HARDWOODS ON THE COUNTRY ESTATE 



789 



but a book of twenty volumes could be 

 written about our American wild trees 

 and then there would still be a lot to 

 discover about them and we have a 

 whole chapter of the more important 

 evergreens awaiting us. Our fine Ameri- 

 can chestnut must have a mention. 

 Restricted in range to the Ohio basin 

 and the Atlantic States, it is fast being 

 exterminated in the latter by the famous 

 (or infamous) blight which has swept 

 over the country in the last four years. 

 There seems to be no cure as yet 

 discovered, though I have heard or- 

 dinary Bordeaux mixture well spoken 

 of by those who have experimented 

 with various remedies. Most of the 

 experimenters are looking for some- 

 thing: that will do for wild forest 



conditions, and reject Bordeaux on the 

 score of expense. On an estate how- 

 ever, the expense of spraying all the 

 trunk of a big chestnut with Bordeaux 

 would not amount to very much, not 

 over 80 cents a tree including labor and 

 material, and if it will work let us try it. 

 The blight has not struck us yet in the 

 Intcrlaken Forest, but it has been three 

 years since we have had a decent fall 

 of chestnuts, and in 1911 the whole 

 crop was wormy. The next generation 

 will problably have chestnuts again, 

 for the fungus blight will have spent 

 itself, as such things do, and the bird 

 conditions ought to be better so that 

 every chestnut is not stung and ruined 

 by some damned fly or other, with no 

 kingbirds or great crested flycatchers 



The Common Black Willow 



ONE OF THE FIRST OUT IN THE SPRING. NATIVE ALONG STREAM BANKS AND ORNAMENTAL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 



NO GOOD FOR WHISTLES 



