28 



HISTORICAL REFERENCES. 



In the following paragraphs attention is called to a number of earl} 7 

 references to the death.of spruce in the forests from New York to New 

 Brunswick, probably caused by the spruce -destroying beetle: 



1818. — The earliest reference to dying spruce in the Northeast/is 

 probably that contained in a letter from Hon. R. H. Gardner to Mr. 

 A. G. Tenney, editor of the Brunswick, Me., Telegraph, and quoted by 

 Packard. 1 Mr. Gardner stated that "he had often heard his father 

 speak of a great destruction of timber east of the Penobscot in 1818." 

 Dr. Packard also states 2 that he was informed by Mr. E. A. Coe, who 

 got his information from General Smith, of Norridgewock, that "the 

 spruce growth about that town and Waterville early in this century 

 had been diseased and died very much as in the past few years." 



1831-82. — Another early record of dying spruce is that obtained by 

 Mr. Hough from a correspondent, Hon. Daniel W. Taylor, of Sher- 

 burne, Vt. 3 - 



181fO. — About the year 1880 Hough 4 was informed by a correspond- 

 ent in Newport, Sullivan County, N. H., "that some fort} 7 years ago 

 the mortality of the spruce timber was very great on the hills and 

 mountains in that part of the State * * *'." 



18^-1859. — When Professor Peck made his investigations of the 

 dying spruce in the Adirondacks, in 1874, 5 he learned that the spruce 

 had been dying for about fifteen years in Lewis County and that in 

 Rensselaer County the same destruction had been observed about 

 thirty years ago. 



1850. — About 1850 the spruce was said to have turned red and died 

 on about 500 acres at Irasburg, Vt. , which was supposed to have been 

 caused Iry worms, 6 



1871-1880 — Between 18.71 and 1880 great destruction occurred in the 

 spruce from New York to New Brunswick. Hough in 1882" quoted 

 information from a correspondent in Colton, St. Lawrence Comity, 

 N. Y., who says of a journey made in August, 1880: 



After getting about 40 miles tip the river we began to come into a region where 

 a large part of the spruce was dead and at least half of it had lost its value. From 

 such inquiries as could be made we learned that large portions of this timber were 

 destroyed, including the best qualities and trees of the largest size. These inju- 

 ries had been going on about ten years and were still in progress. The yield of 

 these timber lands was about 6,000 standard of 19-inch logs to the square mile. 



1 Fifth Report U. S. Ent. Com., p. 817. 



2 Ibid., p. 820. 



3 Report on Forestry, 1882, p. 262. 



4 Ibid., p. 262. 



5 Proc. Albany Inst., Vol. II, 1876, pp. 294-301; also Twenty-eighth Report New 

 York State Museum/ 1878, pp. 32-38. 



'Information from J. E. Jamson, Report on Forestry, 1882. pp. 262-263. 



: Report on Forestry, 1882, p. 263; see, also. Twenty-eighth and Thirtieth Reports 

 New York State Museum for much additional information bv Dr. Peck. 



