No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 301 



show that the disease develops more rapidly in the valleys than 

 towards the top of the ridges. Mr. Edson states that he has 

 observed the disease growing much more rapidly in trees on the 

 edge of a fertilized field than in trees on a rocky knoll near by. 



Successful inoculations are said to have been made on a num- 

 ber of other trees besides chestnut, including oak, — species not 

 given, — tulip-poplar, and sumach, though there are no reports 

 of natural infection on these trees. 



A recent writer in " Pli^lopathology " states that he has deter- 

 mined the fungus known in Europe as Endothis radicalis to be 

 identical with the so-called Diaporthe parasitica of America. This 

 fungus, although long known, has never been reported as produc- 

 ing any disease in Europe. This article is simply a confirmation 

 of the identification made some time ago by Dr. W. G. Farlow. 

 It is said that inoculations with the European fungus on American 

 chestnuts have produced the disease. 



It has been discovered that, under favorable conditions, the 

 ascospores — the "winter spores" of the publications — may be 

 shot to a distance of several centimeters from the surface. They 

 may then be taken up by the wind and carried to an indefinite 

 distance. The possibility of spreading by the wind was sug- 

 gested in the pamphlet published by this office last spring. The 

 spores are covered with the sticky contents of the ascus, and 

 adhere firmly to whatever they strike. It is impossible to blow 

 them from a plate of glass even, and very difficult to wash them 

 off with a stream of water. 



The phenomenon shown in Figure 1 of the above pamphlet is 

 probably not the early stage of the disease, as there stated. It 

 is undoubtedly caused by an insect called the "Chestnut Bast 

 Miner," the larva of which was only recently discovered. The 

 adult is *as yet unknown. The galleries of this insect do, how- 

 ever, form a very common point of attack for the disease. 



The Bureau of Entomology has recently announced the discov- 

 ery of five species of insects which feed on the pustules of the 

 bark disease fungus, and by thus destroying the spores check its 

 spread to a greater or less extent. 



Record has been made of all known stations of the disease in 

 this State on a set of maps kept for that purpose. 



