60 



In the discussion of this subject Mr. Gillette said that he often 

 recommended the farmers of his State to grind the diseased and dead 

 grasshoppers as finelj^ as possible in plenty of water and then sprinkle 

 the watei" upon plants where the grasshopiDers were feeding. In his 

 opinion the disease germs are usually present, and the disease will 

 make its appearance when the climatic conditions are favorable. He 

 believes the only object in scattering the germs is to make more 

 certain the spread of the disease when other conditions are favorable. 



Mr. Cockerell was of the opinion that the diseases of insects would 

 not be effective in the destruction of scattered individuals, but that 

 wdiere insects were crowded together the introduction of disease would 

 meet with success. He thought Diuch good would result from the 

 dissemination of the diseases of insects. 



Mr. Hopkins then read the following i)aper: 



INSECTS DETRIMENTAL AND DESTRUCTIVE TO FOREST PRODUCTS 

 USED FOR CONSTRUCTING MATERIAL. 



By A. D. Hopkins, Morgantown, W. Va. 



There is constantly increasing complaint among the manufacturers 

 and consumers of construction timbers relating to the difficulty of 

 securing material that is free from defects caused hj wood-boring 

 insects. This trouble appears to be due to two conditions — one a 

 diminished supply of the best timber, the other that of increased 

 injury to forest trees by insects. 



The increase of insects is largely due, it is believed, to prevailing 

 crude and wasteful methods of lumbering and general forest manage- 

 ment. The old, defective, and undesirable trees are allowed to stand, 

 Avhich, with the stumps, refuse logs, and tops in the cuttings, serve as 

 breeding places for vast numbers of the kinds of insects which are to 

 blame for the injuries complained of, as well as for increased damage 

 to the standing timber in the remaining uncut forests. 



THE PRINCIPAL INSECTS. 



The principal insects which are injurious to the wood of forest 

 trees and their timber products may be briefly referred to as follows : 



The oak timber worm {EupsaJis minufa) is without doubt the worst 

 enemy of oak wood throughout the eastern, middle, and southern 

 United States. It breeds in old stumps and logs, dead and defective 

 standing trees, as well as in living trees, which it is ever ready to 

 enter through the slightest wound in the outer wood, and in a few 

 years the larvae of successive broods penetrate the heart wood and 

 extend their mines for a long distance above and below the original 

 entrance. Under favorable conditions the larvae will continue to 

 work in the heavy lumber and square timbers cut from trees thus 

 infested for manj' j^ears after it is taken from tlie woods and placed 

 in the structure. Especially is this true with reference to oak timber 



