62 



During the past season \vc sent out some of our surplus mate- 

 rial to other test gardens. A fairly large collection of plants was 

 sent to the test gardens of the Iowa State College of Agriculture 

 at Ames, iowa, the Missouri Botanical Garden at St. Louis, Mo., 

 and the California Botanic Garden at Los Angeles, Cal. Material 

 of sotne varieties was also furnished to individuals who gave us 

 ])lants in exchange. 



Forest Pathology 



].)Y Arthur IIarmouxt (Jkavics 



Progress toward llic Dc'c'clopiiiciit of Disease ResisUinl Siraiiis of 



CJieshuit 



As in ftjrmer years, all of the work done on the chestnut has 

 heen carried on in collahoratitni with the ( )nice of investigations 

 in Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant Lulustry, U. S. D. A,, 

 which has reimhtu'sed us for the traveling expenses involved. 



Nearly all of the work the past year has heen projected with 

 a single purpose in view; namely, to assist in the development 

 of a type of chestnut which will he practically immune to attack 

 l)y the parasitic fungus (Jiiidothia parasitica) causing the chestnut 

 hlight, and will at the same time possess the timher producing 

 character of the native American chestnut. 



Ecoiioiiiic Value of the Cliestiuit. If one is to judge from the 

 variety of uses to which it is ])ut, and the extent to which it has 

 heen used for each of these purposes, the American chestnut is, 

 or zifas, one of the most valuable of our forest trees, perhaps the 

 one which least of all we could aiTord to lose. A tall, fast-grow- 

 ing tree, es])ecially from sprouts, its timl)er is remarkably dura- 

 ble in the soil, Ijeing less prone to decay than oak. These two 

 characteristics have made it invaluable for telephone and telegraph 

 poles, which must be tall and straight and with one end in the 

 soil. Its durability in the soil has also rendered it extremely use- 

 ful for railroad ties. For these two purposes no native wood can 

 take its ])lace. The timber has been valued also for furniture, re- 

 sembling ash in appearance, and it has been used for construction 

 timbers of houses. Besides these uses, the hark and to some ex- 

 tent the wood are used in the production of tannic acid, for tanning 

 leather; and this tree and the hemlock have been the main sources 



