dred acres engaged in a small and large way,--a variety
of ways--with nut trees; and the few I have cared to save after blight
has begun I have saved by cutting it out very thoroughly and using
either white paint or grafting wax. I used also pine tar and some gas
tar. I killed some good trees that I wanted particularly to save by
putting on gas tar.

The matter of compelling the removal of infected trees is a very
important one, but it must rest with the authorities. In the vicinity of
New York we have so much hard wood that you cannot sell it unless you
are in some sort of a trade combination. Fine oak, fine hickory, fine
chestnut, you can't dispose of in New York City, because we have such a
lot of it. We have wild deer within fifteen miles of New York City on
three sides of us on account of the forests. You have got to find some
special way for disposing of this blighted chestnut timber. Telephone
and telegraph poles and ties all go for nothing, unless you happen to be
so situated that you can manage the matter commercially, and a way
should be found by the state so that people can dispose of their
blighted timber, which is just as good as any other.

It is very important to note that the boy scouts are interested, and we
ought to encourage their interest. It is a splendid thing, getting the
interest of boys engaged. You know how active a boy is in getting a
snake from under a rock and he will do the same thing with the chestnut
blight. It is his natural tendency to hustle when he gets after
anything. This chestnut blight belongs to the microbe group and the
microbe is the great enemy of mankind. In wars the microbe kills about
eight men for every one killed by missiles. If we can encourage the
interest of boy scouts in fighting the greatest of all human enemies,
the microbe, including this little fungus, we shall have a splendid
working force.

In regard to the injection of poisons and medicines into trees, it seems
to me that a very firm stand ought to be taken by all responsible men
who know anything about plant pathology. We know that a poison injected
into a tree must either act injuriously right there upon the cells of
the tree, or else must undergo metabolic changes. A tree cannot use
anything that is thrown into it, poison or food or anything else, until
it has undergone a metabolic change; you must have a distinct, definite
chemical process taking place and we ought to state that most of the
substances wh