FORESTRY DEPARTMENT. 



149 



particular kind of damage done by the in- 

 sects enumerated. There are 3 kinds 

 of damage to be differentiated, namely, 

 damage to the wood, damage to the 

 growth, damage to the life of the tree. 

 Naturally, the last kind is the most serious, 

 because it destroys without chance of re- 

 covery. Fortunately, there are but few 

 pests that cause death directly. The ma- 

 jority only undermine the vigor or consti- 

 tution of the ti ee, though a continuance, a 

 repetition or a renewal of the attack from 

 new pests may eventually kill the tree. 

 ^ The most dangerous and insidious ene- 

 mies are the bark beetles, which, boring 

 between the wood and bark, destroy the 

 cambium layer and the very life of the tree. 

 But, as a rule, they follow only as a second 

 to the first and more conspicuous invader, 

 the defoliator. These defoliators, of which 

 the gypsy moth is one, are, naturally, the 

 most annoying in the case of ornamental 

 trees, and they prepare the opportunities 

 for other pests also dreaded by the forester, 

 although the actual damage to the tree is 

 only in checking its growth, to some ex- 

 tent, if repeated or thorough defoliation oc- 

 curs, undermining its constitution. Num- 

 bers do the job! As long as there is no 

 extraordinary development of the pest, the 

 small damage is readily healed, but there 

 comes from time to time a season when the 

 development of insects is unusual and these 

 are the trying ones. Each insect has its 

 enemies which feed on it, and as a rule the 

 enemy develops in similar ratio to the host. 

 but when this balance in nature for some 

 reason is disturbed, then comes the danger. 



Here lies one of the philosophies that 

 must help us to discuss the means of fight- 

 ing the pest: namely, the favoring of the 

 enemies. This may go so far as abstaining 

 from the killing of the host, for thereby we 

 may, if the enemy be a parasitic animal, de- 

 veloping and living on the host, as the 

 ichneumonids do, destroy the enemy at the 

 same time. Who can tell whether if the 

 Gypsy Moth Commission had not tampered 

 with natural developments, the pest would 

 not have run its course and without ex- 

 penditure of money have died out by nat- 

 ural causes? 



There is, however, one kind of enemy 

 which we can foster without saving the 

 enemy, namely, the insectivorous birds. 

 There is closely connected with the preser- 

 vation and civilizing of our forests the call 

 for the preservation and protection of the 

 bird world, which will save hundredfold in 

 expenditures for insect fighting. 



The curious thing about this particular 

 gypsy moth is that in its native home it 

 does so little damage that it is almost un- 

 known, or is at least treated as a secondary 

 enemy, and the forester becomes ac- 

 quainted with it hardly in any other way 



than in the literature or study of insect col- 

 lections. 



This fact that a minor nuisance can be- 

 come a greater nuisance, if conditions 

 change, is significant for the future of our 

 forests, for while at present insect damage 

 is of small moment compared with the 

 other causes of destruction, it may become 

 a fertile source of danger when with in- 

 creased cultivation of the forests the oppor- 

 tunity for damage is increased, so it may be 

 said in future: When we had no forest- 

 ers we had no insect pests in the woods; 

 now that we have foresters the woods are 

 full of pests. 



AMERICAN LUMBER IN EUROPE. 



One often hears or reads the misleading 

 statement that forestry is only a modified 

 form of lumbering, and that the forestry 

 systems of the future will be simply an 

 outgrowth of the lumbering systems of to- 

 day. Lumbering, or forest utilization, is 

 simply the tail end of forestry. The lum- 

 berman mines the store of wood which 

 nature has spontaneously raised for him. 

 The time is coming when this supply will 

 be exhausted, and it will be necessary to 

 plant new forests or to gradually improve 

 or renovate the mangled forest lands which 

 the lumbermen leave. The lumberman 

 practices just the opposite of forestry. 

 When the forester cuts a tree he has always 

 in mind something beside the mere reap- 

 ing of a wood crop. He thinks always of 

 the young trees, of regenerating the forest, 

 of improving and perpetuating it, so it 

 will forever yield an interest on the capital 

 invested. The lumberman cuts always the 

 best, leaves the poorest and has always in 

 mind getting out of it the largest sum pos- 

 sible in the shortest length of time, regard- 

 less of the future. If the lumbermen of the 

 United States would agree to cut only the 

 increment of the forest the price of lumber 

 would increase and forestry would become 

 profitable. Many small concerns would 

 have to quit and the profits would be less, 

 but they would go on forever and the cap- 

 ital, or growing stock of the forest, would 

 increase in value. The percentage of for- 

 est land in Germr.ny is as great as that of 

 the United States. Every acre of forest 

 land is, by careful management, induced to 

 produce a large crop. By this intensive 

 method the yield is high. Rich families in 

 Europe are quite content to invest their 

 money in well managed forests, because 

 they produce a sure and lasting income. 



A good market for American forest prod- 

 ucts is not lacking. Yellow pine, which 

 grows spontaneously throughout our 

 South, is much admired in Europe and the 

 quantity exported increases every year. 

 Were we to properly exploit our great 

 Southern pine fields so that we could al- 



