158 FOREST PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION 
collecting them. If an insect net or a light vessel containing a 
small quantity of kerosene or crude petroleum is held at one side 
of the leader, and the other side is tapped with a stick, the insect 
will invariably fall into the receptacle. 
If an insect net is used, this should be emptied from time to 
time in a vessel of kerosene or petroleum, a thorough bath in which 
is always fatal. This collection and destruction of adults should be 
repeated at intervals of a week or ten days during the height of the 
egg-laying period. In southern Maine this would usually be from 
the beginning of warm days late in April, till early in June, when 
most of the adults have disappeared. Three or four thorough 
collections made in this manner will very much reduce the number 
of infested leaders, but those dying later should be removed and 
treated as recommended above. If these recommendations are fol- 
lowed thoroughly and conscientiously for several years, it will result 
in a very material lessening in the number of the weevil and if they 
are supplemented by widespread and thorough destruction of the 
infested parts of natural growth, the weevil will soon be entirely 
under control. But the work must be thorough, and to be lasting 
must be widespread. 
Indeed, scientifically there seems to be no reason why the pine 
weevil should not, be controlled throughout the state—or indeed 
throughout its range—and their numbers so reduced that a pine 
or spruce infested by them should become a rarity. There is no 
real reason why the “stag-horn” pines and the “bushy” pines along 
the roadsides and in the woodlots and plantations should not give 
place to symmetrical trees growing in the way nature intended 
them to grow; no reason why the present unsightly, stunted trees 
should not be replaced by objects of real beauty, and from being of 
no value, become the producers of the most valuable timber it is 
possible to grow in the state. The writer thoroughly believes that 
the control of the pine weevil is a practical proposition. All that 
is necessary is a concerted, codperative effort by all land owners, 
directed and aided by a corps of experts employed by the State. 
The cost for a few years would be considerable, but it would not be 
excessive when the increased value of the woodlands is taken into 
consideration. The State would be a more attractive place to live 
in, and the coming generations would not only receive a heritage of 
greater beauty, but could also reap a crop of immensely greater 
value. 
Even if state-wide efforts at controlling the pine weevil are not 
undertaken, much can be accomplished by co-operative community 
