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year, and in Uiai desk i>s about (iv(!rytliiiig thai lias l)('(!n said, 

 or tlioui;lit, oi' dreamed of, relative to the chestnut bark <lisease. 

 \Ve Iiave liad the advice of our friend Stewart, Avlio tliinks as 

 Dr. Clinton does, along the same lines, AVhat the}^ have stated 

 liere to-day we must accept as the honest statement of men who 

 know enongii to make snch statements. They know what they 

 are talking about, because they have investigated this disease and 

 they have investigated similar diseases, so that we must take 

 what they say with a great deal of confidence. They have l)eeii 

 talking to the point whether cliestnnt bark disease could be con- 

 trolled ov eradicated. If I were to ask either one of those gentle- 

 men what tliey wonld do with a cliestnnt tree in their own yard 

 that Avas infected with this disease, they wonld probably say, 

 "Cut it out." That gives ns the ke3aiote of what I think shoukl 

 l)e do]ie wherever there is a possibility that single trees, or small 

 infections, can be removed. That seems to be the simple tiling, 

 and the proper, sensible thing to do. It may have to be done by 

 the force of slatnle, l)ut a great deal can be done by advising 

 owners of chestnut trees that become slightly infected, asking, 

 nrging, forcing them in every way you can, to cut that timber 

 Avhile it is still alive and save it. If that were done in the State 

 of Pennsylvania, their entire two hundred and seventy-five thon- 

 sand dollars wonld be well expended. We are np against a 

 proposition in New York. We have probabl}^ two-thirds of our 

 chestnut timber still intact, and we want to save it if we can. 

 Now wh}^ should Ave not go out in Ihe liorders and carry on a 

 missionary Avork, or something stronger, and set; if Ave cannot 

 cut a dividing line? Let scientific men go on with their ima^sti- 

 gations. ^Ye need all the advice that their l)road knowledge can 

 bring to ns; but the other thing is a practical thing, a thing tliat 

 is at our doors, and a fcAV hnndred thousand dollars spent noAV 

 may resnlt in a saving of that valuable property lying all to the 

 Avest and south of ns. (Applause). 



DR. J. RUSSELL SMITH, of ]»ennsylvania: IMr. Chairman: 

 I'rofessor Clinton advanced a very interesting i)(>int; that it 

 Avas the dry Aveather that nuide these trees amenable to blight. 

 The evidence Avas that people in Connecticut thought the dry 

 AA'eather had killed other trees that died, if I remember the 



