102 SHADE TEEES. 



uninfected territory. Many new points of infection have 

 been traced to diseased nursery stock. Nurserymen should 

 spread of lise ever j caution to prevent the spread of the 

 the disease. disease by keeping a careful oversight of their 

 stock. Unfortunately, the disease cannot always be detected 

 at the time of shipment, and therefore young trees should 

 be kept under careful supervision by the grower. It is un- 

 wise at this time to plant chestnut in this State, and growers 

 in territory beyond the present range of the disease should 

 be absolutely sure of the healthy character of the stock used 

 for planting. The spread of the disease has been so rapid, 

 the destruction of our chestnut growth so great, and the 

 financial losses so heavy, that it has attracted more attention 

 than any other plant disease in recent years. Large sums 

 of money are being expended in fighting it, but up to the 

 present time no satisfactory method has been devised. The 

 planting of chestnuts in the infected districts is a waste of 

 both time and money. 



Treatment. 



Individual trees and small plantings may be protected t<> 

 some extent by frequently cutting out the diseased parts and 

 painting the wounds w T ith coal tar. In doing this all the 

 primings must be burned. When forest areas become af- 

 fected their final destruction is practically certain, and the 

 owners are advised to convert the entire chestnut growth int< > 

 salable material as rapidly as possible. Otherwise it will 

 prove a complete loss. Material too small for lumber should 

 have the bark removed. All waste material should be burned 

 at once. 



The severity of this disease, the rapidity of its spread, 

 and the desire of the people to protect their trees have de- 

 veloped a most fertile field for the quack tree-doctors who are 

 claiming to cure trees by secret methods. These 



Tree fakirs. . ^ . 



methods usually consist in putting secret prep- 

 arations under the bark or in the soil about the roots of 

 the trees, Similar methods have been used for other tree 



