694 JOURNAL, OF FORESTRY 



then it has extended west and south and at present (1930) has covered 

 destructively northern Virginia, with many advance local infections 

 farther south. From the rate of advance, pathologists have concluded 

 that the entire range of chestnut will be covered by the blight in the 

 next twenty-five years. It is estimated that it takes ten years in a 

 given locality to reach a complete infection and ten years more to kill 

 all the trees — two decades thus elapsing between the beginning of the 

 infection and complete destruction of the chestnut stands. The disease 

 does not spread at so rapid a rate as was at first thought, but measured 

 in decades it still is rapid. It appears that the disease cannot be 

 eradicated nor stopped from spreading although it may be checked by 

 cutting out and by quarantines, and delayed by natural barriers. The 

 time must come, therefore, when all the merchantable chestnut will 

 have been completely killed throughout the entire range. The principal 

 means of spreading is the wind, although other agencies are important. 

 Long range infection is probably caused by birds, and then the wind, 

 together with all other agencies, is responsible for the spread of the 

 local spot infections. 



IMPORTANCE OF CHESTNUT 



Chestnut is distributed over a wide range in eastern United States, 

 occurring in seventeen States in commercial quantities. It is estimated 

 that there is 19 billion* feet board measure of chestnut saw timber 

 in the United States, over two-thirds of which is south of the Mason 

 and Dixon line. Considering the wide range of uses and high stumpage 

 it is easily seen that tremendous values are involved here. In some 

 places chestnut forms over 50 per cent of the total forest stand. It 

 has large use for poles of all kinds, posts and mine props, as well as 

 railroad ties and lumber, on account of its strength and durability. 

 In the South it is the main reliance for raw material for the tannin 

 extract industry. The great sprouting capacity makes chestnut 

 admirably suitable for coppice management, one of the simpler silvi- 

 cultural systems of forestry. It is thus of great service in the early 

 stages of forestry in the country in that through it may be introduced 

 the general practice of caring for forest resources systematically under 

 modern plans. All these phases of its usefulness are threatened as 

 the blight, in its destructive stages, closes in on the remaining uninfected 

 chestnut areas in the South. 



■ See Table 7, p. 34, Report on Senate Resolution 311 ("Capper Resolution"), 

 June 1. 1920. 



