THE CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT DISEASE. 



THE DANGER 



In 1004, I>i-. H. W. Mf'i-kel first called attenlion to the disease » 

 jiow known as the chestnut bli^dil. which was then killing the chest- 

 nut tries ill tiie lironx Zoological Taik in New York (,'ity. 



At least two reliable observers have reported that tli.v fniiiid 

 diseased chestnut trees on portions of Long Island, as early as Is'Jo, « 

 which had every ajipe.arance of sulfering from the blight. There are 

 aci'ounts of a general dying-out of chestnut trees in portions of ili* 

 South as early as 1824, and again in ISGO, 1862, and 1878. It is • 

 not known whether these troubles were due to a fungus, to the attacks 

 of some of the well-known insect enemies of the chestnut, or to other 

 causes. 



During the summer of 1011. the authorities of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture and the officials of various States in- 

 vestigated the present extent of the ravages of the Chestnut Kark 

 Disease. It has radiated from New York as a center, and is now ; 

 knoAvn to occur from New Hampshire and eastern New York to 

 western P«nnsylvania, Mrginia and AVest ^'irginia. It is feared \ 

 that the disease will sweep through and destroy the great chestnut 

 forests of the South. The bliglit has virtually exterminated the 

 uativa chestnut trees on western Long Island, and in southwestern 

 Connecticut and northern New Jersey. An increasingly greater pro- 

 portion of uninfected trees is found as the distance from New York 

 City becomes greater. Howev r, I ev: uO tfc legicn of general infec- 

 tion there are centers of disease, sometimes of considerable extent, 

 where all. or almost all, of the chestnut tree*; are s:en to be hope- 

 lessly atT'e.cted. 



In Southeastern l*eun.sylvania, the disease has affected a veiy high 

 jtercentage of the chestnut trees, large and small, and there is but 

 little hoj;e of saving many of these trees in this region from future 

 destruction by the disease. The accompanying map of Pennsylvania 

 shows the badly infected territory and where the infection is scatter- 

 ing, as far as is kno\\n. 



BOUNDARY LINE 



The western boundary of the blight in Pennsylvania may be shown 

 approximately by a line drawn across the state from Susquehanna, in 

 Susquehanna County, southwest to Waterville, in Lycoming County, 

 thence to Orbisonia. in Tluntingdtm County, and southward along the 

 Tuscarora Mountains, in Fulton County. East of this, the blight 



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