The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-06-08
WHITE PINE FORESTS OF
IDAHO ARE ENDANGERED
STRANGE PEST DISCOVERED
AND ONE VERY DIFFICULT
TO COMBAT.
STRANGE

humans if there existed malady
which could in no manner be trans
mitted to each other directly but
which could get to us only through
some other phase of animal life. yet
this is the peculiar characteristic of
white pine blister rust, a plant dis
ease which has ravaged white pine
forests, doing millions of dollars
worth of damage to the standing Of
the world
No matter how dense white pine
forest may be, the disease can not ge
from one tree to another. Its means
of attack is through the plants of wild
and cultivated currant and gooseberry
plants. Another queer trait of this
forest destroyer is that the disease
will not spread from currant plant to
currant plant but will only go from
the plant to the pine tree.
Wood Supply Is Factor
But why. you are probably thinking.
all this mention about something that
apparently does not concern the aver
age person? The reason is that we
all use wood; lots of it. 1t has been
said that if suddenly the wood sup
ply should be eXtinguished and all
the wood should mysteriously disap-
pear the commerce OF the world would
come to standstill very soon.
But more particularly is this men
ton made because right here in our
fKKr fnf Of IL
largest white pine forest in the world
In all the inhabited universe of which
we know there is no larger body of
white pine than stands in the north
ern counties of the state of Idaho
This expanse of forest is primeval its
age being variously estimated at from
800 to 600 years.
Through all the centuries it has re-
manned growing and free from any
destructive disease. Today it is
threatened with infection by the
white pine blister rust. Last fall the
blister rust was found in the white
pine of northwestern Washington, hav
ing come in from Canada. Immedi-
ately. guarantees were established,
state officials stopped the shipment Of
currant and goOseberry plants into
Idaho and federal agents made
protect the white pine forests of Ida
no and control the disease found in
Washington.
Pest Is a Plant.
The blister rust is not a bug or
worm, but plant which lives in the
inner bark of white pine trees and in
the leaves of all known kinds of cur
rant and goOseberry bushes. 1t is
supposed to have originated in Ger
many although the first trace of it
was in the Ural mountains of eastern
Russia. For many past decades it has
been ravaging the forests of the coun-
tries of western Europe, has spread
to the western hemisphere and is now
knocking at the door of Idaho's great
white pine forest.
When it breaks cut on a pine tree it
resembles blisters and when these
break, a white powder is emitted
which is scattered by the wind and
may be blown 10 to Is miles. Strange
ly enough, nature has provided par
tial guard against its spreading, for
this powder can not infect another
tree no matter how much of it hap
pens to get on one. This dust, which
is the plant life, dies unless it hap
pens to fall on a currant or goose
berry bush, where it readily thrives.
Is Easily Killed.
While on the bush another parasitic
fungus is formed which will only
grow on white pine trees. This fun
gus however. is much more delicate
than the one coming from the pine
tree, as it will not live if blown more
than about a third of a mile.
The rust is not new in the United
States. For years the government
and the various states have been fight
ing it in the New England states, New
York, Pennsylvania, Michigan. Wis
consin and Minnesota, but until last
fall it had never been in any of the
western states.
How does the rust destroy a tree?
IL Is Il lOIB pIOCtSS Jul INC bACt hh-
ally goes in the end The infection
may start on the end of pine needle,
gradually work back to a branch,
thence to a limb and finally strike the
trunk wherever the branch happens
to be growing. It will then grdle the
tree, shoot up the trunk or strike at
another branch. Whichever way II
goes, the tree is doomed Should it
girdle the tree, the circumference is
gradually diminished until the top
falls out and another tree is practic-
ally destroyed as merchantable tim
Der.
Fight Is Launched.
An elaborate program of detection
and control has been mapped out for
Idaho this summer. A party of six
men under the leadership of a Uni
versity of Idaho forestry professor
will scout the state in an effort to
Au