40 STATE BOAED OF FORESTRY 



the latter part of 1912 it was found that approximately 50 per cent, 

 of the chestnut trees had either been killed or were infected by the 

 blight, and that the infected area had moved much farther south. 



In 1911 no indication of the disease was found west of the Blue 

 Ridge Mountains, but in 1913 a few scattered trees infected with 

 the chestnut blight were found in the vicinity of Fairview Mountain 

 along the east front of the Alleghenies. The progress westward has 

 been much slower than southward, but it is nevertheless spreading, 

 and unless there is a decided change in the situation very soon one of 

 our most valuable timber trees will be doomed. 



Efforts made by Pennsylvania and other States to stop the spread 

 of this disease have failed, and there appears to be no hope of saving 

 the chestnut by any means that is known, and therefore the main 

 problem today is to utilize the material now dead or diseased to the 

 best advantage before it becomes a total loss. The chestnut blight 

 does not damage the trees for timber, provided they can be used before 

 the natural decay sets in, and under ordinary conditions the wood 

 does not begin to deteriorate seriously for about two years. Where 

 only green trees are accepted, such as for telephone poles and railroad 

 ties, it is necessary to cut the trees soon after they show infection and 

 before the bark is entirely dead. The State Forester has carried on 

 some investigations in the areas where there are large quantities of 

 blight-killed timber with a view to devising means for close utiliza- 

 tion and developing a market for the product. These investigations 

 have not reached the point where results can be shown, largely due 

 to a failure to secure satisfactory co-operation on the part of the 

 owners of large quantities of blight-killed material. The investiga- 

 tion has shown, however, that unless this blight-killed material is 

 utilized soon after the death of the trees it will become a total 

 loss to the owners. 



Second-Growth Hardwood Studies. 



Probably less than 1 per cent, of the total wooded area of the 

 State is still in virgin timber. This means that practically all of 

 the woodland has been cut over at least once and some of it several 



