CONTROL OF GIPSY MOTH BY FOREST MANAGEMENT. 7 
quantity of the white pine is suitable only for box boards, and a 
large portion, possibly 75 per cent, of the deciduous growth is suit- 
able only for fuel. 
The composition and physical condition of woods subject to gipsy- 
moth infestation have a very important bearing on the extent of the 
damage which may ensue therefrom. Coniferous trees grown in 
pure stands are immune from any considerable damage. The ashes 
are seldom attacked, and the red maple, sugar maple, hickories, and 
chestnut are not seriously affected. The proportions of such species 
occurring in stands have considerable influence upon the degree of 
damage done. Trees weakened by drought, fungi, fire, suppression, 
or other unfavorable growing conditions can offer only a weak 
resistance to the effects of defoliation and so are much more likely 
to succumb than vigorous trees. 
The presence of dying and weakened trees in a wood is very objec- 
tionable, inasmuch as such trees harbor injurious borers, and these 
multiply rapidly when favorable conditions for their entrance into 
other trees are provided by defoliation. 
The forests of the infested region are highly valued for their at- 
tractiveness and the protection they afford. There is probably no 
region in which the esthetic features of woods are more valued than 
in New England, and there are numerous instances where they are 
maintained largely out of consideration for their appearance. Woods 
thus maintained are generally of better quality than others, but there 
is usually a chance to increase the commercial value of many such 
stands. Such improvement would not impair esthetic values. 
It is quite impossible to appraise the damage inflicted upon owners 
of woods by gipsy moths. The woods vary so much in composition 
and quality, and individual trees suffer in such varying degree, that 
there is no available basis for such an estimate. The esthetic value 
which an owner or community places upon woods adds to the difhi- 
culty of such an appraisal. Individuals and communities have fre- 
quently gone to large expense to protect inferior stands of timber 
against the ravages of the gipsy moth, and in such cases the reduction 
of infestations is of greater importance than the conservation of the 
woods alone, since adjoining fruit and shade trees are thereby pro- 
tected. 
The scarcity and corresponding values of forest products of good 
quality in New England appear to justify an outlay in improvement 
measures. Trees capable of producing only material of low value 
should be removed and replaced by more valuable species. Defective 
and dying individuals should be made to give way to vigorous trees. 
Trees growing on sites on which other species will yield greater values 
should be replaced by such species. The complexity of many stands 
