1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
46i 
Ruralisms 
THE RAVAGES OF THE CHESTNUT 
TREE BLIGHT, 
PART I. 
Nothing more destructive than the 
chestnut tree blight has ever appeared 
in the forests of this country. It is 
not an insect. It is a plant, and belongs 
to the great mushroom family. The 
proper term to use is to class it as a 
fungus. Linder the term fungus there 
are not only mushrooms and toadstools, 
but mildews, rusts on wheat, moulds 
on bread, cheese and preserved fruits, 
the black-knot on plum and cherry trees-, 
puff-balls and brackets on logs and 
stumps. Some of these fungous growths 
are very destructive. The chestnut tree 
blight belongs to the black-knot group. 
It lives beneath the bark in the new 
wood, the cambium layer. The disease 
is carried from tree to tree by spores. 
In all the fungi spores correspond to 
seeds in the higher plants. The spores 
of this blight are so very small they can 
only be seen through a good microscope. 
They are generally carried through the 
air, or on the feathers of birds, or the 
fur of squirrels. Two kinds of spores 
are produced, one for the resting stage 
of Winter and the other for propagation 
during Summer. The Winter spores 
are developed in tiny sacs with eight lit¬ 
tle spores in each sac. It takes about 
500 of these little sacs, placed end to 
end to measure one inch. The spores 
find a lodgment beneath the bark by 
entering places of injury. Limbs and 
twigs are broken by storms and by 
gatherers of nuts. Insects and birds 
perforate the bark, so in various ways 
there are numerous points on every tree 
where the spores may enter. 
Its most destructive work may be 
seen in New York State on Staten 
Island and on Long Island, and in 
parts of New Jersey. The writer has 
examined woodland from the border of 
Maryland across Pennsylvania, and New 
Jersey and out on Long Island, covering 
a distance of 250 miles. The blight has 
not crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains 
in southeastern Pennsylvania. Along 
the Susquehanna River south of the 
mountain the blight was found in many 
localities. In five different places it 
lias made its appearance in Lancaster 
County. Chestnut trees, as a rule, do 
not grow in a limestone country. The 
Lebanon and Cumberland valleys lie 
between the first and second folds of 
the Blue Ridge Mountains, and are of a 
limestone character, consequently dies'.- 
nut trees in these valleys are altogether 
wanting or are very scarce. It may be 
possible that these rich agricultural val¬ 
leys which arc from 12 to 25 miles in 
width, may prove a barrier to the prog¬ 
ress of the disease along the upper 
courses of the Susquehanna. An ex¬ 
amination from Harrisburg northward 
did not furnish a single example of the 
existence of the disease. Along the val¬ 
ley of the Delaware, however, the dis¬ 
ease was found in Chester County, and 
at Ardmore and Haverford near Phila¬ 
delphia, at Trenton, N. J., and across 
the river in Pennsylvania, also at Eas¬ 
ton, and as far north as Port Jervis, 
N. Y. It has advanced up the Hudson 
Valley as far as Newburgh, N. Y., al¬ 
though its northern limit in this valley 
has not been determined with certainty. 
Forests in New Jersey, Staten Island 
and Long Island that were examined 
in the Spring of 1908 were again ex¬ 
amined in the Autumn of 1909, after an 
interval of 18 months. The interval 
covered two Summers of growth. On 
the first visit many infected trees were 
found, and some trees wjere dead. On 
the second visit no language can describe 
the deadly ravages, the awful havoc that 
had been wrought. On many an acre 
not a single live chestnut tree could be 
found. There were 40, 50 and as many 
as GO dead trees to the acre. In some 
cases the bark had fallen off and the 
trees are standing to-day in trunk and 
limb as bare as telephone poles along 
our streets and highways. 
All other forest trees seem to be im¬ 
mune. It now becomes an important 
question whether or not this blight will 
be most prevalent and malignant along 
the coast, where it has already destroyed 
property worth at least 15 to 20 millions 
of dollars. Should it continue to extend 
inland, the loss to the country would 
amount to many millions of dollars an¬ 
nually. From the west end of Long 
Island the disease has advanced rapidly 
toward the east, making a clean sweep 
of all native chestnut growth, and unless 
checked there will not remain in a few 
years a chestnut tree on the island. A 
belt five miles in width across- the island 
from the Sound to the sea could be 
cleared of chestnut trees and in this 
way a barrier might be placed to further 
progress, john mickleborougii, ph.d. 
“My wife,” said a dreamy philanthro¬ 
pist, “I have brought you this poor child. 
I found it deserted in the street. One 
more or less won’t make much difference 
to us; we will treat him as if he were 
our own.” “Wthat,” exclaimed the wife, 
“don’t you know him? It’s our little 
George; I sent him to play in the park 
five minutes ago!”—Melbourne Leader. 
SEXD FOR OUR FREE BOOK 
THE ROOF QUESTION 
that explains vital, money-saving 
reasons ivhy you should cover your 
now or old roofs with 
SHELDON’S 
ROOFING SLATF 
the most, durable, easiest to lay and 
by far the least expensive of any 
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wear out, rust or decay, but out¬ 
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substitute for slate. There is none. 
£. C. SHELDON SLATE CO., 
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(BREEZE 7 Handsome M° de,s $275 
. v , Travel the worst roads . * IT 
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THE JEWEL CARRIAGE GO. 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
ONE MAN DOES 
WORK OF TWO 
With Iron Age Killing Culti¬ 
vators. You can do it easier and 
better, because they are built oa 
lines that make this possible. 
Iloest.-e under perfect control. 
Can regulate depth and 
keep hoes desired dis 
tance from growing 
plants. More ad¬ 
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IKON AGE 
Ilook.ll’> 
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wheel, wheel® 
high or loi® 
BATEMAN MFG. CO., Box 102-C^ GRENLDCH, N. J. 
\ 
Can Work U 
Accurate, thorough cultivation with the 
Kraus Pivot-Axle Sulky Cultivator is only a 
matter of steering ; not of work. Instead of 
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Perfect for hillsides or 
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..wheels or Pivot-gang, 
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Hammock Scat. 
*?/ If your dealer doesn't 
r , _ ._ lr . handle the Kraus, don't 
7 > accept a substitute, write 
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\ AKRON CULTIVATOR CO. 
I)cpt. 13 AKRON, OHIO 
PUMPS 800 TO 1,000 GALLONS PER HOUR! 
This engino is absolutely supreme among engines designed for pump¬ 
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Runs All Sorts of Light Machinery. The engino has a 4-inch 
f ml ley for running hnnd-power machinery. It can be quickly detached 
‘tom pump and carried wherever needed. 
Fuller & Johnson High-Powered Engines. These mighty en¬ 
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6izes from 3 to 18 H. P., inclusive—for stationary or portable work. 
"Open Water Jacket” type— non-freezing and trouble-proof. Most 
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How to Get a Puller & Johnson Engine. Write for Free Engine 
Book and name of nearestFuller & Johnson Engine Dealer. Do It now! 
^ DEALERS—Write for the Agency! Only one dealer appointed in a 
town. Act quickly or you will miss a great opportunity. Addross at once— 
Pal. Jane 15, 1909. 
Others applied for. 
Greatest Little Engine 
S _ M _ S _ W damps to Any Pump 
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This wonderful portable Farm Pump Engino meets the widespread demand for cheap 
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No Belts I No Shafts I No Anchor Posts I No Towers i 
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FULLER & JOHNSON 
Farm Pump Engine 
FULLER & JOHNSON MFG. CO. ( KutabhsKed 
) 815 Ann Street, MadiSOI1, WlS. 
■Manufacturers of Bauble-Efficiency Gasoline Engines and Agricultural Implemsnts 
Trinidad Lake Asphalt 
has no equal as a waterproofer. After we have 
used it for thirty years, everybody is learning 
its value for every waterproofing purpose. 
Genasco 
Ready Roofing 
Is made of genuine Trinidad Lake asphalt. 
There is no roofing - substitute for Genasco—none 
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Ask your dealer for Genasco. Mineral or smooth surface. Look for the 
hemisphere trade mark. That’s a surer guide than the looks of the roofing. It 
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Write for the Good Roof Guide Book and samples. 
THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY 
Largest producers of asphalt, and largest 
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PPIILADELPHIA 
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Gravel 
BBBWMiBiMji lBB Trinidad Lake Asphalt 
Asphalt-saturated Wool Felt 
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Asphalt-saturated Wool Felt 
Special Sale of Wire! 
[Here’s the greatest opportunity ever presented to buy Wire and Nails at an enormous saving 
There’s good reasons why we can sell onr merchandise for less money than anyone else. We purchase! 
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purchased the contents of u barge sunk in the Ohio River, containing 20,000 Kegs of Wire Nalls,I 
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Galvanized Barbed Wire, 4 point, pnt np on reels, per 
100 lbs., $2.00; Painted Barbed Wire. 4 point. $1.75 per 
100 lbs.; 2 point, $1.85 per 100 lbs. Our special galvanized 
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spool, $1.65. Painted Twisted Wire, per reel. $1.75. 
At $1.50 per 100 lbs. wo will supply yon new Galvanized 
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A mmd 
MIXED WIRE NAILS, PER KEG, $1.50 
These Nails were on board a barge sunk in the Ohio River and ure now more or I 
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ICH1CAGO HOUSE WRECKING CO., CHICAGO, ILL.| 
tugs and Carpets. | 
OUR NEW TRADE-MARK 
BE SURE it is on every bag of 
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Soluble Corn and General Crops Manure 
AS PRIZES AT THE 
NEW ENGLAND CORN EXPOSITION 
WRITE FOR PARTICULARS 
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Send for our Almanac telling all about the Hubbard “Bone Base” Fertilizers. 
It is sent free to any address. 
t 
