8 Department Circular 370, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
The effect of girdling by blight is similar to that produced when a 
tree re cae with an oo The tree is killed, but its value for timber 
is not lessened. Tests made by the Forest Products Laboratory 
show that the chestnut blight alone does not impair the strength or 
durability of the wood. Like the ringed tree, however, blight-killed 
chestnut is subject to deterioration when not promptly used. This 
deterioration is brought about by secondary causes. Wood-decaying 
fungi promptly establish themselves in the areas of bark and sap- 
wood which have been killed, sometimes even before the tree itself 
is completely dead. Within two years, and oftentimes even sooner, 
areas of sap rot are present. Insects burrowing under the bark and 
through the sapwood spread the rot-producing organisms and loosen 
the bark. In from four to five years following the death of the 
tree most of the bark and part of the rotted sapwood slough off, 
leaving the trunk bare (Pl. VII). While the sap rot is at work other 
deterioration takes place. The timber becomes dry and brittle. It 
is harder to cut, and breakage in felling is more frequent. Checking 
begins in from two to five years after the tree dies, small trees check- 
ing more rapidly than large ones. Excessive checking greatly re- 
duces the value of the timber for purposes other than fuel or extract 
wood. Many timber worms gain entrance through blight cankers 
and at other places when the tree is dying, thus reducing the grade 
of lumber from such trees. 
Where a considerable part of the stand is chestnut, fire conditions 
become increasingly critical with the accumulation of bark, dead 
sprouts, and fallen branches at the bases of dead trees. Fires not 
only often destroy part of the dead standing chestnut but also, on 
account. of the intensity with which the accumulated dead material 
burns, frequently destroy other tree species in the stand. Adequate 
fire protection in the southern Appalachians would materially assist 
in the effort to utilize the chestnut growth and would materially 
prolong the life of the chestnut-extract industry. 
SALVAGE AND UTILIZATION 
North of the Mason and Dixon line from 10 to 40 per cent of the 
value of the standing chestnut was lost through deterioration which 
followed blight. In the South, where the stand contains a larger 
proportion of chestnut, heavier loss threatens unless the rate of cut- 
ting is immediately increased. Eventual destruction of all com- 
mercial, chestnut by the blight is inevitable. Consequently each 
owner of chestnut is forced to decide for himself what part of his 
timber can be salvaged at a profit. He must weigh the value of the 
material, the difficulty of getting it out and ready for market, its 
transportation to the point of sale, and the labor and equipment 
available for performing the task within a limited time. 
The problem of qfiickly utilizing the chestnut timber from the 33,- 
000,000 acres of the southern Appalachians, where the species repre- 
sents 25 per cent of the stand, is one phase of the chestnut-blight 
pele which the Forest Service and State and extension forestry 
epartments are endeavoring to solve. 
This country already feels the early stages of the increasin, 
scarcity of timber. A large part of our lumber supply is haule 
