Evening star., 1931-06-21

| Tree experts Of the Government ara
making . careful study Of the disease
ana how - combat it and It Is cons1d.
cred OF nA utmost Importance to know
OF any outbreaks. The sooner the dis
ease is discovered the greater the chance
Of saving the Nations eIrns. These dis
ity.
Chestnut Blight and Pine Blister,
The experience which the United
states has suffered as the result Of the
invasion OF the chestnut blight and the
white pine blister rust, while disheart-
ening in sense, also is such as to cause
every American to be on the alert to aid
In repelling this fresh attack. The ctr
cumstance that 1t has been detected so
soon is a favorable one.
1t seems 10 be peculiarity Of scme
OF these invading diseases that when
they af1iict native trees their ravages
are swifter and more devastating than
in places where they have been known
for many years. The freshly attacked
victim seems to lose resistance.
The chestnut blight was FIRST dis
covered In New York in 1904 and is be-
lieved to have been brought in on nur-
Sery stock from Asia, imported before
the plant quarantine laws had been
enacted. Its spread was phenomenal
and today there are few chestnut for
estS left.
The Appalachian region has been the
center Of attack, as 1t was the center
Of chestnut tree growth. There is
scarcely a sound tree left in all Mary
land, in West Virginia, in western
mountainous Virginia, or the eastern
mountains Of Kentucky and Tennessee.
The blight has swept down into the
western sections of the Carolinas and
even to Northern Georgia.
In the relatively few years since the
first appearance Of the blight, it has
taken the chestnut timber from no less
than $4,000, 900 acres of forest. What
this has meant in loss Of timber can be
realized from the fact that in this
region, the chestnut trees represented
one-quarter of the entire stand of tim
Der.
In addition to the loss of the tim
Der, valuable for a wide variety Of uses,
the native chestnut, as q food delieacy,
Is gone. Attempts are being made to
introduce q new type Of chestnut which
viii resist the blight but it will be gen.
erations before any type Of chestnut
the lordly giants which adorned and
enriched the land from the beginning
Of time until the coming Of the disease.
White pine blister rust first was no.
ticed in 1909. The disease came from
Europe and Immediately began q Vi
cious attack. white pine is one Of the
most valuable of timber trees and also
is much admired as a park or orna-
mental tree. The disease attacks young
trees and stops their growth. but will
also prove fatal to trees towering 100
feet high.
Money losses due to the chestnut
blight and the white pine blister can
scarcely be figured, but that they run
into hundreds of millions is not sus-
ceptible of contradiction
The special pity about these tree dis
eases is that, in few short years, the
growth Of generations Is destroyed and
there is scant hope Of replenishing
where the disease once has won foot
hold.
Such a fate as that which has over
taken the chestnut and the white pine
now confronts the graceful elm, and al
though the elm lacks the commercial
timber value of the other trees, the
esteem In which it is held for its beauty
will. 1t is hoped, enlist every aid in
combating this foreign enemy.