01 



The very fact that the tree is of much greater value to its 

 o wrier than any tree in the forest could be, means that more 

 labor and more care, can and will be expended upon it, if it needs 

 it, than would be considered possible, from almost any economic 

 point of view, on either the orchard or the woodland tree. Con- 

 sequently some methods of combating the disease may be profit- 

 ably applied to ornamental trees that would not for a moment be 

 considered in connection with a tree in the forest. 



At the very beginning of the experimental work undertaken 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture, this fact was 

 recognized, and has since been kept in mind. Considerable of 

 the experimental work has had for its main object the solving of 

 the problem as to whether or not it will be possible to eradicate 

 or control the disease on individual trees. 



Notwithstanding the fact that much of this work has been 

 done in chestnut orchards, there are probably few orchard trees 

 that would be worth the expense involved in an attempt to save 

 them; however, on account of their smaller size and greater ac- 

 cessibility, they would be more profitable for individual treat- 

 ment than the forest tree. Consequently these orchard trees be- 

 come, in most cases, nothing more or less than experimental 

 martyrs for the possible future benefit of their more aestheti- 

 cally valuable ornamental kin. 



It is yet much too early to make a very definite statement, cer- 

 (aiuly not a final report, upon the possibilities of being able to 

 control fully the Chestnut Bark Disease on ornamental trees 

 without recourse to the radical methods at present advocated 

 for controlling it in a woodland. Nevertheless, certain facts 

 have been repeatedly demonstrated in the course of the experi- 

 mental work which apparently point in a very encouraging man- 

 ner to the probable ultimate accomplishment of this highly de- 

 sirable end though perhaps not on a very encouraging economic 

 basis, as such a basis is usually figured. 



I want to call your attention to some of these facts, as well as 

 to the bearing that they may have upon control work of this 

 general character. But in order to make clear certain points I 

 must first refer very briefly to the general line of treatment 

 which is being folloAved in the experimental work mentioned. 



