CHESTNUT DISEASES 



143 



symptom is common in July and August. The dead leaves 

 remain clinging to the limbs during the winter. If the girdling 

 of the limb is completed at a time when the burs are matur- 

 ing, these also remain on the tree over winter. In case the 

 girdling of the limb takes place in late autumn or early spring, 

 after the leaves and burs are shed, the new leaves never attain 

 their full size but remain pale green and distorted. This is a 

 common symp- 

 tom in May and 

 June. Cankers 

 on the trunk, es- 

 pecially if at the 

 base, cause the 

 development of 

 clumps of water- 

 sprouts or suckers 

 below the can- 

 kered area. Such 

 clumps of suckers 

 do not constitute 

 infallible signs of 

 the Endothia 

 canker, however, 

 since girdling 

 caused by any 

 agency will re- 

 sult in such out- 

 growths. After a tree has become thoroughly diseased — and 

 this may take only three or four years after the first ap- 

 pearance in the top of the tree — the brown f ruiting-pustules 

 of the fungus cover the dead bark of the trunk and branches, 

 giving the tree a distinctive red-brown hue. The fungus con- 

 tinues to live saprophytically on the dead bark, as long as any 

 remains. 



Fig. 18. — Mycelial fans between th? bark and wood. 



