53 THE KUT CULTUKIST. 



Insects Injurious to the Beech. — No disease 

 has, as yet, been known to seriously affect the beech, 

 and as for insect enemies, it probably has a less number 

 than any other denizen of our forests. It is true that 

 transplanted trees, and those left exposed by cutting 

 away protecting neighbors, are sometimes attacked by 

 borers in the stem, branches and twigs, but these ene- 

 mies naturally follow in the train of debility, it being 

 one of the immutable economic laws of nature to hasten 

 the demise and decomposition of the half-starved or 

 otherwise enfeebled members of both the animal and 

 Tege table kingdom. 



Isolated beech trees growing by the roadsides in 

 parks and fields are occasionally attacked by a large 

 grayish, long-horn beetle, the Gues pulverulenta. It is 

 about one inch long, and a rather sturdy beetle of a 

 light grayish color, and usually infests the branches, 

 but may occasionally attack the main stem. It is not 

 abundant, and has seldom been found infesting the 

 beech. There are also two or three borers of the Bu- 

 prestis family of beetles which occasionally attack beech 

 trees. They are distinguished by the broad heads and 

 flattened bodies of the grubs, and they work just beneath 

 the bark in the sapwood, causing dead patches, mainly 

 on the south side of the stem and larger branches. If 

 the dead bark is removed and the wounds painted they 

 will soon heal over, unless the tree is suffering for mois- 

 ture and nutrients at the roots. A few twig borers, with 

 an occasional colony of caterpillars on the leaves, embody 

 about all the insect enemies of the beech calling for any 

 special attention, but there are a host of different species 

 and kinds ever ready to pounce apon a sickly or dead 

 tree, whether found in the field or forest. 



Properties and Uses. — The beechnut has been so 

 long and favorably known that very little need be said 

 here in regard to its properties and uses. In the forests 



