412 CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT, 1912. 



stunted. It is asserted by the old settlers that this tree is dying 

 out all over the mountainous regions, where at the beginning of 

 the second half of the century it was still abundant and in per- 

 fection." 



jp/i. W. W. Ashe, in Chestnut in Tennessee, Tenn. Geol. 

 Surv. Bull. 10 B, p. n, remarks: "For many years the chestnut 

 in lower mountains in the southeastern portion of the state has 

 been dying out a few trees at a time. * * * The dying off of 

 the trees is certainly not due to the chestnut bark disease, a very 

 destructive malady from Virginia to southern New England, 

 no evidence of which was seen in Tennessee." 



1912. Dr. Hopkins (54, p. 180), of the United States 

 Dept. of Agriculture, who has recently been making a study of the 

 relationship of insects to the death of chestnut trees in the 

 South, states: "When we review the history of the extensive 

 dying of chestnut during the past half century in Mississippi, 

 Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Vir- 

 ginia, it is surprising that there are any living trees left. In 

 fact, there are not many left in some sections of these states, 

 where the tree was abundant and healthy fifty years ago. It 

 appears that there are a number of agencies of destruction other 

 than the new chestnut blight disease, and that these agencies have 

 been in operation in the area affected by the disease as well as 

 in areas where this disease is not known to occur. Therefore, 

 they must be taken into consideration and investigated before 

 the problem of protecting the chestnuts can be solved. There 

 appear to be other diseases, and we know that there are insects 

 which have been directly or indirectly the cause of the death of 

 a large percentage of the chestnuts over extensive areas." 



1913. Professor H. R. Fulton, of the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, West Raleigh, N. C, under date of January 29, 

 1913? writes: "Throughout the whole Piedmont section of this 

 state, just as in the corresponding section of Virginia and further 

 south, the chestnut trees are in an unthrifty condition. This 

 is probably due to a combination of factors. Changes in soil 

 conditions due to a clearing up of extensive areas probably play 

 a part. Trees are evidently attacked to a considerable extent 

 by borers and other insects. Fire injury has in many instances 

 had something to do with the situation. Our preliminary survey 



