NEWS AND NOTES. 



Soon after the organization of the Pennsylvania Chestnut Tree 

 Blight Commission, claims were made by various parties that 

 they could cure the blight. In order to give an opportunity to 

 test these reputed remedies and protect the public from spending 

 money uselessly, an orchard of 400 trees, nearly all of which were 

 affected with blight, was selected for their trial. From three to 

 fifteen trees were treated by each person submitting a remedy, 

 and check trees were left untreated in all parts of the orchard. 

 A Board of Reviewers was appointed, consisting of Dr. Mel T. 

 Cook, State Pathologist of New Jersey, Professor Howard S. 

 Rankin, Forest Pathologist of New York and Mr. George H. 

 Wirt, of the Pennsylvania Department of Forestry- After the 

 remedies were applied the results were carefully watched by 

 Mr. R. C. Walton of the Blight Commission, and measurements 

 of the growth of the cankers were made at regular intervals for 

 a period extending, in most cases, over a year. 



The Board of Reviewers examined the trees, on March 20th 

 and May 20th, 191 2, previous to the application of any of the 

 remedies, and verified the records showing the degree to which 

 they were affected by blight. On April i6th, 1913, they again 

 examined the trees and verified the records showing the progress 

 made by the disease. Fifteen preparations were tested and no 

 favorable results were found. There were variations of the 

 growth of the fungus on the trees, but similar variations were 

 noted in the checks. Most of the persons submitting remedies 

 failed to take into account the nature of the fungus or the physio- 

 logical requirements of a remedy, so that a failure could be almost 

 certainly predicted. However, some of the remedies gave un- 

 expected results in other directions; for instance, the application 

 of iron filings around the base of chestnut trees produced notice- 

 ably darker foliage within a few weeks. 



Spraying experiments have been started by the Commission to 

 further test the eflFect of Bordeaux mixture as a preventive. 

 Favorable results v.'ere obtained on the DuPont estate at Kennett 

 Square. Pa., by cutting out the cankers and then spraying from 

 eight to fourteen times during the season with a 4-4-50 Bor- 



