ENDoTuia CANKER oF CHESTNUT 545 
Conditions in 1913 
A hasty resurvey of the territory bordering on the line of advance 
determined in 1911 was made in September, 1913, for Doctor Metcalf. 
The area just west of the chestnut-free belt was covered, and the line as 
drawn on the map (Fig. 78) was fixed as representing approximately 
the limit of spot infections at that time. The strip along the Delaware 
River where isolated spots were found in 1911, was found at this time 
to be abundantly affected. The disease seems not to be spreading so 
rapidly north as west, and no infections were found in Otsego county 
just west of the chestnut-free belt in the Catskills. The width of this 
belt varies from thirty to forty miles, and it is interesting. to note that 
apparently this distance has furnished a natural barrier which has so far 
impeded the dissemination of the fungus westward from the diseased 
areas along the west bank of the Hudson River.. 
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 
Several writers have attempted to estimate in pecuniary value the losses 
due to the Endothia canker. The disease not only kills the merchant- 
able trees on which a pecuniary value can be placed, but also destroys 
the young growth which would have been cut in the future, the value 
of which cannot be determined accurately. Aside from this, the esthetic 
loss from the destruction of thousands of shade and ornamental trees 
cannot be computed in dollars. 
Great as the damage has been, it seems that estimates are worth but 
little because of the lack of accurate data. Clinton (1913:379) tersely 
sums up the situation: ‘ Just how this loss is estimated is not made 
very clear. To the writer it seems to be largely guess work. However, 
it is interesting to note these figures in order to compare them with losses 
given for other fungous diseases and insects.” Murrill (1908 b: 111) 
states: ‘‘ The amount of damage done by it, in and about New York 
City, where it has been most carefully observed, probably reaches a total 
of between five and ten million dollars.”” Metcalf and Collins (19112: 5) 
regard $25,000,000 as a conservative estimate of. the financial loss from 
this disease up to 1911. Metcalf (1913:364) states: ‘‘ The estimate of 
$25,000,000 made in 1911 as representing the loss up to that time was 
probably much too conservative. But the total loss to date is insignificant 
compared with the loss which will ensue if the disease once attacks the 
fine chestnut timber of the South Appalachians.” 
SYMPTOMS 
With few exceptions every writer on the subject has described the 
symptoms of the disease, and many writers have published excellent 
