CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT. 29 
Szc. 6. The members of the commission shall serve without pay, but shall be reim- 
bursed for all actual expense incurred by them in exercising the powers conferred 
upon them and performing the duties required by this act. The employees of the 
commission shall receive such compensation for their services as the commission shall 
determine will fairly compensate them for the work to be done. The commission 
shall be furnished with suitable rooms in the Capitol building at Harrisburg, or else- 
where, by the Superintendent of Public Grounds and Buildings. The sum of $25,000 
is hereby specifically appropriated, to be immediately available upon the approval 
of this act, for the payment of such expense as may be incurred by the commission, for 
such scientific research and for office expenses, as in their judgment may be necessary 
to comply with the provisions hereof, said appropriation to be available until the Ist 
day of June, A. D. 1913; and the further sum of $250,000, or so much thereof as shall 
be necessary, is hereby specifically appropriated, to be available only upon the 
approval of the governor, for the performance of all other duties herein required to 
be done; as, for quarantine, removal of diseased trees or other trees, conducting out- 
side investigations and operations, and every other means of eradication and control, 
as to it may seem necessary in complying with the provisions hereof. 
Szc. 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 
The commission authorized by the bill has been appointed by the 
governor of Pennsylvania and consists of the following persons:. 
Mr. Winthrop Sargent, chairman; Mr. Harold Peirce, secretary; 
Messrs. Samuel T. Bodine, George F. Craig, and Theodore N. Ely. 
Persons desiring information regarding the work on this disease in 
Pennsylvania should address the executive officer of the commission, 
Mr. Samuel B. Detweiler, 1112 Morris Building, Philadelphia, Pa. 
INSPECTION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 
As has been indicated, diseased chestnut nursery stock has in the 
ast been a most important factor in the spread of the bark disease. 
mn account of a well-grounded fear of this disease much less nursery 
stock is being moved now than formerly, but there is still enough to 
constitute a serious source of danger. It is therefore obvious that 
every State in which the chestnut grows, either naturally or under 
cultivation, should as speedily as possible pass a law putting the 
chestnut bark disease on the same footing as other pernicious diseases 
and insect pests, such as peach yellows and the San Jose scale, against 
which quarantine measures are taken. Many inspectors already have 
legal power to quarantine against the bark disease on chestnut nurs- 
ery stock, and they should now take special care that no shipment, 
however small, escapes their rigid inspection. 
The most serious practical difficulty in inspecting nursery stock for 
this as for other fungous diseases lies in the fact that practically all 
State inspectors are necessarily entomologists, and are not trained in 
recognizing the more obscure symptoms of fungous diseases. Nursery 
trees affected by the bark disease rarely show it prominently at the 
time when shipped; the threads of summer spores or the yellow or 
orange pustules are rarely: present, and usually all the inspector can 
find is a small, slightly depressed, dark-colored area of dead bark, 
usually near the ground, pick is easily overlooked or mistaken for 
some insignificant injury. Upon cutting into such a spot, the inner 
bark shows a most characteristic disorganized “‘punky’’ appearance, 
quite different from that of any other bark injury; but it 1s impos- 
sible to adequately describe this appearance without recourse to 
colored illustrations. Occasionally a yellowish-brown band, either 
girdling or partly girdling the young tree, may be seen; this is very 
characteristic, but is so prominent a symptom that it may be noticed 
at the nursery, and presumably trees so affected will not be shipped. 
