THE CHESTNUT TKEE BLIGHT. 



BY JOHN MICKLEBOROUGH, PH. D. 



The devastation produced by the chestnut tree fungus, Diaporthe 

 parasitica, is arousing the attention of State authorities and deeply 

 concerns the owners of woodland, also the owners of chestnut groves 

 and chestnut orchards. Nothing more serious has ever appeared in 

 the forests of this country than the destructive work of this parasite. 

 Its i)resence is known by the writer from personal examinations to 

 extend from near the northern boundary of JIarj'land, through south 

 eastern Pennsylvania, across New Jersey and New York. The line 

 of inspection covers a distance of nearly two hundred and fifty miles. 

 On Long Island the disease has spread for fifty or sixty miles with 

 great rapidity, and is most prevalent and its ravages the most deadly. 

 In December, 1908, I was invited by Dr. Jane Baker, the physician 

 in charge of Chester County Insane Hospital, to speak before an 

 Educational Conference at Erabreeville, Pa. On this visit several 

 infested chestnut trees were found. The disease was not prevalent. 

 The inspection of forests to ascertain the presence of tlie blight, 

 under the direction of the Department of Forestry, began March 2yth, 

 1909. The counties first to receive attention were, Dauphin, Leba- 

 non, Berks (west), Cumberland, and Franklin. This is a rich agri- 

 cultural section of the State lying between South Mountain and 

 North Mountain or the Blue Bidge. The Lebanon and Cumberland 

 valleys are a limestone formation and very few chestnut trees are to 

 be found until the mountain slopes are reached where the chestnut 

 growth is abundant. A careful insj)ection of the forests was made on 

 each side of the Susquehanna where the river cuts through the Blue 

 Kidge to the north of Harrisburg, and at Middletown where it wends 

 its way beyond the broken ridges of South Mountain. An examina- 

 tion of chestnut forests was made at Wernersville in Berks County, 

 and as far west as Mont Alto in Franklin. Examinations were 

 made along South Mountain at Hunters Eun, Mt. Holly Springs, and 

 farther south at Idaville. The Chestnut tree Might was not found 

 to the north and west of South Mountain. It becomes an interest- 

 ing question whether the valley from twelve to twenty miles or more 

 in width between North and South Mountains may not act as an 

 efifective barrier to the progress of the disease into the interior of the 

 State. At Mont Alto, the State Forestry Academy was visited. This 

 institution is doing most excellent work. The instructors are able 

 and practical men, and the students are enthusiastic lovers of nature. 



