456 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



confined principally to the development of control areas. 

 These areas are especially selected where young native 

 white pine growth is of high value, and the effort is 

 being made to free them from currants and gooseberries 

 of all kinds, thus saving the pines not already diseased. 

 Many new pine infection centers have been found in 

 these states during the past year, and immediate and 

 drastic action is necessary in securing the removal of 

 currants and gooseberries, or serious destruction of pines 

 will result. In New Hamp- 

 shire 43 towns have voted 

 appropriations to co-oper- 

 ate with the State Forestry 

 Commission and the Uni- 

 ted States Department of 

 Agriculture in establishing 

 local control areas. Local 

 control in which each land- 

 owner is interested, with 

 the help of State and 

 Federal funds, seems to 

 offer the best solution of 

 the blister rust problem. 



It would be sufficiently 

 difficult to control the di- 

 sease if only cultivated cur- 

 rant and gooseberries were 

 involved. The thrifty 

 housewife mourns the loss 

 of her currant jelly and 

 gooseberry jam, and com- 

 mercial currant plantations 

 that represent a valuable 

 source of income to their 

 owners are not infrequent. 

 However, most people in 

 pine regions realize the 

 greater value of the pines, 

 and when they learn that 

 they must choose between 

 their currants and goose- 

 berries and the trees, they 

 sacrifice their bushes. It 

 is hoped that some harm- 

 less substitute may be 

 found to take the place of 

 cultivated currants. Possi- 

 bly high bush cranberry 

 could serve this purpose, 

 since its fruit makes excel- 

 lent red jelly. It is a valu- 

 able ornamental shrub as 

 well, although it lacks the fragrance of the "spice" cur- 

 rant, dear to the heart of New England because it an- 

 nounces the permanent advent of Spring. 



In New England and north-eastern New York, wild 

 currants and gooseberries are generally distributed. In 

 some sections the bushes average only one or two per 

 acre, in other places there are sometimes hundreds on 

 an acre. In moist situations, skunk currants may form 



Courtesy of W . S. Carpenter, New York Conservation Commission 



THE ULTIMATE EFFECT OF BLISTER RUST 

 This photograph illustrates the statement that a tree infected with white 

 pine blister rust never has been known to recover. The stem of this 

 tree was girled two feet above the base at the point where it is broken 

 The tree is a 15-year old native white pine, 3'4 inches in diameter. 



a complete mat, covering the ground. Along stone 

 walls and on dry or rocky hillsides, wild gooseberry 

 bushes are numerous. One such bush was found last 

 year that measured 14 feet in length, but usually they are 

 1 to 3 feet high. They are usually very firmly rooted, 

 and well protected with prickles. In low, moist ground, 

 wild black currants may be found occasionally, the 

 bushes sometimes being as tall as a man and strongly 

 rooted. It is not uncommon, also, to find cultivated bushes 



growing in the woods, 

 where the seeds were car- 

 ried by birds, or where 

 they remain to mark an 

 abandoned house site. 



The general plan of con- 

 trol is to uproot all wild 

 and cultivated currant and 

 gooseberry bushes from 

 the areas in which the 

 pines are to be protected 

 from the rust. A crew of 

 five to seven men, under 

 the direction of a foreman, 

 goes back and forth over 

 the territory, strip by strip. 

 The men work from 6 to 

 20 feet apart, depending 

 on the density of the brush, 

 and every foot of ground 

 is scanned for gooseberries 

 and currants. When found, 

 the bushes are pulled up 

 and burned, or hung up 

 where they will quickly die 

 and have no possibility of 

 further harm. If the crown 

 or "whirlbone" of the bush, 

 with its attached roots, is 

 removed, the plant is de- 

 stroyed. If the top of a 

 gooseberry bush is merely 

 broken off, or a portion of 

 the crown remains, vigor- 

 ous sprouts will soon re- 

 new the plant. For this 

 reason, it is best for the 

 crews to be equipped with 

 small picks or light grub 

 hoes, rather than to at- 

 tempt to pull up the bushes 

 by hand power alone. In 

 the case of skunk currant, 

 each little piece of the root stock that remains in the 

 ground quickly sprouts and forms a new plant, like 

 witch grass. 



Pieces of tin about five inches square, dipped in bright 

 red paint, serve well to mark the lines through the 

 woods. A hole about one and one-half inches in 

 diameter is made near one corner of the tin, and a num- 

 ber of markers are carried on a hook attached to the 



