PINE BLISTER QUARANTINE HEARING 



A PUBLIC hearing to consider the restriction or pro- 

 hibition of shipments of pines and of currant and 

 gooseberry bushes, to prevent the spread of white 

 pine blister disease, was held by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture on April 10, at Washington, D. C. 



The question of whether a quarantine line should be 

 drawn either at the western border of the States of North 

 Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and 

 Texas, or at the Mississippi River, or at some intermediate 

 point, was considered. 



The white pine blister disease has continued to spread 

 in New England and eastern New York and has been 

 found to a limited extent in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

 Energetic measures for its eradication or control are being 

 taken by Federal and State Governments and by the 

 American Forestry Association in realization of the danger 

 which threatens our immensely valuable pine forests. To 

 assist in this control work and to prevent the blister dis- 

 ease from getting a foothold in the western United States, 

 consideration was given to the desirability of pro- 

 hibiting all shipments of white pine nursery stock from 

 the Eastern and Central States to the Western States. 

 Currant and gooseberry nursery stock must also be con- 

 sidered in this connection, since they are hosts for the 

 blister disease, and are a necessary stage to its development. 

 A domestic quarantine to protect the pine forests of 

 the West was proposed a year ago and a hearing held in 

 February, 1916, by the Federal Horticultural Board. It 

 was then found that the most effective results would be 

 secured by prohibiting the shipment of Eastern pines and 

 gooseberry and currant bushes west of a line drawn beyond 



the Mississippi. Such a quarantine was not then legally 

 possible nor was sufficient knowledge available of the dis- 

 tribution of the disease in the Central States ; consequently,- 

 Federal action was limited to securing the voluntary 

 cooperation of nurserymen to prevent shipments west 

 of the Great Plains. 



Congress at the last session amended the Plant Quar- 

 antine Act to permit the drawing of quarantine lines where 

 needed to prevent the spread of plant pests rather than 

 at the boundaries of infected States. 



What Various States Are Doing 



That the introduction of the white pine blister disease 

 into California may be prevented, and to cooperate with 

 the Eastern States in its suppression, G. H. Hecke, State 

 Commissioner of Horticulture, has issued a quarantine 

 against the introduction into California of all five-needled 

 pine trees, and all species and varieties of currant and 

 gooseberry plants and cuttings imported or brought from 

 any and all States of the United States east of the Mis- 

 sissippi River. The disease has not yet been noticed in 

 California, and it is believed that this quarantine will 

 prevent its introduction. 



Indiana and Kansas prohibit the importation into the 

 State from outside sources of all species of currants 

 and gooseberries and of all five-leafed pines. 



New York, March 24, 1917, prohibited the importation 

 into the State of any five-leafed pines from Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 

 necticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Indiana, 

 Minnesota, and Wisconsin. 



National Forest Enlarged 

 Acting under the authority of a special 

 Act of Congress approved September 8, 

 1916, the President has, on recommendation 

 of the Secretary of Agriculture, signed a 

 proclamation adding approximately 50,000 

 acres to the Whitman National Forest, Ore- 

 gon. The lands involved are situated on 

 the divide between the John Day, Powder, 

 and Burnt Rivers, in east-central Oregon. 



Over 4,000 acres consist of timber lands 

 which were included in patented entries. As 

 the result of suits brought by the United 

 States, the patents for these entries were 

 cancelled by the courts because they were 

 acquired through fraud or mistake, and the 

 lands were returned to Government owner- 

 ship. The cancelled claims carry a total 

 estimated stand of nearly 46,000,000 feet 

 B. M. of timber. 



Much of the other land included in the 

 addition is privately owned. It consists 

 largely of out-over timberland, on which 

 the timber growth is rapidly reproducing. 



One portion of the Act of Congress author- 

 izing the addition provides especially for 

 the exchange of Government timber for pri- 

 vately owned lands in the Whitman Na- 

 tional Forest which may be chiefly valu- 

 able for the production of timber or the 

 protection of streamflow. Several applica- 

 tions for exchanges of this character have 

 already been submitted. 



the students made it especially practical 

 and instructive. 



Saw Expert Addresses Forestry Students 

 Thomas Oakland, one of the saw ex- 

 perts representing the Simonds Saw Com- 

 pany of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, lectured 

 to the forestry students at Wyman's School 

 of the Woods, Munising, Michigan, March 

 7th, on the use and care of the cross-cut 

 saw. He explained how saws were made, 

 how to select them when buying, and how 

 to keep them in good working order when 

 in use. Mr. Oakland is an old woodsman 

 and a past master with the cross-cut saw. 

 His actually fitting and filing a saw before 



Forester Appointed 



Trevor S. Goodyear, a student in the de- 

 partment of forestry of Washington State 

 College, has received notice of his appoint- 

 ment as assistant state forester of Washing- 

 ton. He has accepted the position and ex- 

 pects to assume his duties about June 1. 

 Mr. Goodyear graduated from the State 

 College, last June, but returned to take 

 another year in forestry. During the vaca- 

 tion he was employed by the Washington 

 Forest Fire Association with headquarters 

 at Seattle, and there came under the ob- 

 servation of State Forester Pape, who was 

 so favorably impressed with his qualifica- 

 tions that he recommended the appointment 

 to the state board of forest commissioners, 

 who confirmed the recommendation. Mr. 

 Goodyear was a member of the varsity 

 football squad for three years, and was 

 president of the State College Forest Club 

 last year. He is also commander of the 

 Sigma Nu fraternity chapter. 



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