Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-12-21
FUNGUS CHECKS The
RAVAGES OF TIMBER
BEETLE IN SO. OAK,
LlttIe Ozark Peelers" DriVinj
Out Destroyers Of Black
Hills Forests.

Washington, u. g., Dec lG.-The bark
beetle, which for several years has
/ been working havoc in the valuable
pine timber Of the Black Hills. South
Dakota has apparently been given a
check by a fungus which finds In the
| dying trees a congenial place OF lodg-
ment, and at the same time Kills the
beetles in the bark. There Is hope that
the worst OF the scourge In that re-
gion has passed
For ten years this beetle has been
sweeping through the Black Hills Tor
, ests every year invading fresh areas.
| The total amount of pine destroyed by
II Is reCkoned at not less than one BILL
lion feet board measure. At the pres
ent stumpage price of green timber IN
South Dakota this loss would amount
to Sc. 600 00G II now appears that It's
maximum destructiveness was reached
about two years ago, and IL is now Oh
the decline
Fungus Gusts Beetles,
Two years ago the discovery was
rIade that a fungus was at work In
the timber, killed by the beetles, in
which the broods were passing their In
to new forests. IL was noted at that
time that the fungus was fatal TO the
young beetles bat the full extent OF
the work done by the fungus has just
been made known In report covering
Investigations OF many months by the
forest service.
The fungus is bark peeler." Ex-
perts have claimed an the time that
the beetles could be checked II some
way could be found to peel the trees
tn which the young bToOds are harbor-
ing. They live in the inner bark and
next TO the wood When the bark is
separated from the wood their CALLER
les are laid open and they die. Efforts
have been made IN the affected dis
tricts To peel standing trees Ma
chinery has been made for that express
purpose, and trunks were stripped TO a
height OF twenty feet But so large
are the affected areas that the few trees
peeled were not a drop in the bucket.
Mans inventions Fail.
Efforts were made at different times
to cut the dying timber Tracts were
sold to mill men, and large quantities
were cut, but not enough 10 have amy
appreciable effect on the beetle in
vasion Wood peCkers helped the work
along. They hocked to the dying trees
by hundreds and stripped them Of their
bark ana devoured the young beetles
by the million. But that was not
enough The pest had gained such
heddway that il was beyond the power
Of bark peelers, log cutters and wood
peCkers.
Meanwhile the peculiar fungus was
gaining headway and getting In its
work. IL appears In the form OF a
grayish slime between the bark and
wood. II makes the bark loose and II
fails, leaving the trees bare, and bring
ing down the multitudes OF young
beetles 10 their certain death or, If the
bark still hangs on the trunks the ef
feet on the beetles is equally fatal. for
they die in the galleries and larVa
mines
Beetle is Defenseless.
The habits and life history OF this
bark beetle render Il defenseless when
attacked by the fungus. The parent
beetle bores gallery several inches
long I'm the inner layers of bark grow
ing the wood. Eggs are deposited at
intervals along both sides of the gal
lery. often as many as sixty or seventy.
These eggs hatch, and while in the lar.
val state, they bore short galleries at
right angles TO the parent tunnel They
remain there a year, eating and grow
ing. Their depredations kill the most
vital part of the tree-the cambium
though the tops and needles do not
that the fungus appears and brings the
career of the beetle brood TO a close
In normal conditions 1t probably finds
a few lightning struck trees I'm the
proper decline to suit its purposes. or
II may attack storm thrown timber,
but II is nor numerous enough to kin
trees ana its invasion can not gain
headway. But when some unusual con
dition-suCh as caused by a hurricane
sweeping over a large timber area-pro-
vides q start the beetles may Increase
I'm numbers until they are able to at
tack vigorous trees and kill them. and
I'm fact when the epidemic is at it's
height they almost Invariably attack
living trees
Will Save Forests.
That is what has happened in the
Black Hills Tho invasion continues
until some enemy reduces the beetles
below the point where they are able to
Kill timber That puts an end TO the in
vasion This is apparently, what the
fungus is accomplishing in the Black
Hills at this time