Game. — Wolves and foxes are considered desirable in 

 forests since they destroy quantities of field mice which are so destruc- 

 tive of seed; foxes also eat considerable numbers of injurious insects. 

 Wild boar are favored under some conditions since they destroy insects 

 and mice and wound the soil,^* thus favoring natural regeneration. On 

 the other hand they eat seed and damage seedlings. Deer and stags 

 are on the whole harmful to forests in nibbling tender shoots and bark- 

 ing saplings (especially hornbeam) in spring, and for this reason fenc- 

 ing is often necessary (see p. 77). Hare nibble the bark of young trees 

 in winter and damage nurseries, and rabbits are especially dangerous 

 in coppice and open pine plantations, both in destroying the bark of 

 young shoots and damaging root systems. But, on the whole, if we ex- 

 cept rabbit damage, game causes such insignificant loss that ordinarily 

 it is considered advisable to stock forests so that hunting or shooting privi- 

 leges can be leased. (See p. 326 for returns from shooting.) Squirrels 

 eat seeds and shoots, especially the tender young bark of the spruce, 

 fir, and beech. Mice destroy enormous quantities of seed, especially in 

 artificial reforestation, and store a great deal which is never touched, 

 even eating the tender bark of hornbeam and hazel. Apparently the 



™ Une Invasion de Bostriches dans les Vosges, Revue des Eaux et Forte, April 1, 

 1905. 



" In the fir-spruce forests of British India the wild boar wound the soil and help 

 regeneration. 



