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ciety lield in Washington, D. C., during a discussion of the chest- 

 nut blight problem, the writer made the following predictions : 



(1). That chestnut blight was not imported into the United 

 States from Japan; not saying that it does not occur in the lat- 

 ter country. 



(2). That it is a native American species. 



(3). That it is a previously described species. 



(4). That there is evident relationship between its rise and 

 spread in this country and weather conditions. 



(5). That it is impossible to eradicate it by the cutting out 

 method. 



(0). That there will in time be a decline in its prominence 

 due to natural conditions. 



(7). Unpublished by which was meant that the fungus oc- 

 curs in Europe. 



I propose here to discuss some of these predictions, thus giv- 

 ing my reasons for presenting them. There have been advocated 

 two almost diametrically opposed views concerning the chestnut 

 blight in this country. 



The first of these, if I understand it correctly, assumes that 

 the chestnut blight is a recently introduced disease, apparently 

 from Japan, and that its spread and destructiveness here have 

 not been at all influenced by weather conditions ; that if left un- 

 controlled, it will continue to spread and devastate our forests 

 until they are practically ruined. 



The second view, advanced by the writer, assumes that the 

 chestnut blight is a native American fungus, apparently also 

 indigenous to Europe, and that weather and other unfavorable 

 conditions, which have weakened the vitality of the chestnut 

 trees in the northeastern United States, have had much to do 

 with its sudden, destructive, and wide-spread appearance, and 

 that it will not necessarily wipe out all of our chestnuts, as it 

 is likely to decline gradually with the disappearance of the fac- 

 tors that have favored its rise into prominence. 



Between these two extremes there are those who take one or 

 the other view in modified form, or agree in part with both. It 

 is highly important that the truth of the matter be ascertained, 

 since upon the nature of the fungus and the manner of its appear- 



