The Pine Blister Disease 



National and State Legislation and Vigorous Public Action Demanded in the Effort to Retard the Spread oj the 

 Deadly Canker which Threatens the Death of the White and Five-Leaved Pines 



STEADY progress in the spread of the white pine 

 blister canker or disease, as it is now generally 

 known, is re|>ortcd from New Kngland, while sev- 

 eral new sections where the infection is apparent have 

 recently been discovered. The situation is becoming more 

 and more serious, and it is now apparent that if the ex- 

 tremely valuable white and five-leaved pines of this 

 country and Canada can possibly be saved, no time must 

 be lost in conducting a campaign against the disease. 



Experts agree that there should be national and state 

 quarantines to prevent the shipment of white pine, and 

 the currants and gooseberries from which the disease 

 spreads to the pines. A state quarantine is necessary so 

 that the disease shall not be carried by shipments from 

 one state to another, or even from one infected section of 

 a state to another region in the same state, while a Federal 

 quarantine is needed so that a dead line may be estab- 



tighting the blister disease, and bills will be introduced in 

 the state legislatures to secure stringent quarantine meas- 

 ures, and to provide money for investigation and eradica- 

 tion work. A model law, covering the situation in the most 

 effective manner, is now being prepared by a committee 

 of experts, and will soon be available. At the same time 

 four experts from all the states in the white pine belt, 

 together with four from each of the infected provinces of 

 Canada, constitute a general committee, the aim of which 

 is a vigorous campaign against the disease. 



The American Forestry Association will work in 

 cooperation with this committee, will give widespread 

 publicity to the fact that the disease exists, what it has 

 already done, and what means should be taken to combat 

 it, and will also do all in its power to aid in obtaining the 

 desired state and national legislation, and in endeavoring 

 to secure the quarantine regulations which shall be best 



hshed west of the Mississippi ^iiiiinuiiiiim m i oniiiim nnin iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimi i i m minim 11111= suited for the situation as it 



River in all the Great Plains | 



states, in the effort to prevent I 



the disease spreading to the | 



very valuable sugar pine of | 

 the Pacific Coast. 



CALL TO A FOREST CONFERENCE 



CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President of the | 

 American Forestry Association, has issued the I 

 following statement : 



exists in various states. 



At a meeting of represen- 

 tatives of the American For- 

 estry Association and of mem- 

 bers of the Committee for 



"Expert investigation establishes the fact that the 1 



Mate and national appro- |j white pine ^ other five _i eaV ed p i ne s of the United j the Suppression of the Blister 



be needed to | States and Canada are threatened with extinction by the | Disease, at Albany, New York, 



white pine blister canker, a fungus disease imported from | on November 20 and 21 and 



Europe. Already the disease has been found in all the I ,_;_ xt v , n -! 



in. ttuj c t . ^ I again in New York City on 



New England States, most of the eastern and northern I _? J 



states in the white pine belt and in Ontario and Quebec | December 4, plans for the 



provinces. It is spreading steadily and unless checked 1 warfare against the blister 



will wipe out our white pines, valued at $260,000,000, as | disease were discussed and 



our chestnuts are being wiped out by the chestnut blight. f adopted, and at the forestry 



"The area east of the Hudson River is generally infected. | conference at Washington, 



Whether the disease can be controlled in that area or | D . Q on J anuary 18 and 19 ' 



not depends upon whether currant and gooseberry bushes I , .., . , 



on which the disease propagates and spreads to the pines I U " der the aus P lces of the 



can be eradicated. I American Forestry Associa- 



" Between the Mississippi and the Hudson Rivers we 1 tion ' the sub-committees from 



j have an area infected with scattering infections, but I eacn state, members of delega- 



their proximity to an infected j throughout which the disease may be controlled and per- | tions appointed bv state gover- 



area, to become diseased and jj haps suppressed by the enforcement of rigid quarantine | nors and by the Dominion of 



thus to aid in spreading the || *?^Z Z????? V * r S*^ WeSt f I Canada, officials and members 

 canker to pines near them 



carry on the work of scout- | 

 ing to discover infected pines, f 

 currants and gooseberries ; for I 

 investigative work in study- | 

 ing the disease and for eradi- 

 eating it wherever there is an I 

 outbreak. This work of eradi- | 

 cation will consist of cutting 

 out wild and cultivated cur- 

 rants and gooseberries when 

 infected or when they are 

 considered likely, owing to 



I the Mississippi is an area which as far as is known is not 



j yet infected but which may be infected unless state 1 0t the Amenc an Forestry 



quarantine laws keep out of it white pine seedlings and I Association, will report the 



currant and gooseberry stock which may be diseased. | progress of the campaign and 



" In view of the imminent danger of the destruction I take up for general discussion 



of the white pines, the American Forestry Association and action the most important 



will call upon the governors of all states in the white pine | details regarding it 



This kind of work is hard, 

 slow and laborious, and the 

 expense of it is considerable. 

 It is. however, the only way 

 by which the rapid spread of 

 the disease may be retarded. 

 There will soon be miI>- 

 mittcd to Congress a bill pro- 

 viding for an appropriation, 



doubtkS! for $1,000,000 for ference wiu take place on Thursday and Friday, January 1 

 Federal cooperation with the i? *?* "i!? *? CCasi n f *' TUrt y-^ Annual I but ""le attention was paid 

 states of th Meeting of the American Forestry Association." \ when it first appeared, was 



1 ln a """""""" "" I"" 1 " mi mum 1 1 m I beyond control when full 



ris 



belt and the government of Canada to send delegations to 1 



Washington, D.C., to attend an international forest confer- 1 



ence to discuss measures and formulate plans for fighting 1 



the disease, suppressing it, if possible, and saving the | 



The aid of every public 

 spirited citizen is needed to 

 make this work successful. 



white pines of the present and of the future. This con- i 



; The chestnut blight, to which 



