6 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



with another attempt to utilize one of the Parks for an 

 object foreign to the purpose for which it was created, 

 Many years of conflict . . . against all sorts of 

 incursions have shown me that the only safety is in 

 heating back every invasion." To help preserve the in- 

 tegrity of the National Parks by beating back the present 

 invasions by the water power and irrigation interests 

 should be the duty of every far-sighted American citizen. 



Both the Water Power Act and the Smith Bill are danger- 

 ous because they place the future of the Parks in the 

 hands of administrative officials without opportunity for 

 appeal, and because they violate the fundamental prin- 

 ciple for which the Parks were established. Only through 

 amendment of the former and defeat of the latter at the 

 present session of Congress can the very real dangers 

 by which the Parks are threatened be averted. 



THE MENACE OF THE WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST 



WHEN the white pine blister rust first made its appear- 

 ance in the United States the predictions of those 

 who uttered warnings as to the possibility of its doing 

 serious damage to the white pines of the country were 

 taken, in many quarters, with several grains of salt. 

 Since then the situation has been studied so carefully 

 and the feasibility of control measures has been investi- 

 gated so thoroughly that it is now possible to draw con- 

 clusions based on the solid foundation of established 

 facts. The latest developments in connection with the 

 progress of the disease, as brought out at the Sixth 

 Annual International Blister Rust Conference, held at 

 Boston in November, under the auspices of the Ameri- 

 can Plant Pest Committee, must convince even the skep- 

 tics that the blister rust is not to be scoffed at. 



It is now clear that in the Northeastern and Lake 

 States at least the blister rust has come to stay. Through- 

 out these regions, where white pine and currants and 

 gooseberries occur on the same area, the white pine is 

 in real danger of attack. Sample strips run in New 

 England and New York during the last year indicate 

 that approximately 10 per cent of the pine stands are 

 already infected. Furthermore, a hasty survey of con- 

 ditions throughout these States has indicated that 

 wherever currants and gooseberries occur the disease is 

 also present. There is, therefore, every probability that 

 the present infection will increase rapidly, particularly 

 where local climatic and vegetative conditions are favor- 

 able for its spread, unless energetic control measures are 

 undertaken promptly. The damage caused by the dis- 

 ease is of two main sorts it kills the smaller trees, up 

 to approximately 20 feet in height, whether in the 

 nursery, in plantations, or in natural stands, and it de- 

 creases the rate of growth of the larger trees. In severe 

 cases it may even result in the death of the latter. 



White pine, one of the most important commercial 

 trees of central and southern New England and of large 

 areas in New York and the Lake States, is thus in 

 imminent danger of having its value very materially de- 

 creased. Fortunately the results of work undertaken 

 during the past few years have shown that its control 

 is possible by the eradication of currants and goose- 

 berries, from which alone the pine can be infected, and 

 the value of which is obviously much less than that of the 

 latter. Experience in New England during the past 

 year has proved that such eradication is not only feasible 

 but that with adequate organization it can be conducted 



on a considerable scale at the very reasonable cost of 

 about 25 cents per acre. While the cost elsewhere has 

 so far been higher, it is still moderate in comparison with 

 the magnitude of the pine values involved. In those 

 areas where currants and gooseberries are present there 

 is, therefore, no excuse for not protecting the pine by 

 undertaking their eradication. 



West of the Great Plains the situation is very differ- 

 ent. There more species of 5-needled pines occur, all of 

 which are highly susceptible to the disease. Currants and 

 gooseberries are found throughout the region in a wide 

 variety of species, many of which reach the size of 

 large shrubs, the eradication of which, under any con- 

 ditions, would be difficult. This emphasizes the im- 

 portance of maintaining with the utmost strictness the 

 quarantine which the Federal Horticultural Board has 

 established at the Mississippi Valley prohibiting the ship- 

 ment of currants, gooseberries and white pines to States 

 west of this line. During the past year several wilful 

 violations of this quarantine have been detected. Shippers 

 of nursery stock should co-operate heartily with Federal 

 and State authorities in preventing shipments beyond 

 this line, and the latter should use every means at their 

 disposal to see that the quarantine is rigidly enforced. 

 Only in this way can the tremendously valuable stands 

 of the various white pines in the Rocky Mountain and 

 Pacific Coast States be protected. 



Several things stand out prominently in the present 

 situation. The white pine blister rust is a real menace 

 to white pine stands throughout the eastern United 

 States. This menace can be reduced or eliminated com- 

 pletely by the local eradication of currants and goose- 

 berries. The danger to white pines in the far Western 

 States is still greater than to those in the East, should the 

 disease ever become established there. It can be prevented 

 from doing so only by the strictest enforcement of the 

 present Federal quarantine prohibiting shipments of white 

 pines and currants and gooseberries into that territory. 

 It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that Federal, 

 State, and local authorities, nurserymen, timberland own- 

 ers, and the public generally should co-operate heartily 

 in using every effort to eradicate currants and goose- 

 berries in those parts of the eastern United States where 

 white pine is of commercial importance, and to prevent 

 the introduction of the disease into the West. 



