BARK DISEASE OF THE CHES'I^NUT IN BRITISH 

 COLUMBIA. 



By J. H. Faull and G. H. Graham. 



Early in the summer of 1913; Mr. H. R. Christie of the 

 British Cohimbia Forest Service sent us specimens of bark 

 taken from diseased chestnut trees growing on the Experimental 

 Farm at Agassiz, B. C, with the information that several trees 

 were dead and others dying. This material was implemented by 

 other sendings and additional information from the Superinten- 

 dent of the Farm, Mr. P. H. Moore. Naturally the chestnut 

 bark disease was suspected, although at that time it was not 

 known to occur outside the confines of the Eastern States, and 

 no plantings of chestnut trees had been made at Agassiz since 

 1890, or more than a decade before the blight had been first 

 observed in America. The confirmation of that surmise would' 

 have been of peculiar interest just then, because of the bearing 

 it might have had on the discussions relating to the dissemination 

 and eradication of chestnut blight, and on the views held re- 

 garding the origin of the causative agent. Happily the latter 

 has since been permanently removed from the bogs of hypotheses. 

 In June, Meyer, who had been prosecuting a search in China 

 under the direction of the Department of Agriculture of the 

 United States reported that he had found a bark disease of a 

 native Chinese species of chestnut, and that the Chinese have been 

 treating their chestnuts for this' disease for centuries. A speci- 

 men forwarded by him was turned over to Drs. C. L. Shear and 

 N. E. Stevens, who at once isolated a fungus from it, which 

 they have proved beyond question to be identical with Endothia 

 parasitica, the cause of chestnut blight in America.* It is note- 

 worthy that the action of this fungus on the oriental species is 

 much less virulent than on Castanea dentata. 



How long the Agassiz trees have been diseased is not known. 



*Shear and Stevens, "The Chestnut-blight Parasite (Endothia parasitica) 

 from China," Science, Aug. 29, 1913. Fairchild, "The Discovery of tJie 

 Chestnut Bark Disease in China," Science, Aug. 29, 1913. 



