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  substances 
  which 
  are 
  alleged 
  to 
  be 
  of 
  value, 
  when 
  injected 
  into 
  a 
  

   tree, 
  are 
  either 
  absolutely 
  worthless 
  or 
  injurious. 
  One 
  man 
  

   tried 
  to 
  persuade 
  me 
  that 
  his 
  medication 
  if 
  applied 
  to 
  the 
  cam- 
  

   bium 
  layer 
  would 
  be 
  absorbed, 
  and 
  said 
  that 
  if 
  I 
  would 
  only 
  

   use 
  it 
  on 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  my 
  trees 
  I 
  could 
  see 
  for 
  myself. 
  He 
  said 
  it 
  

   would 
  drive 
  off 
  even 
  the 
  aphides. 
  I 
  tried 
  it 
  on 
  four 
  trees 
  af- 
  

   fected 
  with 
  aphides 
  and 
  found 
  that 
  he 
  told 
  me 
  the 
  truth. 
  It 
  

   drove 
  them 
  off, 
  because 
  the 
  trees 
  died 
  and 
  the 
  aphides 
  left. 
  One 
  

   tree 
  lived 
  a 
  year 
  before 
  being 
  killed; 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  most 
  insidious 
  

   sort 
  of 
  death, 
  but 
  the 
  aphides 
  left 
  that 
  tree. 
  (Laughter.) 
  

  

  Some 
  of 
  the 
  Asiatic 
  chestnuts 
  resist 
  the 
  blight 
  very 
  well. 
  

   Curiously 
  enough 
  when 
  grafted 
  upon 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  American 
  

   chestnuts 
  they 
  then 
  become 
  vulnerable. 
  Two 
  years 
  ago, 
  from 
  

   a 
  lot 
  of 
  about 
  one 
  thousand 
  Corean 
  chestnuts 
  in 
  which 
  there 
  

   had 
  been 
  up 
  to 
  that 
  time 
  no 
  blight, 
  I 
  giafted 
  scions 
  on 
  Amer- 
  

   ican 
  stump 
  sprouts 
  and 
  about 
  50 
  per 
  cent 
  of 
  those 
  grafts 
  blighted 
  

   in 
  the 
  next 
  year, 
  showing 
  that 
  the 
  American 
  chestnut 
  sap 
  offers 
  

   a 
  pabulum 
  attractive 
  to 
  the 
  Diaporthe, 
  and 
  that 
  is 
  a 
  fact 
  of 
  

   collateral 
  value 
  in 
  getting 
  our 
  negative 
  testimony 
  upon 
  the 
  

   point. 
  

  

  Concerning 
  the 
  question 
  of 
  carrying 
  blight 
  fifty 
  miles, 
  

   there's 
  no 
  telling 
  how 
  far 
  birds 
  will 
  fly 
  carrying 
  the 
  spores 
  

   of 
  Diaporthe 
  upon 
  their 
  feet. 
  The 
  spores 
  are 
  viscid 
  and 
  

   adhere 
  to 
  the 
  feet 
  of 
  beetles, 
  or 
  migratory 
  birds 
  which 
  some- 
  

   times 
  make 
  long 
  lateral 
  flights 
  following 
  food, 
  rather 
  than 
  di- 
  

   rect 
  flights 
  north 
  and 
  south. 
  It 
  is 
  quite 
  easy 
  to 
  imagine 
  birds 
  

   carrying 
  this 
  Diaporthe 
  over 
  an 
  interval 
  of 
  possibly 
  fifty 
  miles, 
  

   making 
  that 
  distance 
  in 
  one 
  night 
  perhaps. 
  Someone 
  may 
  have 
  

   carried 
  chestnuts 
  in 
  his 
  pocket 
  to 
  give 
  to 
  his 
  granddaughter 
  

   fifty 
  miles 
  away, 
  and 
  in 
  that 
  way 
  carried 
  the 
  blight. 
  If 
  any 
  

   grafted 
  trees 
  have 
  been 
  carried 
  fifty 
  miles, 
  or 
  any 
  railroad 
  ties, 
  

   with 
  a 
  little 
  bark 
  on, 
  carried 
  fifty 
  miles 
  and 
  then 
  thrown 
  off, 
  

   it 
  might 
  blight 
  the 
  chestnuts 
  in 
  that 
  vicinity. 
  One 
  can 
  have 
  

   as 
  much 
  range 
  of 
  imagination 
  as 
  he 
  pleases 
  as 
  Longfellow 
  says, 
  

   There 
  is 
  no 
  limit 
  to 
  the 
  imagination 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  ques- 
  

   tions 
  of 
  spreading 
  the 
  blight 
  of 
  Diaporthe. 
  

  

  Some 
  of 
  the 
  Japanese 
  and 
  Corean 
  chestnuts 
  and 
  some 
  of 
  

   the 
  Chinese 
  chestnuts 
  resist 
  blight 
  fairly 
  well. 
  Among 
  my 
  

   chinkapins, 
  I 
  have 
  the 
  common 
  pumila 
  and 
  the 
  Missouri 
  variety 
  

   of 
  pumila, 
  which 
  grows 
  in 
  tree 
  form 
  forty 
  or 
  fifty 
  feet 
  high. 
  I 
  

   have 
  the 
  alder-leaf 
  chestnut, 
  which 
  keeps 
  green 
  leaves 
  till 
  Christ- 
  

   mas, 
  sometimes 
  till 
  March 
  when 
  the 
  snow 
  buries 
  them, 
  and 
  

  

  