558 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



chestnut, not only by reason of their direct effect where they kill the tree 

 outright, but also by exposing its interior to the attacks of fungi and in- 

 sects. In addition, such fires impoverish the soil by burning out the 

 humus, thus materially lessening its fertility. Reproduction also re- 

 ceives a setback because seedlings, young sprouts, or nuts lying on the 

 ground ready for germination, are easily killed. Forest fires have been 

 abundant throughout tbe range of the chestnut tree, and it is reasonably 

 certain that they have been much more frequent since the white man has 

 settled these parts of North America. In the southern Appalachians, 

 the deadly work of fire, followed by insects and fungi, is to be seen on 

 every hand. In this connection the following citations give us some con- 

 ception of the general condition of the chestnut in the southern Appal- 

 achians. 



Dr. Mohr, 13 speaking of the chestnut in Alabama, say- : 



The chestnut, usually one of the most frequent trees of these forests, is at 

 present rarely found in perfection. The older trees mostly show signs of decay, 

 and the seedlings, as well as the coppice growth proceeding from the stumps, 

 are more or less stunted. It is asserted by the old settlers that this tree is dying 

 out all over the mountainous regions, where at the beginning of the second half of 

 the century it was still abundant and in perfection. 



W. W. Ashe, 14 says: 



For many years t he chestnut on the lower mountains in the southeastern por- 

 tion of the state has been dying out, a few trees at a time. . . . Some of these 

 are killed by the two-lined chestnut borer, but while this decline is in part due 

 to the ravages of the borer, it seems to be due more to excessive burning and to 

 the consequent destruction of hum us and impoverishment of the soil. 



W. P. Corsa, 15 states: 



From causes not well undersl 1. there is a marked decline in the vigor of the 



chestnut throughout the broad area of territory in the southern states where the 

 white man found this tree among the most thrifty of the original forests. Down to 

 the first quarter of the present century there seems to have been no mention of a 

 trouble in the chestnuts of that section. Within the memory of residents of tha 

 Gulf States the chestnut flourished in all their higher lands. In point of time 

 the trouble seems to have begun in the most southern limit of chestnut growth, 

 and there the destruction has been most complete. It has pushed its encroach- 

 ments throughout Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, and is 

 now reported in the strongholds of chestnut growth in North Carolina, Tennes- 

 see and Virginia. 



Buttrick, 16 in a study of the conditions in Xorth Carolina, -ays: 



is Mohr, Charles, loc. tit., p. 61. 



14 Ashe, W. W., "Chestnut in Tennessee." State Geol. Survey of Tennessee, 

 published in cooperation with the Forest Service. U. S. Dept. of Agr. Bull., 

 10-B, p. 11, 1912. 



is Corsa, W. P., "Nut Culture in the United States," Unnumbered Bull, of 

 Div. of Pomology, U. S. Dept. of Agric, 1896, p. 78. 



16 Quoted by permission, from the manuscript of a report on the chestnut 

 in North Carolina, prepared by P. L. Buttrick, under the joint direction of the 



