46 
It is proposed to let these inoculations run for a year before the 
erowth measurements of the fungus are taken, in order to make 
them comparable with the previous experiments. 
Reports still continue to come in of nuts borne on coppice or 
basal shoots of blighted trees which, as before stated (Brooklyn 
Bot. Gard. Record 15: 59), is an encouraging indication that the 
chestnut has yet a long lease of life. As long as it is able to re- 
produce by sexual methods, the probabilities of its becoming 
extinct are very slight. 
Nectria Canker 
This is the most serious disease of the Black or Sweet Birch 
(Betula lenta)—certainly in Greater New York and vicinity and 
northward, and probably throughout the whole range of the Black 
sirch. During the last six years we have seen several large 
birches die out from this cause in Prospect Park (Brooklyn). 
The most apparent symptoms are rough areas on the bark of the 
trunk or branches. On the trunk these areas are stnken and 
often covered by old bark. Where this outer covering has broken 
off, the canker, if of typical form, appears as a deep pit, lined witii 
successively receding concentric rings or ellipses of wood some- 
what like the tiers of seats encircling an amphitheatre, these an- 
nual recessions representing apparently the periods of advance 
of the fungus in the healthy tissues of the tree. The deep central 
point of the canker represents the place of original infection by 
the fungus, and although in an old canker it may be deep in the 
trunk, nevertheless, at the time of infection, years ago, it was 
probably at or near the surface. As is evident, the disease pro- 
gresses slowly, and the affected tree may live for a long time. 
A large tree near Whitestone, L. I., with a trunk of about 2% 
feet in diameter breast high, had a canker about 1% feet in 
diameter. Where small branches or twigs are affected they often 
appear considerably swollen. The fruiting bodies of the fungus 
| Creonectria coccinea (Pers.) Seaver], which causes the trouble, 
appear during September or October, scattered singly or in twos 
or threes in crevices in the rough bark bordering the canker. 
They are very tiny, but can be distinguished by the naked eye 
(being a little less than 4% mm. in diameter), appearing as small, 
