Chestnut Blight in the Southern Appalachians 11 
SUMMARY 
The chestnut blight is caused by a fungus introduced into this 
country on nursery stock from Asia. The organism attacks the bark 
of the chestnut and forms cankers. These ultimately girdle and kill 
the parts affected, the dead foliage remaining persistent. 
A county by county survey begun in 1924 and still in progress has 
discovered infections at the southern limit of commercial chestnut. 
Westward the spread of the disease has been less rapid than south- 
ward. It is believed that by 1930 more than half, and by 1935 nine- 
tenths, of the counties in the southern Appalachians will have 
reached the stage at which more than 80 per cent of their trees will 
be infected. 
No practical control is known, but if salvaged before deterioration 
sets in the lumber from blight-killed trees is equal to that cut from 
live trees. Great need exists for increased cutting and use of chest- 
nut, so that this timber may be utilized and other species conserved. 
Search is being made for native and foreign chestnuts resistant to 
the disease in the hope of finding a tree suitable for partially replac- 
ing our rapidly disappearing stands. 
