96 



phone poles cut from trees which have been dead for some time are 

 very apt to be rejected. 



The question of quarantine is often brought up. The com- 

 mission has inspected all chestnut nursery stock shipped from nur- 

 series within the State and has provided for inspection of all such 

 stock entering the State. This should prevent a repetition of in- 

 fections in the western part of Pennsylvania which might destroy 

 millions of dollars worth of timber. It has also prohibited the 

 shipping of unbarked chestnut cordwood from the eastern part of 

 the State across the advance line. There is no other quarantine on 

 poles, ties or other barked material across this line, nor a quarantine 

 of any kind upon any material shipped from place to place east of 

 this line. 



The State Foresters are cutting the blighted trees over the 

 neighboring State reserve, of 20,000 acres. The Reading Railroad 

 owns several thousand acres of timberland adjoining the Adams 

 County line and the State Reserve, which is in the same condition 

 as so much of the timberland around this vicinity. Repeated fires 

 have occurred after the first cutting and no revenue has been re- 

 ceived from the land for the last 10 years. The growth is of very 

 poor quality and the stand in a bad condition. Some of the trees 

 have become blighted and the railroad saw that unless they did 

 something the whole tract would become a waste. They have seen 

 that their agent became familiar with the blight, have had him in- 

 spect the timber and remove the infected trees. They have done 

 more than this. They have seen that such work would not be 

 fully justified unless they expected to realize something on their 

 timber, so they are now making an effort to prevent fire, which is 

 the other big enemy to timber land. In such a way the blight will 

 be beneficial in forestry just as the San Jose scale has proven itself 

 beneficial in the fruit industry. Taking care of the blight will neces- 

 sitate better methods and more attention to the growing timber and 

 help the State prepare for the timber famine which is coming within 

 the next 50 years. 



The chestnut in Pennsylvania is the most valuable timber in the 

 State, when all things are considered. It is the most abundant, 

 grows most rapidly, sprouts well and will grow in very poor soils. 

 Seventy million dollars is a conservative estimate of the value of the 

 standing chestnut in the State. Adams County has its share of valu- 

 able chestnut land. 



Can you afiford to lose the chestnut timber ? From the studies 

 made in Adams County it appears that there is an average infec- 

 tion of only 4 per cent. In York County the infection runs about 

 50 per cent. What I wish to emphasize is that this county has a 

 good chance to entirely eradicate the blight. The amount of in- 

 fection is not high. There are numerous portable mills all over the 

 chestnut area and even the market for cordwood, the only product 

 difficult to dispose of, is good. 



