CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT. 15 
The great damage which the disease has done thus becomes most 
apparent in the last week. of May or the first week in June, giving 
rise to the false but common idea that the fungus does its work at 
this time of the year, when in reality the harm is done during the 
previous summer. If the first attack is on the trunk, of course the 
entire tree dies. If, on the other hand, the small branches are first 
involved, the tree may live for several years. 
It is very easy for a a not familiar with fungi to confuse this 
parasite with various other fungi which occur commonly on the dead 
wood of chestnut and other trees, such as species belonging to the 
genera Calocera, Cytospora, and C tosporina. The superficial re- 
semblance is sometimes very strong, but a microscopical examination 
instantly reveals the true nature of the organism in question. On 
account of this common confusion no dependable diagnosis of the 
bark disease can be made in a new locality without a microscopical 
examination of specimens by an expert. 
RESTRICTION OF SPREAD. 
HOW THE FURTHER SPREAD OF THE BARK DISEASE MAY BE LIMITED. 
By THE Inspection or Diszasep Nursery Stock. 
It becomes more and more evident as this disease is studied that 
diseased nursery stock is the most important factor in its spread to 
distant points. In that part of the country where it is already well 
established in the native chestnuts its progress is rapid and sure, but. 
there is no evidence at present that it is able to pass to remote dis- 
tricts, tens or hundreds of miles away, except on diseased nursery 
stock. Of course it is conceivable that the spores are carried by 
birds. Such distribution would, however, follow in general the great 
lines of bird migration north and south and hence would not be an 
important factor in the western spread, except locally. During the 
summer of 1908 nearly every chestnut nursery and orchard of impor- 
tance in the Atlantic States north of North Carolina was visited, and 
very few were found free from the bark disease. Several cases were 
observed where the disease had obviously spread from the nursery 
to adjacent wild trees. This is the only way in which the disease is 
likely to spread beyond the Alleghenies. ; 
It is therefore obvious that every State in which the chestnut or 
chinquapin grows should as speedily as possible pass a law putting 
the chestnut-bark disease on the same footing as other pernicious dis- 
eases and insect pests, such as the San Jose scale, against which quar- 
antine measures are taken. The Department of Argiculture will be 
glad to give detailed suggestions or advice regarding the framing of 
such laws. Inspectors who already have legal power to quarantine 
against this disease should now take special care that no shipment of 
chestnut stock escapes their rigid inspection. 
A campaign of education should also be undertaken by patholo- 
ists and inspectors in every State in order to acquaint the public 
with the nafure and appearance of the bark disease, so that it may 
be quickly recognized and stamped out in any particular locality in 
which it appears. The Department of Agriculture will cooperate in 
the following ways: Specimens from suspected trees sent in by any 
