234 WEST VIRGINIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



1883. According to the most reliable information, the timber 

 commenced to die in Pocahontas county, on the waters of the 

 Greenbrier river, and in the adjoining portion of Randolph 

 county, in 1883. 



All persons from whom I could procure information which 

 was based upon their personal observations agreed that the 

 timber continued to die for from three to four years after it first 

 began to attract attention, after which the trouble gradually, or 

 suddenly came to an end. 



The spruce timber commenced to die again during the spring 

 and summer of 1892, and in June of that year I made a 

 thorough examination during an extended and tortuous jour- 

 ney on horseback and on foot, through the heart ot the spruce 

 wilderness, from Hendricks, in Tucker county, to Traveler's 

 Repose, in Randolph county, and on Williams river in Poca- 

 hontas county. All through the forest from the time the first 

 spruce was observed on the point of the mountain, near the 

 mouth of Dry Fork of Cheat, until we emerged from the forest 

 near Traveler's Repose, on the Greenbrier river, clumps of dy- 

 ing trees were observed on the high points and on the eastern 

 and western slopes of the Allegheny peaks and ranges, the east 

 ern border of the spruce belt being affected far worse than the 

 western portion. These clumps and patches of dying spruce 

 trees, varied from a few trees in some places to all of the spruce 

 trees, large and small, on several acres in other places. The 

 same condition was also found in the spruce forests near the 

 source of Williams river, in Pocahontas county. 



In May and July, 1893, the investigations were continued in 

 the spruce area in Grant, Tucker, Randolph and Pocahontas 

 counties, when it was found that no timber was dying except 

 that which had been seriously injured by the trouble of 1892, 

 and in May, July and October, 1894, the same and other sec- 

 tions of the spruce region were visited and no timber was found 

 dying. 



.Numerous reports were received from different sections dur- 

 ing 1893-94-95 that the timber was still dyina;, but upon careful 

 inquiry and personal examinations, I found that in every case, 



