THE WHITE PINE BLISTER DISEASE 



73 



itself upon pine 

 trees growing under 

 asnearly normal 

 conditions as can 

 still be found in New 

 England. West of 

 the Hudson River 

 the disease occurs at 

 many points, but 

 cannot be consid- 

 ered established, 

 unless possibly in 

 the Minnesota- Wis- 

 consin area. West 

 of the Mississippi 

 River the disease is 

 not known to occur, 

 and it is wholly im- 

 probable that it can 

 ever spread across 

 the treeless plains to 

 the forests of western white pine and sugar pine by any 

 natural means. It can, however, get there easily and 

 quickly on diseased nursery stock and indeed may have 

 gotten there already without our knowledge. 



It is obvious that the control of this disease pre- 



Pholograph by S. B. Detwiler. 



CURRANT AND PINE 



Here are seen infected flowering currant bushes in the corner of a yard at Kittery Point, Maine, with 

 native white pine in the background and a large percentage of the pine already show the pine blister 

 disease infection. 



sents three very different 

 problems : 



(1) The problem for the 

 western states, which is, so 

 far as we know, entirely that 

 of keeping out the disease. 

 We must make sure that the 

 disease does not already occur 

 west of the Mississippi, and 

 then make sure that by some 

 means all movement into 

 this area of nursery stock of 

 five-needled pines, currants 

 and gooseberries is stopped. 

 Except in Oregon, Idaho and 

 Montana, where local quaran- 

 tines have been imposed, no 

 effective restriction exists at 

 the present time on the move- 

 ment of five-leaved pines, 

 currants and gooseberries 

 from any eastern locality to 

 any western point. It would 

 obviously be foolish to spend 

 much money in determining 

 where this disease occurs, or 

 in eradicating it where found, 

 as long as nurseries are still 

 free to distribute the disease 

 as fast as it can be located. 



(2) Between the Missis- 

 sippi and the Hudson Rivers 

 we have conditions similar to 

 those obtaining in the coun- 



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: STATE ACTION REQUIRED IN FIGHTING 

 THE PINE BLISTER DISEASE 



The various states in the white-pine belt should ] 

 j proceed against the disease, as follows: 



1. Adequate laws should be enacted, giving ! 

 | authority to the proper state official to destroy all j 

 | white pine, currant, and gooseberry plants in- j 

 I fected with the disease or in danger of becoming [ 



! infected. Because of the need for persons hand- 



| ling diseased plants to take the greatest precau- | 



| tionary measures to avoid distributing the spores } 



| of the disease from one place to another, eradica- j 



I tion of the diseased plants should be done by | 



I men in state employ, specially trained and wear- j 



| ing a uniform that can be disinfected before ap- | 



I proaching the vicinity of pines or areas of disease- j 



| free currants. 



2. Each state should establish a quarantine I 



I preventing the introduction of any five-leaved | 



! pines, or any currant or gooseberry bushes from | 



! any area in which infection is known to exist, I 



! duplicating the action taken by the States of j 

 \ Wisconsin and Oregon. 



3. Each State in which white pine is important { 

 I as a native or planted tree should appropriate | 

 I sufficient funds to enable the proper State official j 

 1 to conduct such operations as may be necessary j 

 1 for detailed scouting and the control of the disease | 

 | when found. 



4. Cultivated black currants should be declared I 

 I a pest, and the bushes destroyed in all States j 

 I where five-leaved pines grow, regardless of j 

 j whether the disease has appeared in the locality. I 

 ! This action is advisable because the cultivated [ 

 ! black currant is especially susceptible to infec- I 

 I tion, and the elimination of this plant would do j 



I much to prevent the rapid spread of the fungus. j 



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try at large seven 

 years ago, that is, 

 scattering infections 

 of the disease, that 

 can still be eradi- 

 cated. In under- 

 taking this problem 

 we must profit by 

 the experience of the 

 past seven years. 

 Up to this year the 

 problem has no- 

 where been very vig- 

 orously attacked. 

 State laws are 

 mostly inadequate. 

 In many states no 

 eradication out- 

 side of a nursery is 

 possible except with 

 the consent of the 

 owner. In other states the state authorities have no power 

 to destroy diseased currants and gooseberries, because the 

 disease does not seriously damage these plants, and in few 

 if any states is there authority for destroying healthy 

 currants and gooseberries which are so located as to spread 



the disease. Nowhere has 



the Federal Government any 

 power to destroy diseased 

 plants of any kind. Up to a 

 year ago there have been 

 no specific appropriations for 

 fighting this disease, and 

 what has been done on this dis- 

 ease has been done as a side 

 issue, and at the expense of 

 other lines of work. If, then, 

 the disease is to be eradicated 

 over this wide central ter- 

 ritory it will mean a sharp re- 

 vision of law in most states, 

 education of public senti- 

 ment to the point where the 

 interests of one citizen can- 

 not prevail against the inter- 

 ests of an entire community, 

 or the interests of one com- 

 munity or one line of business 

 prevail against the interests 

 of an entire state. We must 

 look forward to a long fight, 

 for a disease with a long dor- 

 mant period, and as strongly 

 entrenched as this one, will 

 not be overcome in three or 

 four years. And finally, all 

 action must be prompt. 

 The time to combat any plant 

 disease is while there is still 

 but little of it. 



