Spaulding: Tree Diseases in the Eastern States 149 



can be no doubt that the disease is intimately connected with the 

 distribution of chestnut nursery stock. Repeatedly, on finding 

 badly diseased areas, the writer either found Japanese chestnut 

 trees or was told that chestnut stock of some sort had been 

 brought into that vicinity some years before. The disease has 

 been at Parkton for at least six years and probably has been there 

 one or two years longer. The peculiar appearance of chestnut 

 trees affected by this disease is essentially due to the girdling action 

 of the fungus. The following instance shows this very plainly: 

 while scouting for the disease a tree was seen which had every 

 appearance of having been killed down to the base by the blight. 

 It had abundant suckers around the base, the dead leaves hung 

 on the branches; in short, the tree had every symptom of the 

 disease except the fruiting bodies of the fungus ! Upon pene- 

 trating the thicket of suckers it was found that the tree had 

 been girdled with an axe a few months before. 



LOPHODERMIUM NERVISEQUUM (D. C.) Fr. 



A serious needle disease of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (Linn.) 

 Mill.) has been under observation for the past five years in the 

 Adirondack Mountains. This has been found to be caused by 

 Lophodermium nervisequuni. It attacks needles of all ages and 

 occurs on trees of all sizes, but is more prevalent on the lower 

 shaded branches or on young reproduction which is heavily over- 

 shadowed by larger trees. The disease is serious on small trees 

 as it causes complete or nearly complete defoliation in many cases 

 and kills the trees. The course of the disease on young leaves 

 is fairly plain : infection begins about June first, soon after the 

 new shoots and leaves are formed, and apparently may continue 

 at almost any time after this date when weather conditions are 

 favorable. The affected needles turn yellow soon, some appear- 

 ing in July on the shoots of the same year. Toward fall they 

 become more numerous and turn brown by the beginning of 

 winter. The next April on the resumption of warm weather, 

 a dark line shows along the middle of the leaf on the lower side ; 

 this becomes more and more prominent until about June first, 

 when the warm rains bring about the rupture of the leaf epi- 

 dermis. Along the entire length of the leaf there now appears 



