Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-08-03
SAVING THE TREES.

DtlSuJ JhaL Is dong so muCn
damage in this section of the coun-
try. The United States Department
of Agriculture estimates a total fl
nancial loss from this tree disease
up to 1911 of at least S25,OOO,OOO
At the present time it has gained a
foothold in only New York and New
Jersey. Almost all the chestnut
trees in the vicinity of New York
city, throughout Long Island, u. the
Hudson and in a greater part of New
Jersey have been destroyed. The
cause of the disease is unknown. 1t
is of a fungus nature and attacks
only the chestnut. The disease was
never known in America before and
the authorities have thus far been
powerless to check it.
The chestnut is one of our most
valuable and beautiful trees. 1t is
now rapidly disappearing from this
vicinity and unless some remedy is
quickly found the disease will spread
far and wide. The blight has only
been noticed during the past two
years, but its rayages have been COM
plete where it has gained a foothoId.
1t is because the disease has not
yet infested the State of P~ennsylyau-
ia that steps are being taken there
to stop it, if possible. Largely
through the efforts of Harold Pierce,
the legislature was interested In pro-
tecting the chestnuts of tina state
and the appropriation already men
toned was authorized. A commits
sion to carry on the work has been
formed. From this politicians have
been barred as the selection of the
men has been left entirely with Mr..
Pierce. He hopes to stop the blight
where 1t is. If he succeeds he will
be doing a great service for the
country.
Up to the present time the only
method known for stopping the
spread of the disease is to establish
a lane OF zone through which all the
trees are cut down so that
the contamination would not spread
beyond definite limits Recently,
IoVeveT, the Department of Agrt-
has met with success by re-
moving all the spots on the trees as
Don as they appear and by cutting
Town those that are already infect
I'd. By this means the blight bs~
sI,rently been stamped Qqtbsin the
Ois &s--,IS1ehS. The Penn
syIvania authorities, with the large
appropriation at their disposal, may
be able to discover a still more eff
remedy.
Besides interesting the PennsyIva-
MIA legislature in the matter, United
States Senator P~enrose, of the same
state, has been induced to AXE the
matter up in congress with the re-
suit that $4,000 has been appropri-
ated by the federal authorities for a
study of the chestnut bark disease.
In the meantime the New Jersey
forestry bureau is struggling with
the problem and is doing what it can
to save the chestnut, although the
task seems hopeless. New Jersey
was one of the first states to be at
tackled and the disease got a foot
hold before it was discovered. 1t
kept spreading all the time that
efforts were being made to learn the
cause of it and how to stop it, The
state forestry bureau, however.
should be given every assistance in
it's work. 1t is an important branch
- tI, 1+,to yavnrn mani
All our towns and villages in this
section of the country having been
cut out of the forest, trees have al
ways been looked upon as being In
the way and something to get rid of:
For this reason forestry here has
been neglected up until a few years
ago. European nations are far
ahead of us in this respect. With
the rapid depletion of the woodland,
however. Americans are being
aroused. Forest presentations are
being established and scientific man
agement is being studied. The ex-
ample of Pennsylvania in making
such a large appropriation for fight
ing the chestnut blight is a recent