Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-03
KILLING THE HEML0CK
Ravages of the Measuring Worm in
the Timber Districts.
THE TENDER FOLIAGE Is ALL GONE.
Wood-ChopperS Completely Surrounded by
the CreeperS.
THEIR APPEARANCE UNPRECEDENTED

ESPECIAL TRLKGRAMs TO THE DIsPArcu.]
BRADFORD, Aug. 2.-Potter county is
alarmed, and with good cause, over the
rayages of worm that is destroying the
foliage and killing off the hemlock timber.
Only about five days ago it was noticed by
lumbermen that the tops of the heavy tim
Der on the mountains were turning brown
as though the trees were dying. The trees
looked exactly rs though they had gone
through a forest fire or were whitening up
for lack of irrigation. An investigation
was at once set on foot by the lumbermen
interested, and it was discovered that the
affected trees were covered with nlyriads of
worms The worms were eating the green
and tender foliage of this years growth,
and when that had disappeared turned their
attention to the growth of the preceding
year, the woody twig not being touched.
\ remarkable scene is presented in the
"choppings" where the bark peelers are at
work. The worms are swarming about the
men by the millions, while on all the trees
from Coudersport to Port Allegany miles
and miles of trees are turning brown, and
ruin is threatened to the vast lumber inter-
ests of that section.
IT Is A LITTLE WORM
The worm that is doing the damage is of
the measuring worm species, about an
inch long, and barely an eighth of an inch in
diameter. The depredations are taking in
such vast area that experts have already
been placed on their track, and the follow
ing accurate description Is furnished:
The worm is covered with spots on each
side, and has ten legs, six in front and four
awkward props behind. In moving it
hance m
measuring worm" The appearance of the
worm in such vast numbers is unprece-
dented in this region, and grave fears are
entertained in Potter county that the forage
of the worm means the entire destruction Of
the growing timber and injury to the old
trees.
An effort has been made to stop the ad-
vance of the worm, but il is too late this sea-
son to even make an effort toward saving
the bark, and the timber is already greatly
damaged. Reports from Glen Hazel, Elk
county, and from the east side of that coun-
ty, state that the same worm, in countless
is devastating the hemlock there.
TOTAL DESTRUCTION THREATENED.
As it is said that the continued ravages OF
this worm mean the total destruction of
young hemlock and the crippling of the |
timber and drying up its bark, a |
crisis confronts the whole population of the |
entire hemlock region of New York and |
as tho worm is steadily ad- |
vancing and spreading, and owing |
to the great numbers working de- |
struction with inconceivable rapidity. Not |
only the lumbermen are concerned, but the |
farmers railroad men, and in fact |
everyone, for this is pre-eminently hem
lock region from Elmira, n. Y, to Punxsu-
tawney, Pa, thousands of men being en-
ployed in the bark and lumber interests and I
millions of capital invested.
The life of the worm is from four to six
weeks, when its death gives birth to fly or
Enat. They are exceedingly voracious, and
during the brief period OF their existence
Eat several thousand times their own weight
IF growing vegetation. Though this horde
IF worms may only be transient visitation,
still there is nothing known here of them or
heir ravages, even the Oldest lumbermen
stating that they had never seen them be-
ore. Some of the worms, with specimens of
heir destructive work, have been sent to the
Agricultural Department at Harrisburg.