r\ ^ T7I TE UlTCLE SiUI'S ITATUEIAIISTS HEL5ASE FridaV. February 12, 1932. 



FOR BROADCAST USE OlttY 



.'iI?-TCUlTCI2.IEITT ; How for our "bi-weekly visit with Uncle Sam*s ITaturali sts 

 of the United States Department of Agricfalture. Today, our WildsLian 

 tells us about the lookout service for detecting and reporting insect 

 ouforeaks in our forests and "big national parks T7ell, Mr, iTildman? 



7ell, you have all heard about fire fighting in our National For- 

 ests. You kDiow about the system of lookouts for detecting fires. And 

 the telephone lines through the woods for giving the alarm. And the crews 

 of fire figliters that are rushed to the scene of action. 



Of course, that is the most important and most spectacular part 

 of forest protection. Keeping fires down is cMef of the many jobs of 

 our famous forest rangers. But Dr . F. C. Craighead, in charge of the 

 forest insect division of the Bureau of Entomology, has been telling me 

 about that lesser known, but still highly important, system of scouting 

 by which insect outbreaks arc discovered and reported tlaroughout the vast 

 stretches of timber in our national forests and our national parks. 



Of course, you know insects at times do a tremendous amount of dairv- 

 age. Dr« Craighead points out that a tree is subject to attack by many 

 different kinds of insects at different stages of its growth. There are 

 insects which attack only the seedlings or baby trees. There are those which 

 attack only young trees. Others attack only nature trees. Some go after 

 the leaves. Other kinds infest twigs. Others are found attacking the limbs. 

 TTiiilc still others attack the bark on the trunk. 



Different kinds of insects attack different kinds of treos. Some 

 insects damage only one kind of timber. Trees of a different sort in the 

 same stond are loft undamaged. There seems to be an infinite variety to 

 this life in the woods. 



Of course, the insect legions also have their troubles. Some of 

 them arc preyed upon by othor insects, by different kinds of birds; and 

 we even have insect-eating animals. T7eather conditions talcc tlicir toll. 

 Also the natural enemies of insects tend to keep them dovm so tlia.t some 

 years the damage thoy do is not very noticeable. There are relatively few 

 very destructive insects. Some of those, however, axe very destructive. 

 Some are strong fliers, others spread more slowly from tree to tree. They 

 sweep through a forest as a veritable plague. In a single season they 

 may kill thousands of valuable timber trees and change a beautiful landscape 



