122 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



creased the injury due to winter killing. It is probable that 

 much of the injury to the chestnut is due directly to winter 

 killing, and the effects of the droughts which have injured other 

 trees in the same region. 



With such weakening of the chestnut, due to unfavorable 

 weather conditions, the bark disease has been able to spread 

 and develop far more rapidly and with more disastrous results 

 than would ordinarily occur. Whether this relation between 

 weather conditions and the activity of the disease actually 

 exists is not yet proven. Within the next few years, however, 

 providing severe droughts and abnormal winters do not occur, 

 the truth should become apparent. If the seasons are normal 

 and the disease does not develop with the same rapidity as in 

 the past. Dr. Clinton's theory may be accepted. But if, after 

 several normal seasons, the disease still continues its devastat- 

 ing progress, the injury must be attributed to the fungus alone. 

 It is to be hoped that he is correct, and that the chestnut in 

 New England will be saved from extermination. 



Tra?netes pint. 



Trametes pini is a fungus attacking practically all the impor- 

 tant conifers of New England; red and white spruce, white pine, 

 hemlock, larch, and balsam. Von Schrenk considers larch most 

 susceptible to its attacks, the spruces next, and the balsam least. 

 It is a common and extremely dangerous disease, entering 

 living trees, old enough to form heartwood, through wounds or 

 any opening in the bark. From the point of entry it spreads 

 up and down the trunk, working both in the heartwood and the 

 sapwood, except in white pine, where it flourishes only in the 

 heartwood. Finally even the roots and the larger branches may 

 be infected. As the wood is not entirely destroyed by the 

 fungus the tree remains standing, but is so weakened that 

 eventually it is broken off by a strong wind. The lumber value 

 of the infected portion is entirely destroyed. 



The fungus can be identified because the diseased wood is 

 honeycombed and is filled with small holes. These holes often 



