32 TWENTY-EIGHTH REPORT ON THE STATE MusEuM. 
CLASSIFIED ‘TABULAR STATEMENT. 
SS 
Hervariun. | coca 
Flowering plants..... 3 
Plants collected; 4 Alow)s; ./-/2. 244-74 3 . 
| it) Wd Vat De aera grinds este 154 70 
51 7 pA ae de er FE RIS 160 70 
( Flowering plants... 5 
i. Mosges *). DADS Bike 2 
Plants contributed, DIGhens 4054024. eee 3 diol 
UNE ov aracs etn ere 46 13 
GEAY Ee JO, EERIE MaRS O00, INSEE 56 13 
Collected and contributed .............. 216 83 
In my last report allusion was made to the fact that the 
spruce trees in some parts of the great northern wilderness, 
were said to be dying at an unusual rate as if affected by 
some fatal disease. In the absence of any personal knowl- 
edge of the circumstances or conditions attending the destruc- 
tion of these trees, the attacks of fungi, the attacks of insects 
and the effects of drought were suggested as possible causes, 
chiefly for the purpose of directing the attention of those who 
might have the opportunity of an investigation, in such direc- 
tions as seemed most likely to afford a satisfactory explana- 
tion of the mystery. It was then my impression that the 
trouble was of comparatively recent date and that it was pos- 
sibly due to the modification of our climate by reason of the 
extensive and rapid denudation of our forest lands. 
But I find that itis no new thing, that years ago lumbermen 
were fully aware of the pecuniary loss they were sustaining 
from this timber malady. Mr. Henry Hough, in answer to my 
inquiries, writes from Lewis county thus: ‘‘The dying of the 
spruce in this section has mostly, if not entirely, ceased. The 
greatest destruction on our territory was from ten to fifteen 
years ago.’ In Rensselaer county the same trouble was 
experienced about thirty years ago. A lumber firm found 
that their spruce timber was rapidly dying, and to make their 
