5 



The viilue of having trained men in the service of the Department 

 can not be too highly estimated. Ihe next region of the State to be 

 inspected was to the south and east of South Mountain. From the 

 city of Lancaster three trips were made by trolley, first to Ephrata, 

 second to Quarryville, and the third to Gap. At each of these places 

 the blight was found. Specimens of bark were taken from trees 

 six and eight inches in diameter. Infected sprouts or coppice about 

 stumps were obtained. Under the microscope spores of the deadly 

 fungus in uncountable millions were shown. The disease was most 

 prevalent at Gap. Ephrata in Lancaster is south of South Mountain 

 and is only twelve miles from Wernersville in Berks county where 

 the forests of South Mountain furnished no evidence of the disease. 



At Gap, Mr. Levi Wise has a chestnut grove of one hundred trees, 

 consisting of Paragon and Spanish grafts. A distinction is made 

 between a chestnut grove and a chestnut orchard. When the stock 

 is a native chestnut and the scion for grafting is a foreign variety or 

 species, such as Paragon, Spanish, Japanese, Numbo, Kidgely, Alpha, 

 etc., it is termed a grove. When young seedlings are set out in rows, 

 whether grafted or not, it is called an orchard. The blight had in- 

 vaded Mr. Wise's grove. Infected spots were found on the native 

 stock and also on grafts. The following note w^as umde at the time 

 of the inspection: ''The Paragon and Spanish grafts are unusually 

 healthy considering the number of infected native trees in the imme- 

 diate vicinity." On these trips in Lancaster county it was my good 

 fortune and very great pleasure to have the company of Deputy 

 Commissioner of Forestry, ]\Ir. Irvin C. Williams. It was decided 

 at once to make an Experiment Station at Gap and to plant twenty- 

 five Japanese chestnut trees and to start with one hundred grafts 

 of the same species. Surrounded by natural woodland in which the 

 disease is quite prevalent, here was an opportunity to test the im- 

 munity or resisting power of three foreign chestnut growths side by 

 side. 



Through the generosity of Mr. Isaac Hicks, a nurseryman at West- 

 bury, Long Island, twenty-five Japanese chestnut trees were donated 

 for the experiment and all the Japanese scions that could be used. 

 Three of these Japanese trees will probably bear this year, and all 

 should begin to bear next year. Mr. Wise had. made one hundred 

 new grafts this season, using Paragon scions on native stocks. 

 Within half a mile of Mr. Wise's grove there is another small grove 

 of Paragons on the properly of Mr. Thomas J. Bitzer. Seven of 

 tlie Japanese trees were given to Mr. Bitzer. During the past win- 

 ter, the writer has liad in his laboratory specimens of bark and limbs 

 and sprouts of native chestnut. Paragon and Japanese, all infected. 

 And yet from the examination of hundreds of trees of each kind. 



