STATE FORESTERS STUDY BLISTER RUST DAMAGE 



f^ ONTROL of the white pine blister rust was the prin- 

 ^ cipal subject considered at the annual meeting of the 

 Association of State Foresters, held in New York State 

 on September 20-22. Representatives of the Forestry 

 Departments of sixteen states, the Province of Quebec 

 and the United States Department of Agriculture were 

 present. A trip of 80 miles through the splendid white 

 pine forests of the eastern Adirondacks occupied the first 

 two days. The third day was devoted to a study of top 

 lopping and other methods of fire protection in the Adi- 

 rondack Preserve. 



The members of the Association motored from Al- 

 bany to Chestertown, New York, on the first day. A stop 

 was made at the State Forest Nursery at Saratoga, which 

 contains over 1400 seed beds and 18 million trees. 



Observations were made of conditions on a large es- 

 tate at Lake George, where, in 1917, blister rust was 

 found estab- 

 lished on ten 

 acres of white 

 pine. Trees 50 

 feet in height 

 are now dying 

 as a result of 

 blister rust in- 

 fection that oc- 

 curred prior to 

 1918. Numer- 

 ous dead and 

 dying pines of 

 smaller size 

 furnished con- 

 vincing e V i- 

 dence of the 

 d e s txuc tive 

 powers of cur- 

 r a n t and 

 g o o s e b erry 

 bushes when 

 infected with 

 the rust. The wild and cultivated currants and goose- 

 berries on and adjacent to the tract were uprooted in 

 1918; and as a result, the foresters were unable to find 

 any recent blister rust infection on the pines except in 

 one small area, where a few wild gooseberry bushes had 

 been overlooked in 1918. Adjacent to these bushes the 

 pines show numerous blister rust cankers of 1918 and 

 1919 origin. Cankers caused by infection in 1920 and 



FORESTERS IN ATTENDANCE 



Some of the foresters at the recent meeting of the Association of State Foresters, pho- 

 tographed after the luncheon at the State Blister Rust Camp at North Hudson, New York. 



wild gooseberry bushes are scattered among the pines. 

 Infection first occurred about 1913, and now over 80 

 per cent of the pines are dead or dying from blister rust 

 cankers on their stems. 



Most of the trees large enough to produce seed have 

 numerous cankers on branches and trunks, and are 

 doomed to ultimate death. Small seedlings on this area 

 are conspicuous by their absence, and those present are 

 practically all diseased. One tree three inches high had 

 two stem infections, and on a three-foot pine nearby 28 

 rust cankers were counted. A tree ten feet in height had 

 48 cankers of such recent origin (1918 and 1919), that 

 the foliage was still entirely healthy in appearance. This 

 tree was pointed out as an example of the deceptive na- 

 ture of the rust. The pine tops remain green several 

 years after their trunks are girdled. The real damage is 

 done long before the tree finally succumbs. 



Several years 

 ago this stand 

 could have 

 been saved by 

 uprooting the 

 g o o s e b e rry 

 bushes within 

 200 yards of 

 the pines, at a 

 cost of 75 cents 

 to $1.00 per 

 acre for hired 

 labor, or less 

 if the owner 

 had done the 

 work in spare 

 time. The for- 

 esters were 

 shown an area 

 near Horicon 

 where the wild 

 g o o s eberries 

 and skunk cur- 

 rants were de- 

 stroyed in 1918. A check made in August, 1921, showed 

 that there were 155 white pines under 20 feet high on a 

 quarter-acre plot, of which 45 were infected with blister 

 rust. The entire absence of cankers on the wood of 1918 

 and 1919 growth attests the effectiveness of the control 

 work. 



The second day the party traveled 50 miles through 

 the heart of the white pine region of the State. Pines 



1921 are not yet visible, since it takes three years after ''''^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ "flags" (branches killed by the rust) 



infection for the blister rust swellings to develop on pine. 

 Several hours were spent at Horicon, New York, in ob- 

 serving the severity of damage in a typical old pasture lot 

 growing up to white pine. Some of the trees are 30 

 feet high, but most of them are under 15 feet. Large, 



were observed everywhere along the route. At one point 

 a white pine plantation made in 1915 already had half 

 of the trees infected, due to the presence of a few wild 

 gooseberry bushes in and around it. At North Hudson 

 wild gooseberries were observed to be numerous and 

 (Continued on page 794) 



