THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



897 



problems were required to be dealt with. In connection 

 with the object in view it may possibly be of interest if 

 our methods are briefly set forth. 



The area of the estate is about 400 acres in a ring fence 

 — at least it will be when the fencing is completed — 

 more than half being woodland and land only capable of 

 being planted to trees. Fig. 1 shows the residence, etc., 

 and a portion of the woods at the back. The aspect is 

 northwest. The work of reforestation is being first com- 

 l)leted along the other side of the hill. The highest point 

 where the observatory tower stands is 800 feet above 

 sea level and is 400 feet higher than the residence. Wind- 

 ing through the woods are five miles of well-made boule- 

 vard of easy grade, 20 feet wide, and the privilege of 

 using it, which is granted to motorists, is freely taken 

 advantage of during the summer. 



The soil survey map of the district truly characterizes 

 it as "rough stony land," and the greater part of the hill 

 is apparently nothing but rocks, and one is inclined to 

 wonder how the existing stand of hardwoods have been 

 able to grow, but between the stones is a considerable 

 amount of humus, and underneath there is some clav. 

 The rock is principally trap with some outcrops of lime- 

 .stone and granite; it all contains a considerable portion of 

 iron. 



Twenty-one species of deciduous trees are naturalh' 

 growing upon the estate, of which sweet chestnut, white, 

 lilack and chestnut oak form the bulk of them. It is re- 

 jjorted that the entire hill was cut over about fifty years 

 ago for charcoal for supplying some iron works which 

 then existed close by, and the old charcoal hearths still 

 remain. 



The necessity for reforesting the greater part of these 

 woodlands is by reason of the existence of the fungus 

 which attacks the sweet chestnut, known as the chestnut 

 blight, and which has spread very rapidly through the 

 Eastern States since the first tree was attacked in Central 

 Park ten years ago. Upon the surface it was creditable 

 to the State of Pennsylvania to devote $275,000 to the 

 study of this disease and the money was no doubt use- 

 ful to those amongst whom it was divided for their 

 services, but the negative results obtained must have been 

 a foregone conclusion to anyone having the merest ele- 

 mentary knowledge of fungus diseases. People of the 

 latter class w'ell know that there is no cure for an}' 

 fungus disease, as it is practically onU^ visible in its 

 fruiting stage when the harm, so far as that particular 

 spot upon the host plant is concerned, has been done. 

 In theory all fungus diseases are preventable, the nec- 

 essary condition being the keeping of the host covered 

 with a fungicide so that the spores of the fungus can- 

 not germinate. As, for instance, in seasons when cli- 

 matic conditions are favorable to the potato blight an 

 attack can be, with absolutele certainty, prevented by 

 thoroughly spraying the crop immediately after ever}' 

 rain. This method, although theoretically sound, is 

 absolutely impracticable and in many cases impossible 

 of performance wdien applied to the chestnut blight in 

 connection with chestnut trees in general, as I know 

 from personal experience that the cost of one spraying- 

 is more than the stumpage value of any tree as 

 lumber. When one has a specimen chestnut in such a 

 position that its artistic and shade value cannot be 

 computed in dollars it would be certainly worth while 

 to keep it sprayed, so that when it dies it will be 

 of old age. 



This chestnut bark disease was undouhledlx- import- 

 ed from China, where the identical fungus has been 

 discovered by Mr. Frank X. Myer upon chestnut trees. 

 In that country the efTect of the fungus is very mild, 

 and some .species of chestnut trees growing there ap- 



pear to be more or less resistant to it. The rapid 

 spread and destruction wrought by this disease in this 

 country is another example of the fact that most dis- 

 eases and parasites when transported to new countries 

 work a hundred times more harm than in their native 

 habitat, it must be understood that this fungus is 

 purely a bark disease and does not harm the timber, the 

 latter being in no way deteriorated in value if the tree 

 has not been dead more tlian two years. 



The chestnut is also sometimes attacked by a fun- 

 gus which, causing heart rot, renders the timber 

 worthless. This disease is fortunately not common ; 

 in clearing away many thousand trees I have found 

 only about two per thousand killed by it. 



I'^iiling the improbable possibility of this blight nat- 

 urally dying out, the chestnut as a forestry proposition 

 is doomed to gradual extinction, and our practice is to 

 clear them all out of the woods whether diseased or 

 not, doing first those parts containing the greater num- 

 ber of diseased ones ; at the same time taking out all 

 butternuts, as these are attacked by borers, and in any 

 case are but a short-lived tree in this section, having no 

 lumber value. 



Hitherto the annual cut of lumber has been made use 

 of upon the estate, principally in the form of fence 

 posts, of which, when the fencing is completed, will in- 

 clude an outlying farm recently purchased. About 10,000 

 will be used. They are peeled and stacked and after- 

 wards treated with creosote. Boards are often re- 

 quired for various purposes, and a stock of these is 

 kept on hand. Cord wood is used for several hearth 

 fires which are kept going in the mansion during the 

 fall before heaters are started, the remainder being 

 sold delivered for $2 and $3 per cord, according to 

 distance up to five miles, and it is easy to sell it at these 

 low prices. Our cut of lumber this season will be sold 

 for mining props. It could be easily sold for this and 

 other purposes on the stump, but we prefer to do all 

 the work ourselves, as by this means the staff of hands 

 can be kept employed all winter, thus obviating the 

 obno.xiousness of discharging men in the fall and tak- 

 ing on others in the spring. In any case there is rarely 

 in the long run much real economy in the practice, as 

 by keeping a regular staff all the year round, well- 

 trained men will result and an estate can be run with 

 fewer hands during the summer half of the year than 

 is the case when raw, untrained men are taken on 

 each spring. 



The first question to be considered in any scheme of 

 reforestation is, what to plant. The answer depends 

 upon several considerations : Soil, its mineral constit- 

 uents, its mechanical state, whether light or heavy, 

 rocky or free from stones, wet or dry ; future possibil- 

 ities as regards sale of lumber locally and whether the 

 end in view is a purely commercial speculation or 

 whether the artistic side of the matter is important. If 

 the quickest-growing trees, irrespective of anything 

 else, is desired, then a different species woukl be plant- 

 ed than if the future value of the lumber were the onlv 

 consideration. 



Whh us the artistic features have to be thought of, 

 owing to the above-mentioned drive. This point has 

 been first dealt with by making plantations of rhodo- 

 dendrons, kalmias. azaleas and other ornamental stock 

 at the bends of the road and at various points along 

 it ; also groups of white birch have been jjlanled among 

 the conifers, and the general forest planting has been 

 in blocks of different species so as to avoid monotony. 

 In some spots the few hardwoods remaining after tak- 

 ing out the chestnuts have been filled up with other 

 deciduous species such as white ash, red and white 



