Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-08-04
DESTROYER OF FORESTS
New Worm Whose Bite Is Death
to Pine Trees.
F0REsTERs GREATLY ALARMED,

Destruction-worm Comes From n
Bark Beetles Egg.
: After years of effort and constant
vigilance the general land Office,
through it's field officers, has taken up
/ and successfully stamped out to a
! great degree, the depredators which
| worked such devastation in the great
/ forest areas of the west. BY strict reg
/ ulations the human depredator was sup
/ pressed, If not exterminated, and by an
! adequate force of forest officials the
! fire depredator has been held in check,
and damage wrought by this element
! has been reduced to the minimum.
But now comes a new depredator,
/ which has just been called to the at
tention of the land office, says the
! Washington correspondent of the st.
! Paul Pioneer Press. 1t is the insect
or worm that is making great In
1 roads into the forests of South Dakota
| and laying waste great areas of yalu-
able timber. This worm Is a new ar
/ rival, and little is known of him. The
/ first time the officials in Washington
|
| deadly operations was but a few weeks
! ago, and since then they have been
! studying his anatomy and his ways,
/ in the hopes of at least giving him a
! name and a classification.
| At the present time there are at
! least two townships in the Spearfish
| river district of the Black Hills forest
reserve which have been visited by
this pest. and fully 80 per cent Of the
! trees over that area have been killed
! and a half of those remaining have
! been infected and viii die. Foresters
| in that region have become greatly
! alarmed at the deadly work of the I'M
known depredator. They say he began
his operations west and southwest of
! Deadwood and is now moving in a
/ southeasterly direction, with no signs
of stopping, and it is feared that if the
advance cannot be checked in some
way a great part Of one of the finest
! pine forests will be destroyed.
From what little information is OBJ
tainable it is supposed that this worm
grows from an egg deposited by some
/ species of dark beetle. The egg is de
posted under the bark and there
matches. The resulting worm is a com
mon white worm. sometimes an inch or
an inch and a quarter in length white
throughout, except its head. a bright
shiny brown. He seems to possess
marvellous vitality, as shown by sam
pie which was sent to Washington.
Commissioner Hermann of the general
land office now has on his desk q
| vial. tightly corked, containing one of
the larger worms. This worm was
| placed in the bottle and corked up
! nearly two months ago and since then
has had neither air nor nourishment,
| except possibly such air as would leak
! through an ordinary cork, and today
! the worm is alive and more active than
| when he first reached Washington.
Samples of pine from the Spearish
/ district were submitted with the worm
to show the effect of his bite 1t seems
that when he attains the requisite
strength he sets out to bore around the
! tree. under the bark, apparently living
! on the sap. 1t is his bite that is fatal,
! for wherever he eats his way he leaves
n trail behind, which soon discolors
the wood the discoloration working
clear to the heart of the tree. Wood
which is normally white turns steel
| gray and loses all its sap and strength,
1t is at once rendered understandable
by discoloration and loss of strength.
One worm in time will kill a tree, but
| it is generally found that each dead
tree has its army of little white pests.
Another remarkable feature connect
ed with this depredator is that he may
infest a tree and poison it completely,
and yet his presence will not be known
for months. He is only detected by
borings through the bark, which occur
at frequent intervals, and these are
seen only on close inspection. Out
wardly the tree remains unchanged
for n long time, the first sign of de-
struction being the dscoloration of the
foliage, which gradually assumes g
faded brown appearance, not easily
deteGed ut first, but yet peculiarly dis
tinctige. inasmuch at it is not the same
fading that accompanies the natural
death of the tree. After the foliage
has deadened, the tree stands. weak
and lettering, until a wind strikes II.
and then, from sheer lack of strength,
it topples over. The poisoned pine
cannot withstand even a light wind, so
much has its strength been impaired
Commissioner Hermann, in speaking
of this terrible depredator, said: That
worm, whatever it may be, is one of
the most dangerous destroyers of for
ests that have ever come to the atten-
ton of this Office. Our knowledge Of
him is decidedly meager, but every eff
fort is being made TO learn more
Samples Of the bug and his workings
have been sent to the experts at the ag-
ricultural department. in hopes that they
may be able to define the insect and
give us some remedy for his poisonous
bite. Until we have that information
we scarcely know how to act. At this