56 EXPEPiDlExXT STATION. [Jan. 



THE CHESTNUT DISEASE (DIAPORTHE 

 PARASITICA). 



BY G. E. STONE. 



The chestnut disease, which has Avronght snch destrnction in 

 the vicinity of New York since 1904, has been observed quite 

 extensively in some parts of our State the past summer (1910). 

 Occasional reports of the disease occurring here and there have 

 been received for three or four years, but such reports, when 

 investigated, proved to be groundless. Whenever a chestnut tree 

 in a more or less unhealthy condition has been observed, the 

 cause of the trouble has promptly been put down as chestnut 

 disease. It is possible that the chestnut disease has been present 

 in Massachusetts for three or four years, but it has not been 

 called to our attention, neither has any systematic attempt been 

 made on our part to locate it. 



It has been reported by J. F. Collins in Rhode Island, and he 

 has traced it over the Rhode Island line into Massachusetts. 

 The territory which appears to be most severely affected in this 

 State is the Connecticut valley, where the disease may be seen 

 over quite an extensive area. Mr. Sumner C. Brooks went over 

 a considerable territory this past summer and reported several 

 hundred trees affected. Some of them appear to have been 

 dying for three or four years, according to the best information 

 we are able to obtain, and some of the injury may date back 

 even further thau tlmt. The disease exists, no doubt, in other 

 parts of the State, although little has been found at the present 

 lime. From a more or less hasty survey of the State, made by 

 this department last sumuier and fall, together with correspond- 

 ence and iiKpiii'ies, we were able to discover little, if any, of the 

 disease outside of the Connecticut vnllev region. As \n the case 



