Now, the serious part of this process of growth, looked at from 

 the tree standpoint, lies in the fact that the fungus shows a 

 marked tendency to grow around the infected branch or stem, 

 thus girdling it, and killing all growth above that point. When 

 this happens to the trunk of a tree it is easily seen that it becomes 

 a serious matter. 



Furthermore, the trunk of a tree may be infected by spores 

 coming from diseased parts of its own branches, thus multiplying 

 the disease within itself so to speak. 



APPEARANCE OF DISEASED PARTS. 



The following features are characteristic of the external ap- 

 pearance of the diseased tree. The outer bark over the diseased 

 part is of a slightly reddish tinge, more so than the rest of the 

 bark, and as the disease progresses this reddish area becomes cov- 

 ered with yellowish, brownish, or orange-colored pustules. Fur- 

 ther, in damp weather or damp situations the spores are often 

 extruded in the form of greenish-yellow " strings." The bark 

 splits open up and down the length of the infected spot and often 

 shows a swelled appearance. The cracks are filled with twisted 

 and criss-crossed fibers of a slightly yellowish color. Among the 

 smaller branches the cracks are of course less visible, but they 

 still occur. 



It should be here stated that these same characteristics may 

 be the result of the work of other species of fungi than the one 

 in question, and therefore, in order to be sure, specimens should 

 be sent to a botanist for a microscopic examination. Such iden- 

 tification will be gladly made by the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., 

 or by the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. 



TlME FOR MAKING OBSERVATIONS. 



The best time for seeing the evidences of the work of this 

 fungus is the season now approaching, viz., in the spring, when 

 the leaves begin to appear. The reason for this is not that the 

 disease does the greatest amount of damage at this time, but be- 

 cause trees that have been injured the previous season by having 

 much of their live tissue destroyed, instead of putting forth 



