UNITED STATES 
DEPARTMENT or AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 370 
Washington, D. C. May, 1926 
CHESTNUT BLIGHT IN THE SOUTHERN 
APPALACHIANS 
G. F. GRAVATT 
Associate Pathologist 
and 
R. P. MARSHALL 
Assistant Pathologist 
Office of Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry 
CONTENTS 
Page Page 
Symptoms of the disease____-------- 2 | Deterioration_- 7 
Causal organism 3 | Salvage and utilization___._____.__-_-_. 8 
Spread of the blight____-._____-----. 4 | Blight-resistant chestnuts____.____--. 10 
Present distribution ee 5 | Summary. 11 
Future spread of the blight-_....-~.. 6 . 
The parasitic fungus which causes the disease of chestnut known 
as the blight or bark disease was brought into the United States 
from Asia on small nursery trees before this country had enacted 
plant-quarantine laws. As is often the case with introduced plant 
and insect pests, the chestnut-blight organism proved to be a more 
virulent parasite in the home of its adoption than in its native 
habitat. Millions of acres of chestnut, dead and dying as a result 
of this introduction, bear mute testimony to the need of proper 
plant-quarantine laws. The chestnut blight was first observed 
and recognized as a new disease in this country at New York City 
in 1904, though it must have been present for some time previous to 
that date.. To-day the chestnut north of the Potomac River and 
east of the Allegheny Mountains has been laid waste by the blight 
fungus. The remaining American chestnut stands of the southern 
Appalachian Mountains face certain destruction. 
This circular gives the known distribution of the disease, as deter- 
mined by a partial survey made during the summer and fall of 
1924 and 1925 by several members of the Office of Forest Pathology. 
State and national foresters, pathologists, county agents, and many 
private individuals have assisted in this survey work, and the con- 
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