SOME ENEMIES OF THE TREES 103 



they are subject to accident and to disease. 

 They accumulate infirmities with the years, and 

 sooner or later death overtakes them. 



Is there anything we can do to help save the 

 trees! Certainly. We can help them fight 

 their enemies, and to do this successfully we 

 must find out what these enemies are. 



Insect Enemies. Since Pharaoh ruled in 

 Egypt, centuries ago, history has been keeping 

 record of insect plagues. More harm and ruin 

 and death has been worked by insects than by all 

 other creatures of the animal world. They are 

 by far the most dangerous enemies that the 

 forest has. Small as they are, and insignificant 

 as they may seem in many instances, they fulfil 

 the old slogan, "In union there is strength." 

 All insects multiply very rapidly and so are 

 able to work in immense numbers. The female 

 bark beetle of early spring is often represented 

 by half a million of her offspring before the end 

 of the second summer. The leaf-eating moth 

 is quite likely to be the ancestor of some four 

 hundred thousand greedy followers in three 

 years' time. 



-y The feeding habit of insects divides them into 

 three divisions — chewing, sucking, and boring 

 insects. The first have mouths arranged for 

 chewing food; the second suck up plant juices 



