4 BULLETIN 89, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



From Table I it is readily seen that the chestnut at New Berlin, 

 X. Y.j has made a much slower growth than the trees from any of 

 the other localities listed. 



GENERAL CONDITION OF THE WHITE OAK. 



Of the oaks in this region, the white oak (Quercus alba) predomi- 

 nates, but is intermixed with the red oak (Q. rubra). The tops of all 

 the oaks appeared healthy, no "stag heads" or large dead branches 

 being present. There was very little butt-rot of any kind in the boles. 

 This was especially true of the area that had never been logged. In 

 this area there occurred only 5 per cent of butt-rot and no top-rot of 

 any kind. On the area which had been partially logged once there 

 was a greater percentage of butt-rot due to injury to the standing 

 timber from bruises on the roots and butts of the trees exposed to 

 injury in logging. On this area the oak had 21 per cent of butt-rot, 

 as against 5 per cent on the unlogged tract. Of this butt-rot, 87 per 

 cent was caused by Hydnum erinaceus, which by decay makes hollows 

 and is capable of entering through slight bruises on the trees, as well 

 as through fire scars and other deep wounds. 



ARMILLARIA MELLEA ON CHESTNUTS, OAKS, AND POPLARS. 



The "shoe strings " of ArmiUaria mellea were found very abundantly 

 on the roots and under the bark of the butts of chestnuts, oaks, and 

 poplars. They were also occasionally found on maples and on service 

 berries (AmelancMer sp.), but none were found on the white pine. 

 These "shoe strings" were also common in the soil around the bases of 

 the diseased and dead trees. On some of the dead chestnut trees 

 these "shoe strings" had grown upward under the bark for 15 or 20 

 feet. In many instances they had made a perfect network of strings 

 over the sapwood (PL I, fig. 2). There could be no reasonable doubt 

 that this fungus was killing the chestnut and oak, since trees were 

 found in all stages of decline when it was present. Wherever a 

 dead piece of bark on the base of a tree was removed, the brown or 

 black rhizomorphs of this parasite were found beneath it. In such 

 cases a watery zone of dying bark of a dark-brown color marked the 

 boundary fine between sound and diseased tissue. Sometimes only a 

 very small area of the bark was affected, although the roots on this 

 side of the tree were already dead and the outer layers of the sap- 

 wood were more or less decayed. The rotten sapwood is watery, 

 white in color, soft, and easily broken. On a chestnut tree 18 inches 

 in diameter this fungus had killed an area 14 inches wide at the 

 ground and extending 15 feet upward, while the "shoe strings" had 

 grown up under the bark a distance of 8 feet. The top of this tree 

 was dead. In three instances where chestnut trees had been struck 



