10 BULLETIN 11, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
are always injurious. Even if they do not kill the trees outright, 
they impair their vitality, lessen the rate of growth, and render 
them more susceptible to fatal attacks of destructive insects. 
Insects. 
The only insect enemy of loblolly pine to cause any serious damage 
in recent years is the southern pine beetle {Dendroctonus frontalis). 
It is important that this insect be watched for in stands under manage- 
ment. Whenever detected, steps should at once be taken to keep it 
under control. Apparently at long intervals, frequently of 20 years, 
it becomes so abundant as to cause widespread destruction of pine 
timber, a loss which could be averted in stands under management 
by proper precautions. The depredations frequently last several 
years unless measures are taken to control the insects. Other species 
of insects often follow in the wake of the Dendroctonus and feed on 
trees weakened or killed by its attacks. Sometimes they even attack 
and kill healthy uninfested trees in the same locality. But with the 
disappearance of the Dendroctonus in any particular locality the 
other species of beetles disappear also. This does not seem to be 
due so much to the measures taken to control the Dendroctonus as to 
the fact that these other insects are unable effectively to attack live 
pine timber unaided. However, though the southern pine beetle is 
the only insect causing serious damage to southern pines at present, 
it is possible that other species might sometimes become sufficiently 
numerous to cause extensive destruction. 1 
Whenever owners of loblolly-pine forests discover their timber to 
be dying in small patches and are unable to determine the cause, they 
should at once communicate with the Bureau of Entomology, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. 
Diseases. 
The principal disease to which loblolly pine is subject is that 
which causes red heart. Mycelia (spawn) of large polyporous fungi 
infest the woody tissue of the living tree, the hyphas (filaments) of 
the spawn destroying the walls of the wood cells, causing the wood 
to assume a reddish color and rendering it very brittle. Red heart 
is very rare in young loblolly pine — that is, under 75 years of age — 
but is quite common in old-growth trees from 150 to 200 years old. 
From the standpoint of future forest management this disease does 
i For a complete discussion of how to detect insect injury by the southern pine beetle and methods of 
controlling infestations the reader is referred to Farmers' Bulletin 476, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
by Dr. A. D, Hopkins, in charge of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology. Everyone 
managing loblolly pine forests should secure this bulletin. During 1910 and 1911 the Dendroctonus 
destroyed a considerable amount of pine timber in the South, though the insect has now been largely 
brought under control wherever owners of pine tracts have carried out the measures recommended in the 
publication. 
