CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE. 11 



nut timber worm causes the common defect known as "wormy 

 chestnut," a defect which greatly reduces the value of much other- 

 wise high grade timber. The two-lined borer kills living trees by 

 girdling them by mining beneath the bark. This pest causes the 

 death of many trees, sound ones as well as those injured by fire. 



For many years the chestnut on the lower mountains in the 

 southeastern portion of the State has been dying out, a few trees 

 at a time. Examples of this were noted on the English Mountains, 

 Gray Knobs, Chilhowie Mountain, Stars, Bear, Frog, and Red 

 Mountains. Some of these are killed by the two-lined chestnut 

 borer, but while this decline is in part due to the ravages of the 

 borer, it seems to be due more to excessive burning and to the 

 consequent destruction of humus and impoverishment of the soil. 

 Trees in hollows, on cool north slopes and on land where a moder- 

 ately dense shade and soil cover exist have not been affected. The 

 remedy for. the trouble would seem to be to stop fires, to permit 

 humus to accumulate, and to let the young timber grow up thick 

 enough to shade the soil. The dying off of the trees is certainly 

 not due to {he chestnut bark disease (diaporthe parasitica), a very 

 destructive parasitic malady from Virginia to Southern New Eng- 

 land, no evidence of which was seen in Tennessee. 



Chestnut is seldom thrown by the wind, and the stem rarely 

 breaks unless hollowed at the base by fire. The leaders are some- 

 times broken by sleet and icestorms, and large branches torn away 

 by windstorms. 



FOREST TYPES AND ASSOCIATED TREES 



Chestnut enters largely into the composition of five well-marked 

 forest types: 



(1) Pure chestnut type with less than one-third of other 

 species. 



(2) Lower cove type, with yellow poplar, oaks, basswood (or 

 linn), ash and locust. 



(3) Upper cove type, with hemlock, birch, hard maple, beech, 

 ash, and basswood. 



(4) Chestnut oak and chestnut type, frequently with scrub 

 pine. 



(5) Mixed oak and chestnut type, frequently with yellow pine 

 and sourwood. 



