No. 4.] STATE NURSERY INSPECTOR. 71 



With the nurseries here free from the disease, the only menace 

 remaining comes from plantations established before 1912. 

 All shipments prior to this date, planted anywhere in the State, 

 have been located as far as possible, and examined. Several 

 cases of infection have been found, and in almost every case the 

 owners of the properties concerned have co-operated willingly 

 with the inspectors to eliminate the disease. 



Early in the fall a case of the blister rust was found in 

 Lenox, and an investigation of conditions was begun. It has 

 been found that the original infection must have been about 

 ten years ago, and that the disease extends from south of the 

 Connecticut line as far north at least as North Adams, and 

 probably farther. It appears not to have spread very far to 

 the east and west, but to have kept mainly within the Housa- 

 tonic valley. 



This is a serious situation, for if all the evidence available is 

 correct, this disease in time kills every young pine it attacks, 

 and renders older ones unsightly, crippled and worthless. If 

 this be true, successful reforestation with white pine becomes 

 impossible on account of the disease, and our entire white pine 

 growth is doomed to ultimate destruction. 



Another discouraging feature has been the discovery of the 

 disease on its alternate host, the currant, in a number of places 

 in the State, where no evidence of its presence on pines has been 

 discovered. How it could have reached these currants, and 

 how much the pines near them have now been exposed to the 

 disease, is as yet unsettled. 



This is a matter which concerns large interests in Massa- 

 chusetts. Whether it is possible to remove all currants and 

 gooseberries from regions where the rust has been found, and 

 keep them out, without an enormous expenditure, is question- 

 able at least, and some facts which have developed the present 

 year make it seem as though our knowledge of the disease and 

 its life is not as complete as had been supposed. Under these 

 circumstances, it is possibly doubtful whether an attempt to 

 eradicate the disease with the aid of special legislation would 

 prove a success. 



The last Legislature added to the duties of the inspection 

 service that of inspecting fruits of kinds grown in Massa- 



