124 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



time thousands of trees and shrubs were severely affected, many 

 having been dying slowly ever since. Besides the trees which 

 are dying, there are many others which are in a very weakened 

 condition. Numerous oaks which were injured four years ago 

 have died during the past two years, and some of those not yet 

 dead are gradually becoming weaker. These trees are more 

 noticeable in the eastern part of the State, and our attention 

 has repeatedly been called to the serious condition of the elms, 

 due to the same cause. Some very large specimens of this tree 

 have died, and others are in poor condition. 



Mention has previously been made in our reports of the con- 

 dition of the red maples, many of which are now gradually 

 dying, and the white and rock maples are suffering to a limited 

 extent from the same cause. During the past spring some 

 damage was done to the foliage of these trees by the late frosts. 



The condition of the white pine roots has already been re- 

 ferred to a number of times in previous reports. Examinations 

 of these have for the past four years been repeatedly made in 

 various parts of the State, and it has been found that the injury 

 to the fibrous roots is largely responsible for the poor condition 

 of the foliage ; but the present condition of the pine roots is 

 much more alarming, since during the past year in a very large 

 number of cases the small feeding roots have collapsed. This 

 is true not only of those trees which show injury from sun 

 scorch, but of those which appear to be perfectly healthy. 



Our extensive observations connected with the effects of 

 meteorological conditions on plants have led us to examine 

 hundreds of roots in different localities, and we have found this 

 poor condition of the roots to be widespread and serious. The 

 injury involving the larger fibrous roots was observed exten- 

 sively four years ago, but that affecting the smaller fibrous roots 

 was not noted in connection with the pine until last summer. 



Sun Scald. 

 The trunks of many apple trees which were affected by sun 

 scald four years ago may be noticed at the present time. Two 

 years ago a great many apple trees again showed the effects 

 of sun scald, which was in many cases followed by canker, and 

 this is very noticeable throughout the State on those trees 



