CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE. 381 



ments of the Station, after consideration of all the data avail- 

 able, have made approximate estimates of the percentage of 

 chestnut trees attacked in each of the counties. To gain more 

 immediate information as to the condition in the different 

 counties, the writer recently sent the following letter to about 

 seventy-five men scattered over the state who have been especi- 

 ally interested in the blight and have had a chance to watch 

 local conditions: "In 1911 the blight was more widely reported 

 to us and was apparently more generally conspicuous than in 

 any previous year. What we wish to learn from you is whether 

 it was, where you observed it in 1912, more prominent, less 

 prominent, or just about the same, as in 1911." Information 

 gained by this and other means is given by counties as follows : 



Fairfield County. The blight was first found by Mr. Stevens, 

 Jr., of Stamford in the summer of 1907, and reported soon 

 afterward to the Station. From Mr. Hollister's observations 

 at Greenwich, the disease no doubt occurred in the county at 

 least as early as 1905. The injury has been greater here than 

 in any other county, and is apparently now on the decline, since 

 most of the trees have been attacked or killed. The Station 

 estimates 75 to 85 per cent, of the trees already dead or infected. 

 In answer to our letter, three report the blight worse, and 

 four about the same or less conspicuous in 1912 than in 1911. 



Mr. F. A. Bartlett of Stamford writes: "The chestnut is 

 practically extinct in Fairfield County." Mr. Joseph Cornwell 

 of Norwalk says: "From my observations the chestnut blight 

 was far more conspicuous in 1912 than in 1911. In 1912 I 

 made a special trip into the woods for the purpose of exam- 

 ining the undergrowth, and found it more affected by the 

 disease than at any earlier period. My observations were made 

 in Wilton, Norwalk, Westport, Ridgefield and Redding." 



Dr. R. T. Morris, who owns a farm near Stamford, says : 

 "In the different years since the blight appeared some of my 

 neighbors in the country have stated that they have observed 

 more rapid progress than before, and others have expressed the 

 opinion that we had less blight than before. As a matter of fact, 

 so far as I can judge, there has been pretty steady progress of 

 the blight from the first, and at the present time I do not know 

 of a single unblighted tree in the vicinity of Stamford, Conn., 

 although my men and I have taken long walks for the purpose 



