IS AMERICAN CHESTNUT DEVELOPING IMMUNITY TO 



THE BLIGHT? 



By E. R. Hodson 



Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Service 



The American chestnut (Castanea dentata [Marsh.] Borkh.) is a 

 forest tree of first importance in the hardwood forests of eastern 

 United States. Therefore, when, about fifteen years ago, it was 

 realized that a fungus of unparalleled destructiveness had begun to 

 eliminate this species, and that an epidemic was upon us which prom- 

 ised to spread over the entire chestnut range with incredible swiftness, 

 the economic and practical phases immediately became urgent. The 

 destruction progressing in plain sight on such a scale attracted and 

 interested many people who perhaps had never before given plant 

 diseases a second thought. It was investigated from many angles 

 by technical men, as foresters and plant pathologists, by public men, 

 economists, those directly interested as lumbermen, wood-using in- 

 dustries, timber owners, etc. In a few years the literature on the 

 subject was considerable, consisting of articles on all phases, published 

 in newspapers, trade journals, technical periodicals, and in govern- 

 mental and institutional reports. There were conferences held and 

 much discussion as to methods of eradicating the disease, checking 

 its spread, and salvaging the damaged merchantable material. One 

 State (Pennsylvania) appointed a special commission and provided 

 a substantial appropriation for the solution of these problems. In 

 other places local quarantines were established. All of which shows 

 that the general public became aroused rather early to the necessity 

 for action. 



In this connection a few points may be given on the origin and 

 spread of the disease and some of the later conclusions in regard to 

 it. Chestnut blight, or chestnut bark disease (Endothia parasitica 

 [Murr.] And.), apparently introduced from the Orient, was noticed 

 first in 1004 in Bronx Park, New York, where it had probably been 

 present for ten years at least. In two years it was already locally 

 epidemic and by 1910 had swept across most of New Jersey and 

 southeastern Pennsylvania with a 75 per cent destruction. Since 



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