34 



have been offered for treatment that shall save them and cure them. It 

 has been the subject, also, of much scientific study, resulting in conclu- 

 sions that are somewhat reassuring. 



Authorities do not quite agree on the question of time within which 

 it made its appearance in Massachusetts. Some say they have noticed 

 it here for about eight years, while others maintain that its first ap- 

 pearance was three years ago ; but they are agreed in the verdict that 

 it is more prevalent this year than in any previous season. Hence the 

 question is raised, Is the disease contagious ? 



On that particular point State Forester Rane is strongly convinced 

 by his own observations. He has toured certain sections of the State 

 thoroughly in quest of information on that subject, and has studied the 

 woodlands to see what relation one dying tree might have to another. 

 One of his assistants also has made a study in the field, and it is believed 

 that when all the data are pieced together Professor Rane will find it 

 possible to send a reassuring communication on the subject to the land 

 owners. 



From all that is at hand to-day, the most logical conclusion is that it 

 is not contagious ; and Professor Rane, moreover, ventures to say that it 

 is highly improbable that the disease will spread. It will not be as bad 

 next year as it is now, he thinks. In the first place, he finds blighted 

 pines in the midst of a pine grove, with a few trees practically killed and 

 the others not at all touched by it. A perfectly fresh seedling may be 

 found side by side with a matured tree that is dying, and vice versa, 

 showing that the disease does not spread from one tree to another, and 

 has no preferences based on the age of a pine. 



If one tree is more susceptible to an attack than another, it is the 

 naturally dry and unhealthy, consumptive-looking pine, that shows 

 every sign of being underfed; and from this the deduction is drawn 

 that the strong tree withstands and the weak one yields, when exposed 

 to soil and weather conditions that may be productive of the disease. 

 While it is most common on the white pine, it sometimes attacks the 

 pitch pine also, but it is not as common as many persons may have been 

 led to believe. The State Forester, after his investigation, ventured the 

 estimate that the number of affected pines in the State constitute only 

 a fraction of one per cent of the pine stand, but as yet there are no fig- 

 ures available to qualify this estimate. There is enough of it to give rise 

 to apprehension for the pine forest interest, which is one of growing 

 importance in Massachusetts. 



State Forester Rane assigned one of his assistants, B. C. Noyes, the 

 other day to go to Winchendon, whence came many inquiries about the 

 disease, to study the condition in that vicinity, and Mr. Noyes makes 

 this report on the subject: "The blight is found on the pines of all ages. 

 Beginning at the tip of the needle, it works downward and gradually 

 spreads over the whole tree. Trees of weak vitality are most liable to be 

 affected. The blight is undoubtedly due to the unusually cold spring, 



