288 WEST VIRGINIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



INVESTIGATIONS TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE. 



With a view of obtaining as much evidence as possible with 

 reference to the cause of this wide spread devastation of tim- 

 ber, I carefully examined a great number of living, dying and 

 dead trees in all sections of the forest visited. The possibility 

 of the primary cause of the trouble being due to the action of 

 some bacteria or fungus disease, or some unfavorable climatic 

 condition which would weaken the vitality of the trees and 

 thus attract the bark beetles, led me to give this phase of the 

 subject careful consideration, and to search for evidence that 

 might lead to this explanation of the phenomenon. 



Trees Dying from a disease. A few small trees of the 

 scrub pine 1 were found in Hampshire county, and occasionally 

 observed in other sections, which were without doubt, dying or 

 had died from the attack of a disease which caused the rapid 

 decay of the roots and base of the trunk, being similar in this 

 respect to a so called root rot disease that kills fruit trees in 

 some sections of the State. The bark on the roots and base of 

 the trunk dies first, then the leaves gradually die and turn red, 

 as they do when the tree is killed by fire, and remain firmly 

 fixed to the twigs. The roots rapidly decay, and are usually 

 coated with the mycelium (?) of a fungus which also extends 

 beneath the bark on the roots and trunk of the tree. By the 

 following year the sapwood of the roots is completely decayed, 

 and the tree falls to the ground. Trees dying from this trouble, 

 while of frequent occurrence in some localities, were rare in 

 other sections where the greatest number ol trees were dying 

 from the common trouble. They were not found in groups, 

 but isolated and widely scattered through the forests. 



TREES DYING PROBABLY FROM NATURAL CAUSES. 



As is common even in the healthiest pine forests, large trees 

 of all species were frequently met with which had, evidently, 

 died from what is termed natural causes, such as so called old 

 age, or more correctly speaking, from the soil being occupied 



1 Pinus Virginiana, Mill. (Pmw* inops, Ait.) 



