1911.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 53 



many of tlieni gave proiui^c of living at least one hundred years 

 in favorable environments. The black and white oak, ash and 

 I'ed maj)le are dying more rapidly than the elm. The European 

 birch, so commonly used for ornamental purposes, has been 

 dying everywhere this past summer from the eifects of borers, 

 and possibly the extreme drought. 



The past summer the writer has had an opportunity to exam- 

 ine many black oaks along country roadsides, where the condi- 

 tions for tree growth would l)e considered fairly good. These 

 trees ai'e located in different towns in the eastern part of the 

 State, where the oak seems to be affected the most severely. 

 Near one estate, where 19 black oaks (Qiiercus velutina, Lam.) 

 were examined, the larger part of them were found to show evi- 

 dence of root killing. These trees are located on a slight em- 

 bankment, and that part of the root system nearest the road was 

 invariably affected the worst. The trees showed various degrees 

 of root killing, some of it being so far advanced that 75 per cent, 

 or more of the tissues of the trunk were dead on the roadside. 

 Some of the trees were in fairly good foliage, others had lost a 

 little foliage, and many had consideral)le dead wood, the amount 

 corresponding to the condition of the roots. On another road- 

 side, where the conditions were somewhat similar, although in a 

 different town, the same root killing was observed. In this lo- 

 cality there were 50 or more black oaks, many with scarcely any 

 live limbs, and supporting only from 1 to 20 per cent, of the 

 original foliage. An examination of these trees showed the 

 trunks to be perfectly sound, and even the larger roots at the base 

 of the tree were alive. When the soil was removed from the 

 roots for a distance of 3 or 4 feet it was found, however, that 

 practically the whole root system had collapsed, and conditions 

 showed that there had been a slow but constant dying back of the 

 roots for the last five or six years. For example, roots 1/4 inch 

 in diameter, which normally would extend 15 to 25 feet from 

 the base of the tree, had died back to within 3 to 6 feet from the 

 base. It could be plainly seen that the trees had made stren- 

 uous efforts to recover their root systems by repeatedly throwing 

 out a profuse growth of side roots, but as the affected roots were 

 coutinuallv dying back, the ncAv laterals were of little or no use, 



