THE CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE. 3867 
Recently H'ndothia parasitica has been reported on three species of 
oaks. Although such occurrence appears to be rare, the spread of 
the bark disease to oak trees presents an unpleasant possibility. 
LINES OF INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL. 
The history of the investigation of the chestnut bark disease with 
reference to its control is a long story of procrastination. Undoubt- 
edly present on Long Island in the nineties and doing conspicuous 
damage in the largest city of the United States as early as 1904, the 
disease is, nevertheless, not mentioned in scientific literature until 
1906. It is not mentioned in any economic publication until 1908, 
and then without any appreciation of its seriousness. The impres- 
sion was allowed to prevail that the disease was due to weather con- 
ditions and would soon disappear of itself, and hence was not 
worthy of serious attention. So in attempting control of the disease 
we find ourselves handicapped at every step by lack of knowledge, 
although there would have been ample time to secure this knowledge 
if practical investigations had been begun even as late as when 
Merkel noted the serious character of the disease. 
CUTTING OUT ADVANCE INFECTIONS. 
Many scattered advance infections have been cut out, including all 
of those in Pennsylvania. That State has taken the lead not only 
in cutting out advance infections and utilizing dead chestnut trees, 
but also in all lines of investigation of the disease. The results of 
this work are awaited with profound interest, not only by such 
States as Ohio and West Virginia, which are in part protected by 
the action of Pennsylvania, but also by those more distant Southern 
States that still have time to profit by the experience of Pennsyl- 
vania. 
UTILIZATION OF DEAD AND DYING TREES. 
The utilization of dead and dying trees is a forestry problem of 
the utmost importance. In the neighborhood of New York City all 
chestnut trees are dead; as we go from there in any direction we 
find areas of dead trees, corresponding to old points of advance in- 
fection, surrounded by more recently infected trees. Between these 
areas are occasional “islands” of still healthy trees. But the num- 
ber of trees that should be immediately utilized is enormous and 
will increase annually. They should be used to save the timber, to 
reduce infection, and to prevent possible increase of injurious in- 
sects. Since the wood of a diseased tree is rotted only: immediately 
under the cankers, a tree that is cut promptly may be expected to 
make practically as good timber as a sound tree. However, if 
