The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-12-19
CHECKS THE
RkVAGES OF TIMBER
. BEETLE IN SO. Dan.
Little Ozark Peelers" Driving
Out Destroyers OF Black
Hills Forests.

v NSIN - ~ $500
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 for-
ests, every year invading fresh areas,
The total amount Of pine destroyed py
Il is reckoned at not less than mi Dill
lion feet. board measure. At the pres
ent stumpage price of green timber IN
South Dakota this loss would amount
to S. 900, 900. 1t now appears tnat lts
maximum de~structiveness was reached
about two years ago, and II Is now on
the decline.
Fungus Gusts Beetles.
Two years ago the discovery was
made that a fungus was at work In
the timber, killed by the beetles, IN
which the broods were passing their IN
FAINT stages preparatory to taking night
to new forests. 1t was noted at that
time thai the fungus was fatal to the
young beetles, but the full extent or
the work done by h fungus has just
been made known In a report covering
Investigations OF many months by the
forest service.
The FUNGUS Is a bark peeler.'' Ex-
perts nave claimed all the time that
the beetles could be checked TX some
way could be found to peel b trees
in which the young broodsr are harbor-
ing. They live IN the inner bark n
next to the wood. When the bark is
separated from the wood their CALLER
les are laid open and they die. Efforts
have been mad in h 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
ire the affected areas that the few trees
peeled were not a drop in the bucket.
. Mans Inventions Fail.
Efforts were made at different times
b cut the dying timber. Tracts We're
pid to mill men. and large quantities
we're cut, but not enough to have n
appreciable effect on the beetle In
vasion. Wood peckers helped the work
along. They fiocked to h dying trees
by hundreds and stripped them OF theaR
bark and deVoured h young beetles
by the million. But that was not
enough. The pest had gained such
Roadway that It was beyond the power
Of bark peelers, log cutters and WOOD
peckers.
Meanwhile the peculiar fungus was
gaining Roadway and getting In its
work. 1t appears In the form OF a
grayish slime between h bark and
wood. 1t makes the bark loose n II
falls, leaving h trees bare, and bring
ing down the multitudes OF young
1919 - AIAaA AL 14a " nr 20 tho
bark still hangs on the trunks, the eff
feet on the beetles is equally fatal. for
they die in the galleries and larva
mines. W.
Beetle Is D~efenseIess.
The habits and life history of this
Bark beetle render II de~fenselesS when
&ttacked by the fungus. The parent
9eetle bores a gallery several inches
long In 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 n grow
ing. Their depredations kill the most
vital part of the tree--the cambium,
though the tops and needles do not
Guccumb CT once and 1t is at that stage
that the fungus appears and brings the
career OF the beetle brood to a close.
In normal conditions 1t probably nre@
a few lightning struck trees in the
proper decline to suit its purposes, or
Il may attack storm thrown timber,
but 1t IL not numerous enough to kIll
trees, and its invasion can not gain
Roadway. But when some unusual cor
dition-such al caused by a hurricane
sweeping over q large timber area--pro-
yides a start, the beetles may increase
In numbers until they are able to at.
tack vigorous trees and kill them, and
In fact when the epidemic is at its
height they almost invariably attack
living trees. '"
Will Save Forests.
That is what has happened in tho
Black Hills. The invasion continues
until some enemy reduces the beetle.
below the point where they are able Il
kill timber. That puts an end to the I'm.
vasion. This is, apparently, what thu
fungus is accomplishing I'm the Blacl
Hills at this time.