9 



and malignant as in New York, especially on Long Island. In the 

 winter of 1908, over eleven hundred chestnut trees were felled in 

 Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N. Y. Many of them were dead and the 

 others so infected that removal was the best course to pursue. For- 

 est Park, is another large park in Brooklyn. It contains 5'M acres 

 of which about 330 acres are natural woodland. The Park Commis- 

 sioner reports fifteen thousand or more chestnut trees in Forest Park.. 

 At this date. May, 1909, these trees are standing, but greater havoc 

 from blight or insect pest on forest trees has probably never been ex- 

 celled in deadly malignity. The disease is so prevalent, that it is 

 proposed to cut every chestnut tree in the Park. On many estates 

 on Long Island similar conditions exist. 



THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BLIGHT. 



Neither insect pests nor blights can be dealt with successfully 

 until the life history is known. It is almost useless to strike at one 

 of these supposed antagonists in the dark. Is it much better to 

 know your antagonist, whei*e it lives, and how and when it is pro- 

 pagated. As to the chestnut blight, its general appearance should 

 be known at different stages of growth and for each season of the 

 year. Does it have the same appearance in the resting stage of 

 winter as in the rapidly growing condition of summer? 



The first scientific description of the chestnut blight was given in 

 1908 by Dr. Wm. A. Murrill of the Bronx Botanical Garden, New 

 York City. After a year or more of study and experiment tlie fungas 

 was proved to be a new species. It belongs to the class kuown as 

 the sac-fungi and to the genus Diai)orthe of which more than one 

 hundred sjiecies are known to science. The scientific name of this 

 blight is Diapnrthc parasitica. 



Many of the fungi derive their nourishment from decayed vegeta- 

 tion. Such are the common brackets or shelves on stumps and logs 

 and are projterly called saprophytes. Other saprojjhytes live on de- 

 cayed animal matter. When one looks at a pulf-ball, mushroom, or 

 bracket on" a log, it is the fruiting body of the fungus that is under 

 observation. Besides this there are hundreds of fine threads a yard 

 • or more in length penetrating the mould or decayed log. These 

 threads or mycelia take up the nourishment and produce the fruiting 

 body. Some fungi, however, derive their nourishment from liviiuj 

 Ijlants or animals, and are consequently .called parasites. Bingworm 

 that attacks man is a fungus parasite. Trichophyton tonsurans. The 

 deadly chestnut blight is also a fungus parasite. The ringworm 

 burrows beneath the skin and the chestnut blight lives in the bark 

 and derives nourishment from the new cells of the cambium. The 

 other hundred or more species of Diaporthe live, as a general rule, 



