9 



and m«alignant as in New York, especially on Long Island. In the 

 winter of 11308, over eleven hundred chestnut trees were felled in 

 Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N. Y. Many of them were dead and the 

 others so infected that removal was the best course to jmrsue. For- 

 est Park, is another large j)ark in Brooklyn. It contains 5^>G acres 

 of which about 350 acres are natural woodland. The Park Commis- 

 sioner reports fifteen thousand or more chestnut trees in Forest Park.. 

 At this date, May, 1909, these trees are standing, but greater havoc 

 from blight or insect pest on forest trees has probably never been ex- 

 celled in deadly malignity. The disease is so prevalent, that it is 

 j>roposed to cut every chestnut tree in the Park. On many estates 

 on Long Island similar conditions exist. 



THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BLIGHT. 



Neither insect pests nor blights can be dealt with successfully 

 until the life history is known. It is almost usaless to strike at one 

 of these sui)posed antagonists in the dark. Is it much better to 

 know your antagonist, where it lives, and how and when it is pro- 

 l>agated. As to the chestnut blight, its general a])pearance should 

 be known at different stagas of growth and for each seas(m of the 

 year. Does it have the same appearance in the resting stage of 

 winter as in the rapidly growing condition of sununer? 



The first scientific descripticm of the chestnut blight was given in 

 190(> by Dr. Wm. A. Murrill of the Bronx Botanical (hirden, New 

 York City. After a year or more of study and experiment tlie lungas 

 was proved to be a new species. It behmgs to the chiss known as 

 the sac-fungi and to the genus Diaporthe of which more than (me 

 hundred species are known to science. The scientific name of this 

 blight is Diaporthe parasitica. 



Many of the fungi derive their nourishment from decayed vegeta- 

 tion. Such are the coumion brackets or shelves on stumps and logs 

 and are proi)erly called sapro])hytes. Other sapro])hytes live on de- 

 cayed animal matter. Wiien one looks at a pulf-ball, mushrooui, or 

 bracket on a log, it is the fruiting body of the fungus that is under 

 observation. Besides this there are hundreds of fine threads a yard 

 or more in length penetrating the mould or decayed log. These 

 threads or mycelia take up the nourishment and produce the fruiting 

 body. Some fungi, however, derive their nourishment from liviiKj 

 plants or aniuuils, and are consequently called i)arasites. Bingworm 

 that attacks man is a fungus jjarasite, Tridwpliijton tansuians. The 

 deadly chestnut blight is also a fungus parasite. The ringworm 

 burrows beneath the skin and tlie chestnut blight lives in the bark 

 and derives nourishment from the new cells of the cambium. The 

 other hundred or more si)ecies of Diaporthe live, as a general rule, 



