CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE. 13 



both the optimist and the pessimist, but until the chestnut is 

 nearer extinction than at present, a prediction of ultimate destruc- 

 tion does not seem warranted. 



WORK DONE IN CONNECTICUT. 



The work done on the chestnut blight in Connecticut by the 

 Experiment Station consists of a survey of the state to determine 

 the extent and seriousness of the disease, and of a thorough 

 inspection of a tract on the state forest in Portland for the pur- 

 pose of locating and cutting out diseased trees and also a plot 

 where affected trees were located, counted but not cut out. 

 Besides this a large amount of laboratory work has been done 

 to determine various points of scientific interest in regard to the 

 life history and cultural characteristics of the blight fungus. 



The survey of the state was made by members of the Botanical 

 and Forestry Departments visiting and locating the disease in 

 all towns from which specimens had not already been received. 

 In this survey no attempt was made to locate definitely all the 

 points of infection in every town, but each town was inspected 

 in a very general way to locate the disease and get an approxi- 

 mate idea of the amount of chestnut. 



The work in the Portland forest consists of a thorough inspec- 

 tion of a definite tract in which all infected trees are located, cut 

 out, the brush burned and the infected timber removed and 

 peeled. Such as is not large enough for timber is burned for 

 charcoal nearby. As a check on the results obtained on this 

 tract an adjacent tract is inspected, the trees counted and not cut 

 out, thus showing whether the cutting out has any control on the 

 disease. This has been done for two years and, while the results 

 have so far been negative, this experiment must be carried on for 

 a series of years to arrive at definite conclusions. Besides this 

 inspection a small amount of work has been done in the way of 

 peeling or burning the infected stumps to determine the effect 

 of such treatment on the sprouting of the stumps and on the 

 destruction of the disease. At this writing it is too early to say 

 what the results of this experiment will be. Judging from the 

 time taken to do a small amount of such work it would prove 

 too expensive for the owner of timber land to undertake cutting 

 diseased trees and burning the stumps. 



