10 INSECTS INJUBIOUS TO FORESTS. 



phone-pole borer was found in several poles, and this beetle was evi- 

 dently just beginning to attack these poles. There was some damage 

 by a round-headed borer." No white ants or termites were present, 

 and this is evidently too far north for these destructive borers. A 

 report by inspectors of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com- 

 pany and the Forest Service on the remainder of the poles in this 

 test line (between Jamestown and Buffalo, N. Y.) not personally 

 inspected by the writer, showed that these conclusions can be applied 

 to all the poles in the line with the exception that there was super- 

 ficial injury by small black ants to two poles treated by brush treat- 

 ments of carbolineum avenarius and to two treated with wood creo- 

 sote; also, as the inspection progressed, injury by the chestnut tele- 

 phone-pole borer became more abundant and serious, and the borers 

 seemed to be established in the poles. The poles treated by the creo- 

 sote "open-tank" method of impregnation and by brush treatments 

 with creosote and with "S. P. F." carbolineum remained uninjured. 



Methods of treating poles superficially by brushing with various 

 preservatives have proved to be temporarily efficient in keeping 

 wood-boring insects out, if the work is thoroughly done and not only 

 the butt, but also the base, is treated. If the pole is not thoroughly 

 brushed, insects enter through the untreated or imperfectly treated 

 portions, especially through weathering checks and knots. Where 

 the base is left untreated, insects, especially white ants or termites, 

 enter the pole from below ground and, avoiding the treated portions, 

 come right up through the pole. 



The few poles of southern yeUow pine in a line near Bartley, N. J., 

 inspected on July 15, 1910, which had been impregnated with creo- 

 sote by the Bethell cylinder-pressure process, 12 pounds of oil to the 

 cubic foot, and had been set in the ground since February, 1903, 

 were apparently absolutely free from signs of decay or damage by 

 wood-boring insects. In another line, running between Norfolk, Va., 

 and Washington, D. C, the few poles (12 years old, of squared— 

 with the sapwood cut away— southern yellow pine) inspected on 

 August 10, 1910, near Portsmouth, Va., which had been impregnated 

 with creosote by the Bethell cylinder-pressure process, were also 

 apparently absolutely sound. 



Thus, it is evident that impregnating the poles with creosote by 

 some standard process (either the open-tank or the cylinder-pressure 

 processes) will keep wood-boring insects out and preserve the poles 

 for a much longer period than they would last untreated. In the 

 open-tank method only the area most subject to the attacks of wood- 

 boring insects and deterioration in general (i. e., the basal 8 feet) is 

 treated, while by the cyhnder-pressure processes the entire pole is 

 impregnated. Altern ating less susceptible jumper (red cedar)* poles 



a Prionus sp. 6 Juniperus virginiana. 



