12 



FUNGUS DISEASE. 



The catalpas throughout the State are susceptible to the attacks 

 of a fungus disease, Polystictus versicolor^ which very generally 

 attacks the trees in groves after they are past twenty years of 

 age. In some plantations the trees are attacked at an earlier age; 

 the fungus gains entrance through wounds in those lower limbs 

 which are killed by the shade from the upper part of the tree. 

 The disease spreads from the point of entrance, going both uj> 

 and down the trunk. Within a very few years after the disease 

 gains entrance, the wood of the entire trunk is affected and the 

 tree dies. The presence of this fungus is easily detected by the 

 occurrence of brackets or punks, often spoken of as "toad stools,'* 

 that appear on the surface of the infected parts, and also by the 

 occurrence of broken limbs. In an advanced stage of the disease, 

 the trunks of the trees are usually covered with a growth of brack- 

 ets which are the fruiting organs of the fungus. The infected 

 trees are often broken off by the wind at heights varying from two 

 to ten feet from the ground. 



The fungus destroys the strength of the wood and makes it 

 worthless for any purpose. The only possible way of preventing 

 injury by this trouble in a grove of catalpas is to cut the trees be- 

 fore the disease has developed to the point of seriously affecting 

 the strength of the wood. 



LENGTH OP ROTATION FOR THE CATALPA. 



A careful study of catalpa plantations indicates that the catalpa 

 must be handled on a sixteen- or eighteen- year rotation. At this 

 age the trees are large enough to cut three lengths of posts that 

 are large enough for general fencing purposes. The trees do not 

 reach their full growth or development at this age, but the risk of 

 losing the crop by an attack of the fungus heretofore mentioned is 

 very great, and the increased value of larger material does not 

 balance the risk. 



SECOND CROP. 



If the trees are cut while they are in a good, thrifty condition, 

 the sprouts from the stumps will yield a second crop of posts in 

 from fourteen to sixteen years. This second crop of posts will 

 nearly equal the first cutting in number and value. They will be 

 straighter and freer from limbs than the posts of the first cut- 

 ting, and quite as durable. 



The care of the plantation during the production of the second 



1 Described in Bulletin 37 of the Forest Service, U. S. ODept. of Agri. 



