THE WHITE PINE BLISTER DISEASE 



71 



sume time to secure the required laws and appropriations, 

 and meanwhile the disease will continue to advance 

 rapidly into new territory. Time lost in efficiently apply- 

 ing control measures during the coming season will be 

 dearly paid for if any future control is to be attempted. 



It is plain that the greatest immediate need is wide- 

 spread publication of the facts of the blister rust invasion, 

 and rousing the general public to a realization of the dire 

 results which this disease will cause if not controlled. 



The blister canker fungus does not respect state or 

 national boundary lines in its rapid spread. Effective 

 control requires general action state, interstate, national 



and international. Nothing can be accomplished without 

 adequate appropriations, and before the money can be 

 wisely spent, most states need laws giving the authorities 

 full power to apply the necessary steps in control. Pub- 

 licity will secure the necessary power to act and act 

 quickly; concerted action by state and national authorities 

 is the only possible salvation for the pines. 

 Nature has not intervened in checking the chestnut blight 

 and other imported diseases, and it seems probable 

 that we shall have to pay with the white pine, 

 or a partial cash equivalent, for our open-door policy 

 in importing plant pests. 



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SHALL WE PLANT WHITE PINE? 

 By C. R. Pettis, Superintendent State Forests, State of New York 



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AS an economic necessity 

 and in the application of 

 true conservation and 

 practical forestry, the wis- 

 dom of reforesting cannot 

 be questioned. There are 

 millions of acres of our 

 soil whose productive use can 

 best be and, to a large ex- 

 tent, can only be realized by 

 using them to grow wood crops. 

 This vast territory stands 

 to-day idle. To become pro- 

 ductive, it must first be re- 

 forested. In order to derive 

 the full measure of use a 

 tree adapted to grow under 

 the prevailing condition 

 must be selected. White pine 

 has no equal in meeting 

 and measuring up to the speci- 

 fications of a tree that can 

 be most profitably employed 

 in reforesting generally in 

 the northeastern United States. 

 We cannot make many 

 mistakes when we use white 

 pine as an agent for employ- 

 ing the resources of nature 

 in obtaining the productive 

 capacity of these non-agricul- 

 tural lands. 



In the market, white pine 

 is in great demand and on 

 account of its qualities has a 

 wider range of uses than any 

 other wood we can grow. It 

 is our most commonly used 

 tree. Go into nearly any line 

 and study its great variety 



BRANCHES AND TWIGS DISEASED 



In this tree at Ipswich, Massachusetts, there is to be plainly seen a large 

 amount of pine blister disease on the branches and twigs. 



of uses. It measures up to 

 our demands for a wood for 

 general purposes. 



White pine is to forestry 

 in the northeastern states 

 what wheat is to agriculture; 

 what iron is to manufac- 

 turing or what coal is to 

 transportation. 



I have tried to state briefly 

 why we must reforest and 

 what an important factor white 

 pine is in the future plant- 

 ing operations. We must 

 have white pine for planting. 



In answer to the question 

 "shall we plant white 

 pine?" I most emphatically 

 say, yes. We must have white 

 pine. We will obtain our chief 

 future supply from plantations. 



We to-day face a problem. 

 We do not know all about 

 the distribution of the blister 

 disease, and as reforesting 

 deals in future, we should 

 defer further white pine plant- 

 ing until we know where it is 

 safe and sane to plant. We 

 must first make the unsafe 

 places safe and expend every 

 energy toward the control of 

 this disease. We must plant 

 but should defer it for a while. 



We are gathered here to 

 repent for haste. Our various 

 forestry departments, associa- 

 tions, land owners and others 

 about 1908 became enthus- 

 iastic about planting. The 



