Insects are destroying the trees of this forest.
The chestnut tree, which every Eastern child loves for its nuts, is now being destroyed by a fungus which may kill every one of these trees in the country.
The white-pine blister, also brought over from Europe, is now threatening all the white pines and the related trees of our country. This disease has already such a start in the East that we may not be able to stop it.
The dainty mistletoe, about which there are so many pretty Christmas legends, is a deadly enemy of many trees. The seed of this fungus is carried, by the birds or by the wind, from one tree to another. When it sprouts, tiny roots go down through the bark to the sap, on which it feeds until the tree is killed.
Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc.
A dwarf white pine which has found a foothold in the rocks on a mountain top.
All our fruit trees have their deadly enemies which cause a loss of many millions of dollars every year. Among the worst of these is the San José scale, which was carelessly brought into the country from China.
The pear blight has destroyed whole orchards of pear trees in the Western states. The citrus canker is now threatening the orange orchards of the Southern states.
For years we have been searching over the world for new and better varieties of fruit trees. With the shipments of such trees we have brought some of the worst of the diseases that we have just mentioned. We should have all foreign trees most carefully inspected before admitting them to the country. We should also be very careful about shipping fruit or other trees from one part of our country to another. Diseases are often carried in this way into places which otherwise they could not reach.