CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE. T5 
and while many experiments of interest have been performed no 
very definite progress, in our opinion, has been made in discover- 
ing successful and practical measures of control. 
Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia are expending small 
sums on locating points of infection with an idea of possibly 
removing the scattered areas of infection at a later date if the: 
success of stich treatment shall seem to warrant it. The chest- 
nut in New Jersey and Delaware has been so nearly destroyed 
that little work of any kind has been undertaken. 
HISTORICAL CONSIDERATION. 
The chestnut blight was first noticed in the New York Zoologi- 
cal Park by H. W. Merkel in the summer of 1904. In 1905 it 
was so serious that measures were taken to control it, and the 
first description of the trouble was published in the report of 
the New York Zoological Society for that year. From a botani- 
cal standpoint the first work was done by W. A. Murrill of the 
New York Botanical Garden in 1906. Shortly after Murrill’s 
work the study of the blight was taken up by Clinton of this 
Station and by Metcalf and Collins of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. Since then many investigators have become 
interested in the study of this disease and the opinions and dis- 
coveries have been nearly as numerous as the investigators. 
. 
RANGE AND CONDITIONS OF GROWTH. 
Chestnut ranges from southern New Hampshire south to 
Georgia and Alabama. Connecticut is near the northern limit 
of its range, which accounts for the decrease in per cent. of 
this species toward the northern part of the state and on the 
cool northern slopes. 
It occurs nearly pure on medium to deep well-drained sites, 
but on the drier ridges and in the swamps it is crowded out of 
the stand by species better adapted to the conditions. This 
tree requires direct light and forms a wide spreading tree in 
the open, while in the forest the demand for light causes 
increased height growth, forming a clear full-boled tree. Chest- 
nut sprouts very abundantly, even when the tree cut is 100 
years or more in age. The nuts are largely eaten, but a few 
are scattered by the birds and animals which accounts for the 
numerous seedling trees to be seen in abandoned fields. The 
