OUR FORESTS Dy) 
less other things that give us comfort; that watershed protection has 
been impaired; and that just so many more acres of forest play- 
erounds have been taken from us. Is it not therefore the duty of 
every good citizen to be careful of fire when in the woods? 
Six simple rules to prevent fires in the woods are: 
1. Marcurs.—Be sure your match is out. Break it in two before 
you throw it away. : 
2. Topacco.—Be sure that pipe ashes and cigar or cigarette stubs 
are dead before throwing them away. Never throw them into brush, 
leaves, or needles. 
3. Maxine a Camprire.—Before building a campfire scrape away 
all inflammable material from a spot 10 feet in diameter. Dig a 
hole in the center and in it build your fire. Keep your fire small. 
Never build it against trees or logs, or near brush. 
4. Breaking Camp.—Never break camp until your fire is out— 
dead out—cold. 
5. How To Pur Our 4 Camprire.—stir the coals while soaking them 
with water. Turn charred sticks and drench both sides. Wet the 
ground around the fire. Be sure the last spark is dead. 
6. Brusa Burnrnc.—Get a burning permit from the ranger or 
fire warden if your State law requires it. Have plenty of help and 
fire-fighting tools handy. Never burn slash or grass or brush in 
windy weather, or while there is the slightest danger that the fire 
will get away. 
INSECTS 
Insects are constantly injuring the forest, just as year by year they 
bring loss to the farm. Occasionally their ravages attain enormous 
proportions. Conifers are much more likely to suffer seriously from 
the attacks of insects than are broadleaf trees. This is especially true 
of some of the pines of the West and South which have been greatly 
damaged by bark beetles. The western pine beetle is to be found in 
the ponderosa-pine forests of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast 
States. It generally attacks the trees in swarms and burrows into the 
living bark. The female insects excavate galleries in the inner layer 
of bark and deposit their eggs. After the eggs hatch, the larvae in 
turn bore their way through the bark until they have completed their 
growth. Their galleries serve to cut off the natural movement of the 
sap and kill the trees by completely girdling them. The larvae then 
bore into the outer corky bark, where they make little cells in which 
they are transformed, first to the pupa and later to the adult stage. 
The adults work their way out through the bark and fly in swarms 
to living trees, there to continue their depredations. The southern pine 
beetle, closely related to the western pine beetle, works in much the 
same way. It attacks and kills pines of all species occurring within its 
range, which includes the Southeastern and Gulf States. 
Another extremely bad example of insect attack is that of the gipsy 
moth, which many years ago became established in New England. 
It attacks the oaks and several other broadleaf trees and destroys mixed 
woodlands if not checked. The tent caterpillars, the spruce budworm, 
pine tipmoth, and various borers are other insects that cause losses 
to the forests. 
