WHITE-PINE BLISTER RUST IN WESTERN EUROPE. 24 
studied and in which tree species from America were being con- 
tinually sought for experimental forest planting and ornamental 
purposes. 
The first known occurrence of white pine in Europe was in the 
Royal Nurseries at Fontainebleau, France, in 1553. It was not exten- 
sively planted until after its fir st introduction into England in 1705 
and later into other European countries. From the outset it gained 
the high regard of arboriculturists and foresters abroad because 
of its distinct ornamental beauty and the excellence and suitability 
of its wood for many purposes. To-day it is well known in Europe, 
having been one of the most widely distributed of the introduced 
American trees. 
Nurseries undertook the cultivation of white-pine stock for do- 
mestic sale and for export trade in localities where currant and 
gooseberry bushes were present, a practice which contributed largely 
to the spread of the fungus in Europe and America. As the de- 
mand for nursery stock increased, European nurseries, particularly 
those of Germany and France, undertook to meet the requirements. 
Until 1912 they could raise and ship white pines to America with- 
out restriction. This policy resulted in the importation of the white- 
pine blister rust into America about 1898, and this plague gradually 
spread through the northeastern white-pine region. Later, probably 
about 1910, it was introduced into British Columbia and has recently 
reached Washington. 
The spread of the blister rust followed the increase in the distri- 
bution of white pine in European countries, reaching even to the 
northernmost plantings of the species in Norway. Eastern white 
pine is not the only member of the American five-leaved pine group 
attacked by the blister rust. Other five-leaved pine species intro- 
duced into Europe for ornamental and experimental planting have 
hkewise become affected. Prominent among these are the California 
sugar pine, the western white pine, the limber pine, and the Mexican 
white pine. These species appear to be as readily susceptible as the 
eastern white pine. 
Cultivated black currants and gooseberries, especially black cur- 
rants, are very plentiful in European countries, and through them 
the disease is perpetuated with ever-increasing volume. Wild cur- 
rants and gooseberries are very limited as to the number of species, 
and the bushes are scarce in the forests. The control of blister rust 
as a forest-tree disease does not appear to have been seriously at- 
tempted abroad. A few efforts have been made to check the fungus 
on individual ornamental trees by removing the infected parts” or 
treating them with chemical solutions. The wholesale removal cf 
cultivated and wild currants and gooseberries is not practiced, not 
because of lack of knowledge of the damage done by the diseased 
currants, but because the currants are of more value to the people 
than the foreign white pine. 
The blister rust is gradually driving the white pine out of Europe. 
Unfortunately, the stands are gradually disappearing in Europe be- 
cause of damage by the blister rust. Foresters gener: ally are express- 
ing the opinion that the damage done by the fungus is too large to 
permit raising the species at a ‘profit. Often over 90 per cent of the 
trees in plantations are infected, and frequently one-third have been 
killed by the blister rust. Mature trees also are fatally attacked, as 
