FOREST commissioners' REPORT. 25 



the more tender, rapidly growing trees and was much worse on 

 the more exposed portions of the tree; that the same trouble 

 was observed on other conifers, all point to the conclusion other- 

 wise stated above : — The present trouble is only temporary and 

 is due to adverse weather conditions during the past two win- 

 ters. Therefore the major part of the present trouble with 

 the Maine pines should not be called "pine blight" but winter 

 injury to the pine. 



Doubtless we shall have similar troubles in the future as we 

 probably have had in the past, although they were less severe and 

 have passed unnoticed. However this is no reason why one 

 should hesitate in planting young pines or why he should sacri- 

 fice his growing trees. One might as well stop planting apple 

 trees and cut down the orchards because a portion have been 

 winter-killed. 



In the above discussion the question of insect causes has not 

 been taken up in detail. In this connection I will quote from 

 a forthcoming bulletin (No. 162) of the Maine Experiment 

 Station by Miss Edith M. Patch. Miss Patch, after discussing 

 various insects found upon the pine makes the following state- 

 ment : 



"None of these insects, however, have been the cause of the 

 'white pine blight,' though several of them, Chermes pinicorticis, 

 and the spittle insects, Aphrophora parallela, for instance, have 

 been in some cases conspicuously associated with ailing trees." 



