150 



enabled to give a roiigli map of the state, sliowiiij^' where the 

 chestnut is found and, to a certain degree, where the chestnut 

 disease is found. 



We find that the chestnut belt of New York State covers forty- 

 six per cent, of the total area of the State (approximately 23,- 

 000 s<iuare miles), and on that area I think it is conservative to 

 say there are thirty million dollars worth of chestnut timber. 

 The diseased area, ov I might say the chestnut belt, includes the 

 Hudson Valley and the southern part of the Avestern half of the 

 State. The Adirondack region has no chestnut, and the same 

 may be said of the Catskill region. The diseased area is confined 

 primarily to the Hudson Valley, an.d includes one-quarter to one- 

 third of the chestnut belt. AVest of the Catskills, the chestnut 

 bark disease has been found in one case in Tioga County, on 

 the Pennsylvania line; one case in Broome County, near tlie 

 Pennsylvania line, and in two or three cases, in Delaware 

 County; a matter of from one to twenty trees in a batch. That 

 is tlie best information we have at the present time. 



Tlie loss due to the chestnut bark disease cannot be eslinialcd, 

 iiiasnuK'li as we liave not liad the time and tlie money to put 

 men in the field in that portion of the district. We have con- 

 fined our attention to the outlying districts where the disease 

 was spreading, and I dare say there is at least ten million dol- 

 lars worth of timber that is already destroyed, or will be de- 

 stroyed before it can be utilized. The problem of utilization is 

 a big one in New York State and, in order to do something in 

 this way, several conferences have been held in connection with 

 the Eastern Foresters' Association, and it was found that little 

 could be done to develop new markets for the chestnut. The 

 leather market and the tannic acid market seem to be flooded, 

 and in such a condition that it would not encourage any new 

 industries in the tannic acid business in New York State, the 

 tannic acid plants preferring the southern chestnut in most 

 cases rather than the New York chestnut. I do not think that 

 the chestnut is so much of a glut on the market at tlie present 

 time that it is necessary that New York State people should cut 

 out their trees and sell at a sacrifice. The poles have been taken 



