Ill) 



oils cxprcs.sioiis <»(" opinions ami of gn«'ss\\oi'k. Wr have yd 

 lo lunir fi-oiu any person who tells us what he has done in a 

 practical way for the cutting? out and eradication of this dis- 

 ease in any extended foiiii and oycv any vei-y large tracts of land. 

 1 am nnrortnnate in tLe fact that my chief, who is custodian of 

 all the proj)erty at Lehigh University, is not able to he here to- 

 night. Dr. Henry S. Drinker, whose name appears in the roster 

 of olTicials of the American Forestry Association, and who is 

 president of Lehigh University. He is custodian of a large tract 

 of land, adorned on its campus with many prijneval chestnut 

 monarchs from eighteen inches to three feet in diameter, giants 

 of the old forest tract. In the rear of this campus we have 

 some two hundred acres covered with a coppice growth of chest- 

 nut and various hardwoods of Pennsylvania. We were exceed- 

 ingly fortunate, some years ago, in having heard from the lii)S 

 of Mr. C. W. Levitt, an eminent landscape engineer of New York 

 City, the warning that our chestnut trees were likely to be visited 

 \\\\\\ an insidious enemy, wliicli Mould destroy them all. It was 

 not, however, until the summer of 1908 that I as custodian of 

 those grounds, saw any unusual discoloration on either the 

 bark or foliage of a chestnut tree, except that which seemed to 

 be natural in the decay of any specimen of deciduous trees. Dur- 

 ing that summer I saw, on a small chestnut, this unusual dis- 

 coloration and the appearance of small red or brown pustules. 

 This tree was immediateh' cut down and portions sent, after all 

 other portions were burned, to Mr. L C. Williams, Deputy State 

 Commissioner of Forestry of Pennsylvania, who placed it in 

 incubation and pronounced it the chestnut bark blight, or dis- 

 ease. I am not familiar with the scientific name. I was thou 

 cautioned by the president to be careful, observant, and vigilant, 

 and to watch for any recurrence of this thing. To hasten from 

 that time on, through the summer of 1910, when it appeared, 

 and in 1911, we have done exactly as was recommended to us 

 by Mr. Williams and by Dr. Rothrock, who visited us during 

 this period of time and walked through our coppice grove of 

 chestnut. I am ))ot able to say, after extended experience along 

 this line, that all trees which are treated by severe pruning, 

 which have been touched by this blight, may be saved. We do 

 know, however, that we have tided trees over one Tear and two 



