THE DISEASE AFFECTING THE ELM T.1?:ES. 
343 
THE DISEASE AFFECTING THE ELM TREES ON THE 
ESTATES OF THE CONDE DEL RETAMOSO, NEAR 
TARANCON, SPAIN. 
By Senor B. Giner Alixo, Corresponding Member of the Society. 
The agriculturists of Tarancon, who cultivate the Elm largely for its 
timber, have been very much troubled by a mysterious disease which is 
not very apparent in the living trees, but which shDws itself very plainly 
w^hen buyers come to purchase the hewn timber. 
The Elms grow in apparently perfect health. The central or tap-root 
is thick, oblique, and deep, except in the case of a few trees which 
doubtless are merely offshoots. One cannot find any external sign of 
deterioration, no fungus, and no parasitic insects. 
By far the greater number of the trunks are upright, well formed, 
and smooth when the tree is young, tall, and with but few side branches. 
The foliage is abundant and shining green, and by its beautiful 
appearance does not suggest the presence of any disease. With the 
miscroscope one cannot find a single parasite. 
The blossoms and fruit are normal and abundant. 
The trees continue in this healthy condition until they are full- 
grown. Then cracks begin to appear in the trunk, on the surface at first, 
but increasing in depth with the age of the tree, until in some old Elms 
these cracks are so deep that they pierce to the very heart of the tree. 
Frequently the number of these cracks is considerable, though only a few 
of them may be deep. 
In these cracks there are no fungi or insects, nor does any sap exude 
from the trunk ; the wood is healthy, but it is easy to understand that it 
is in such a miserable condition from the cracks that it is absolutely 
useless for industrial purposes. 
Very often it happens that when the tree is cut down the trunk does 
not show any cracks or other defects. The wood is subsequently worked, 
and in a short time the articles made from it fall to pieces. 
Naturally the cabinet-maker and the timber merchant fight shy of 
such wood, and the Id :s to the grower, whose timber is unsaleable, is very 
great. It is easy therefore to understand the enormous importance to 
the agriculturists of Tarancon of finding out a way of preventing this 
loss. 
I have seen diseased plantations where one recognises the damage not 
only by the small amount of bark which covers the cracks, but also by 
the hollow sound of the wood when struck. 
I have occasionally seen trees whose trunks were streaked by running 
sap. This effusion of sap is produced by a physiological change in the 
wood. It oozes through the bark and runs down the trunk. On the 
attacked wood various bacilli fix themselves, principally the Micrococcus 
clendroporthos and Tormla moiiiliuides, that assist in the disintegration 
