TWO DISEASES OF RED CEDAR. CAUSED BY POLYPORUS 

 JUNIPERIXUS N. Sp. AXD POLYPORUS CARXEUS XEES.— 

 A PRELIMIXARY REPORT. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Of the eicrht or more species of Juniperusin the United States, only 

 two, the red cedar {'/xn/jh/'i/^t virghuana) and Southern red cedar {J. 

 harhadeni<i)<), are of general commercial importance. The former is 

 of quite general distribution throughout the northeastern United 

 States,^ its habitat extending from southern Nova Scotia and Xew 

 Brunswick south to Florida, and west to the Dakotas, central Nebraska, 

 Kansas, and Oklahoma. The Southern .species occurs in the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions, extending southward through 

 Florida. 



Red cedar has long' been valued because of its beautiful, aromatic, 

 and durable wood. It is used to a considerable extent for interior 

 finishing of houses, for sills, in the manufacture of lead pencils, and 

 for cabinetwork, and is admirably adapted for chests and wardrobes. 

 The wood is very resistant to the ordinary agents of decay, and on this 

 account is much used for fence posts, and for other purposes where 

 wood which is durable is desirable. The trees are slow growers and 

 do not live to be ver}' old. They are liable to be attacked by fungi 

 after they have reached the age of fifty to sevent3^-iive j^ears, and 

 these weaken the trunk and destroy the wood. 



An investigation of the nature of the diseases of forest trees must 

 necessarily extend through many years, for, to establish the absolute 

 connection between one of the higher fungi and the effects which its 

 mycelium produces in a tree, it is imperative that the disease be first 

 produced in a healthy tree. This requires a long period, owing to the 

 slow growth of the fungi, and for this reason, therefore, the investi- 

 gations from a pathological standpoint are as yet far from complete. 

 The following data are drawn largely from observations, and, owing to 

 the conditions under which the work was necessarily carried on, many 



^Bull. No. 17, Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr., and Sargent, C. S., North 

 American Silva, 1896, Vol. X, p. 9-i. 



