SOUBCES OF HARM TO THE FOREST. 27 



same cause. The oaks^are much less badly damaged than on the pla- 

 teau. Of all the coves Lost Creek has suffered most from tire and 

 shows the greatest damage l>v insects. 



Besides the wood and bark boring insects, there are many which 

 feed or live on the foliage and twigs of the trees. Leaf and twig 

 galls are common on the oaks, especially on young White Oak. The 

 leaves of the oaks, particularly Chestnut Oak. are eaten by miners, 

 which are common also on the foliage of Chestnut, Red Maple, Sugar 

 Maple, Black Willow, the dogwoods, Cucumber-tree, Umbrella-tree, 

 Locust, Tulip-tree., and Sycamore. The caterpillars of butterflies, 

 moths, and beetles eat many leaves from the elms, oaks, hickories, 

 Chestimt. Butternut. Sassafras, Locust, Black Willow, and Red 

 Maple. The rolled leaves of the Sycamore, Locusts, and Black 

 Willows show an injury caused by caterpillars. Plant lice and scale 

 insects are found on the oaks, White Ash, Red Maple, Locust, and 

 Tulip-tree. Acorns, chestnuts, and hickory nuts are much infested 

 by weevils. 



DAMAGE DONE BV WIND. 



Trees are blown down here and there on the exposed plateau, but 

 there is never a considerable windfall. Chestnuts on the ridges, espe- 

 cially when laden with nuts, and trees burned at the base, or decayed, 

 are unable to withstand a heavy wind. (PL VI, fig. 2.) The shelter 

 of the coves prevents windfall, except in the case of those trees grow- 

 ing near the tops of the slopes whose crowns, rising above the plateau 

 edge, are imperfectly protected. 



While few trees in the coves are overthrown by wind, the timber of 

 many of them is badly damaged by windshake. Shagbark suffers 

 most; Pignut and Butternut are also affected, and Tulip-tree has often 

 a crack half an inch wide following' a ring- in the timber. 



ABUSE OF CUTTING PRIVILEGES. 



Under the lax forest management of the University excessive abuse 

 of the forest was formerly tolerated. Tenants once cut timber with- 

 out restraint, not only from their own leaseholds, but from unleased 

 lands. The permission of the University was not always asked. The 

 result was that trees were cut for a bit of timber needed at the 

 moment and the unused portion left in the woods. Trees felled for 

 rails were discarded if they did not split readily. Sometimes a bare 

 2 feet were rived into boards from the butt of a good tree and the rest 

 went to feed forest fires. The practice of "sampling" standing trees 

 was common. In the hunt for a piece of timber out of which good 

 boards could be made with a minimum amount of work the chopper 

 cut a deep hole in every promising tree and scrutinized its grain. 

 Sometimes a dozen trees were ruined before one was selected. 



