588 



CONSERVATION 



dant, the chestnut trees being two to 

 one over any other kind of tree. 



The microscope revealed the spores 

 taken from chestnut trees as far north 

 m the Hudson Valley as Newburg, 

 Beyond this point the limit has not been 

 ascertained. During the past summer 

 a careful examination was made on 

 each side of the Kaaterskill Cove in the 

 Catskill Mountains and the chestnut 

 trees were found to be not infected. 

 The trees in the Hudson Valley at 

 Palenville were found to be in a healthy 

 condition. A visit to Hudson City and 

 Athens gave opportunity to examine the 

 growth on each side of the river, but 

 evidently the disease has not yet pene- 

 trated so far inland. From reports the 

 infection has appeared in the neighbor- 

 hood of Philadelphia and in western 

 Connecticut. 



Extent of damage. — A conservative 

 estimate would place the extent of dam- 

 age at not less than $10,000,000. It is 

 difficult to estimate the value of a tree. 

 The writer examined a beautiful chest- 

 nut tree, just north of Catskill City. 

 The trunk two feet above the ground 

 measured fourteen feet six inches in 

 circumference, and the line from the 

 tips of the branches directly opposite 

 was over 100 feet. The owner would 

 not take $50 for that one tree. 



Remedy. — Various suggestions have 

 been made to save infected trees. Spray- 

 ing with fungicide mixtures, such as 

 bordeaux has not produced satisfactory 

 results. The growing mycelium threads 

 of the parasite are beneath the bark. 

 It is purely a hypophloeus growth and 

 thus escapes the effects of the spray. 

 Some of the thread-like masses of sum- 

 mer (conidial) spores would be washed 

 away, but other bundles of spores will 

 exude from the same pustules. Ex- 

 periments with arsenical compounds 

 commonly known as insecticides have 



not been efficaceous. Neither Paris 

 green nor London purple is of any ap- 

 preciable value. 



The cutting away of infected parts 

 and coating the wound with tar is not 

 productive of good results. It would 

 require a most careful microscopic ex- 

 amination to determine how far back to 

 cut, for the reason that the thread cells 

 of the fungus have penetrated beyond 

 the discoloration of the bark. The cut- 

 ting remedy is not only expensive, but 

 impracticable from the difficulty of de- 

 termining all points of infection from 

 the trunk to the outermost tips of all the 

 branches. And when the surgical op- 

 eration has been complete what kind of 

 symmetrical tree is left? Suggestions 

 of injecting a fluid beneath the bark, 

 and into the roots of the tree have been 

 made and reports of such trials are at 

 hand, but in no case has an experiment 

 been successful in staying the ravages 

 without at the same time injuring the 

 tree. A remedy that is as injurious as 

 the work of the parasite is not worthy 

 of consideration. The ground about 

 the tree has been saturated with liq- 

 uids containing various ingredients, 

 and again nothing worth reporting has 

 resulted from the effort. 



Insect pests may be held in check in 

 various ways. Birds devour the eggs 

 and the larvae. While the larvae are 

 feeding upon the leaves or boring 

 through the wood poisonous sprays 

 and fumigation may be resorted to for 

 their extermination. 



Although a remedy is not at hand, 

 yet man has overcome greater prob- 

 lems. Certainly the problem is now de- 

 manding prompt attention, since the 

 entire chestnut growth of this country 

 is seriously threatened. There is great 

 consolation in the fact that, so far, all 

 other forest trees have been immune. 



