155 



ill all of the comities of the State, and in seventy-two of the 

 towns. Of these onl}^ seven towns were east of the Connecticut 

 River, bnt this region had not been carefully examined. At the 

 Albany conference, held October 19, 1911, we reported the dis- 

 ease present in one hundred and twenty towns of the State. 

 To-da}^ (February, 1912) we have records of its presence in 1G4 

 of the 108 toAvns of the State (all but Ashford, Eastford, Put- 

 nam and Haddam), and we have every reason to believe that a 

 cni'cfnl S(^arch would reveal Us ])resence in these four (owns. 



J'rc.sciit Hilutiilou. 



Tin; present sitna(i(Hi in Coiinecticnt, then, is that we have 

 the disease in more or less abundance in xn'actically every town. 

 AVe are surrounded on three sides by states that have the disease 

 more or less abundant in their different counties. On the south, 

 Ave are separated by Long Island Sound from Long Island, which 

 also has the disease. 



In Fairfield County as early as 1907, the disease was doing 

 considerable harm, and by 1909 it was very serious, while to-day, 

 from fifty to seventy-five per cent, of all the chestnuts are affected 

 or dead. New Haven County began to show evidence of trouble 

 in 1908, and at present the disease is present in most of the 

 forests and serious in many of them. Litchfield County did not 

 begin to show the trouble until 1909 and 1910, but last year it 

 was doing considerable damage there. Hartford and Middle- 

 sex counties also last year began to sliow^ its presence in their 

 forests, in some places very prominently. These counties are 

 all west of the Connecticut River. East of the river the trouble 

 is not nearly so general or abundant, but in some places in 1911 

 it was causing considerable damr\ge. 



The year 1911 more than any other seemed to be favorable 

 for the spread and injurious effects of the fungus. This we at- 

 tribute to the unusual drought of that year, lasting from early 

 spring until the last of July. This is the fifth and most severe of 

 a series of drought years that we have had since 1907. 



Control Worlc. 



Our work in the field, besides locating the disease, has been 

 along the following lines: 



