970 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1917 



How Menace to White Pine May 

 Be Controlled 



Scouting for Infected Areas by Limit Holders' Employees, 

 School Children, etc. — Official Measures 

 Necessary. 



Our last issue presented a valuable 

 article by H. T. Gussow, Dominion 

 Botanist, on the peril of White Pine 

 Blister. The following article is a 

 sequel and discusses the control of 

 the disease. To every reader of the 

 Journal, Mr. Gussow's authoritative 

 statements should be of interest. 

 What is contained in this and the 

 March issues does not represent more 

 than a portion of the original manu- 

 script delivered at the annual meet- 

 ing of the Canadian Forestry As- 

 sociation on January 15th, the lack 

 of space in the Journal necessitating 

 the omission of much that would 

 otherwise be used. 



With our present limited know- 

 ledge of the distribution of the dis- 

 ease, we cannot venture an opinion 

 as to whether or not the White Pine 

 Blister is already beyond control. 

 Were it confined only to the com- 

 paratively few localities, in which 

 it is so far known to occur, this cjues- 

 tion would present a much more 

 favourable aspect since this area 

 might be isolated by one or other 

 effective means. 



We have not yet at our disposal 

 the great staff of inspectors used for 

 scouting purposes in the United 

 States, hence it would be a good 

 plan to interest every person con- 

 cerned. Lumbermen and rangers all 

 over Canada ought to be on the look- 

 out and report any cases observed; 

 but a large and special appropriation 

 will be recjuired to do the preliminary 

 work of locating the disease. This 

 accomplished, then only can we arrive 

 at some decision as to what can be 

 done to control the trouble; provided, 

 that we do not realize that the ex- 

 pense of carrying out such contingent 



policy may be greater than the re- 

 sults to be expected therefrom, and 

 which unfortunately we cannot guar- 

 antee. 



Everybody a Scout. 



In order to deal promptly with the 

 situation it is very desirable to secure 

 the co-operation of all persons in- 

 terested in the white pine industry. 

 For this purpose the first essential 

 is that everybody concerned should 

 familiarize himself with the symp- 

 toms of the disease, and keep a look- 

 out for it. When any infected native 

 white pines are found, the discovery 

 should be promptly brought to the 

 attention of the proper officials, to- 

 gether with the location of the dis- 

 eased pines. This would materially 

 aid experts in ascertaining the pre- 

 cise distribution of the disease. And 

 the sooner all disease centres are 

 known, the more quickly can the 

 work of extermination proceed. 



We must bear in mind that such 

 searches promise to be particularly 

 successful during the season when 

 the spore masses are produced. A 

 further tentative suggestions I would 

 hke to throw out at this point. In 

 the Boy Scout organization, and in- 

 deed in our schools also, we possess 

 a source of searchful inquisitiveness, 

 which; if instructed and guided by 

 their teachers, might be enthusiastic- 

 ally enlisted in the doing of a useful 

 work for the Dominion. 



With the reporting of observed 

 cases of Blister Rust on pines to the 

 proper authorities, it becomes the 

 task of the officials to adopt the best 

 means for eradication suggested by 

 the circumstances of the outbreak. 



Official Measures. 

 Let us, then, see what official meas- 



