188 



wounds and other openings through the bark into which spores 

 are hable to fall and germinate. 



Old trees badly affected — and there are many of this descrip- 

 tion in New York — are not worth the trouble even of pruning ; 

 the sooner they are cut and burned the better. 



Large trees with only a few branches affected might be saved 

 for several years by cutting away these branches a foot or more 

 below the affected area and coating the cut surface with coal-tar 

 or other suitable substance. The same treatment may be ap- 

 plied to vigorous young trees with much more prospect of success. 



My observations in tlie Bronx this season have led me to take 

 a gloomy view regarding the immediate future of the chestnut 

 here. The disease seems destined to run its course, as epidemics 

 usually do, and it will hardly be safe to plant young trees while 

 the danger of infection is so great. 



The fungus in question appears to be confined to our native 



Fig. 2. A, Summer spores. B. Pustule in section showing perithecia. C. 

 Asci with sporidia : a, usual form ; b, form rarely found. D. Sporidia. 



