74f. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



USE OF BLIGHT-KILLED CHESTNUT 



B 



^LIGHTED chestnut timber resists decay as well as 



liinlH-r from healthy trees, and barked dead wood 

 ja .mu-h more durable than impeded live wood, so 

 far as a three-vear test will determine, according to the 

 Forest Service. The blight is otherwise known as the 

 Chestnut tree hark disease. In 1913, poles, ties, and posts 

 out from blight-killed, blight-infected, and healthy chest- 



A PETRIFIED STUMP 



i HIS is a petrified hollow stump about five feet in 

 diameter and forty inches high and weighs over 

 seven thousand pounds. It was found by F. W. 

 I'ettigrew in a ravine on the west side of the Little Mis- 



T 



BLIGHT-KILLED CHESTNUT USED 



Except for the knot-hole around which decay h ct in. this chestnut post from 

 a tree killed by the blight is sound after three years' use. 



nut trees were carefully tagged and placed in position. A 

 recent annual inspection of the experiments determined 

 that all of the material was in good condition except for 

 deterioration of sapwood and knots. The sap wood of 

 chestnut is not durable and that on ties and on butts of 

 poles and posts and on unbarked posts is now mostly 

 decayed. Round posts cut from small limby trees suffer 

 early decay in the knots which carry the decay into the 

 post and thus weaken it. 



The chestnut durability experiments to date indicate 

 that blight-killed or infected trees yield timber just as 

 durable as that from healthy trees. In fact, a piece from 

 a seasoned dead tree is more durable than an unbarked 

 piece from a live tree. No one should therefore hesitate 

 to use timber from blight-killed or infected trees for 

 purposes for which chestnut is suitable and durability is 

 a consideration. 



A WONDERFUL PETRIFIED STUMP 



souri River near the northwest corner of the State of 

 South Dakota. The stump is now in the front yard of the 

 residence of Ex-Senator R. F. Pettigrew at Sioux Falls, 

 South Dakota, having been presented to him by his 

 brother. 



The stump may be several thousands of years old. It 

 is solid stone, but has the appearance of having been a 

 cottonwood tree. When found, it was full of dirt and 

 half covered by dirt on the outside and was partly exposed 

 to view by erosion. Ex-Senator Pettigrew, who has for 

 many years taken a deep interest in everything pertaining 

 to forestry, had the stump taken from the place where 

 it was found to his home at Sioux Falls. 



CHTNING shows a marked preference for chest- 

 nut trees, according to data based on reports sub- 

 mitted to the Department of Forestry by its fores- 

 ters. Of a total of about 2,000 trees struck by 

 lightning on the State Forests in the past four years, 655 

 were chestnut. Pitch pine comes next with 327 trees 

 struck, and then follow in order rock oak, white pine, 

 hemlock, red oak, white oak, black oak, locust, and sugar 

 maple. Black birch is at the foot of the list with only one 

 tree struck in four years. Poplar and walnut come next, 

 only two of each being struck. 



