﻿37 
  

  

  THURSDAY 
  AFTERNOON, 
  DECEMBER 
  14, 
  1911. 
  

  

  President 
  iMorris 
  : 
  The 
  meeting 
  is 
  called 
  to 
  order. 
  The 
  first 
  paper 
  

   this 
  afternoon 
  will 
  be 
  that 
  by 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  Franklin 
  Collins 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  

   States 
  Department 
  of 
  Agriculture, 
  on 
  the 
  chestnut 
  bark 
  disease. 
  

  

  THE 
  CHESTNUT 
  BARK 
  DISEASE. 
  

   J. 
  Franklin 
  Collins, 
  Washington, 
  D. 
  C. 
  

  

  I 
  presume 
  some 
  of 
  you 
  know 
  as 
  much 
  about 
  certain 
  features 
  of 
  

   this 
  chestnut 
  disease 
  as 
  I 
  do 
  myself 
  ; 
  for 
  I 
  have 
  only 
  worked 
  over 
  certain 
  

   sides 
  of 
  the 
  whole 
  question. 
  I 
  also 
  presume 
  that 
  you 
  are 
  all 
  acquainted 
  

   with 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  this 
  disease, 
  which 
  is 
  known 
  as 
  chestnut 
  blight 
  or 
  the 
  

   chestnut 
  bark 
  disease, 
  is 
  without 
  doubt 
  the 
  most 
  serious 
  disease 
  of 
  any 
  

   forest 
  tree 
  which 
  we 
  have 
  had 
  in 
  this 
  country 
  at 
  any 
  time, 
  that 
  is, 
  so 
  

   far 
  as 
  its 
  inroads 
  at 
  present 
  appear 
  to 
  suggest. 
  

  

  I 
  want 
  to 
  call 
  your 
  attention 
  to 
  certain 
  general 
  historical 
  

   facts 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  the 
  disease, 
  facts 
  which 
  are 
  familiar 
  to 
  some 
  

   of 
  you, 
  but 
  unfamiliar 
  possibly 
  to 
  others. 
  The 
  Forester 
  of 
  the 
  Bronx 
  

   Zoological 
  Park, 
  Dr. 
  Merkel, 
  discovered 
  in 
  the 
  fall 
  of 
  1904, 
  or 
  had 
  his 
  

   attention 
  particularly 
  called 
  in 
  1904 
  to 
  the 
  fact, 
  that 
  a 
  good 
  many 
  

   chestnut 
  trees 
  were 
  dying 
  in 
  his 
  vicinity, 
  a 
  number 
  sufficient 
  to 
  have 
  

   attracted 
  especial 
  attention. 
  He 
  looked 
  at 
  the 
  matter 
  carefully, 
  and 
  

   decided 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  definite 
  disease 
  on 
  these 
  trees. 
  He 
  handed 
  

   specimens 
  over 
  to 
  Doctor 
  Murrill 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  York 
  Botanical 
  Garden; 
  

   who 
  worked 
  out 
  the 
  disease, 
  and 
  decided 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  new 
  fungus 
  

   which 
  was 
  causing 
  the 
  trouble. 
  He 
  named 
  it 
  Diaporthe 
  parasitica, 
  

   the 
  name 
  under 
  which 
  it 
  is 
  generally 
  known 
  today, 
  although 
  there 
  is 
  

   some 
  question 
  as 
  to 
  whether 
  that 
  is 
  the 
  one 
  which 
  should 
  be 
  applied 
  to 
  

   it. 
  This, 
  you 
  remember, 
  was 
  in 
  1904-^in 
  the 
  fall. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  publication 
  which 
  appeared 
  on 
  the 
  disease 
  was 
  in 
  1906, 
  

   as 
  I 
  recall 
  it. 
  The 
  publication 
  which 
  then 
  appeared 
  was 
  Doctor 
  Mur- 
  

   rill's 
  upon 
  his 
  investigations. 
  The 
  disease 
  has 
  spread 
  very 
  rapidly 
  

   since 
  then, 
  so 
  that 
  today 
  we 
  know 
  the 
  disease 
  in 
  a 
  general 
  area 
  indicated 
  

   by 
  the 
  red 
  color 
  on 
  this 
  map. 
  The 
  green 
  area 
  indicates 
  in 
  a 
  general 
  

   way 
  the 
  natural 
  distribution 
  of 
  the 
  common 
  chestnut. 
  Since 
  1904 
  in- 
  

   vestigations 
  upon 
  the 
  geographical 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  disease 
  have 
  been 
  

   carried 
  on 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  the 
  disease 
  is 
  now 
  known 
  over 
  ap- 
  

   proximately 
  the 
  area 
  indicated 
  in 
  red 
  on 
  that 
  map. 
  The 
  northern 
  

   limits 
  of 
  the 
  disease 
  are 
  perhaps 
  in 
  New 
  York 
  State. 
  Further 
  east, 
  it 
  

   is 
  known 
  as 
  far 
  north 
  as 
  northern 
  Massachusetts, 
  mainly 
  in 
  the 
  western 
  

   part, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  also 
  known 
  in 
  Boston. 
  There 
  have 
  been 
  two 
  or 
  three 
  

  

  