The Chairman: Is the Connellsville fungus also diaporthe parasitica?
Mr. Pierce: Yes, sir. It was placed by Mr. Anderson, who did the work on that, in the same genus as diaporthe, but he preferred the name endothia parasitica.
The Chairman: The question is of changing the generic name, from diaporthe, on the basis of the previously established species?
Mr. Pierce: Yes, sir, previously established species of endothia. It is only a suggestion of Mr. Anderson; it was made by him. This was very similar to the true blight fungus and when our men first went out into the western part of the State, they reported these various cases that came up there as chestnut blight, and none of the pathologists of our force then were competent to determine the difference, except that the fact was noted even then that it was not growing as a parasite in the sense that the true blight fungus has been growing in the east.
The Chairman: That may be due to varietal differences, though, rather than specific?
Mr. Pierce: Yes, although Mr. Anderson seemed to think it was specific.
The Chairman: Is there any further discussion? The subject is worthy of a good deal of comment.
Mr. Pomeroy: I want to ask the speaker what the approximate cost would be for one spraying of a tree about that size, 70 feet in height?
Mr. Pierce: We have photographs on the table there showing our eight hundred dollar spraying machine, the same kind used in Massachusetts in gypsy moth work. With this two men can spray about ten such trees in a day. I haven't got it down in black and white but I figured that, on those chestnuts at DuPont's, they sprayed about 600 gallons a day. Ten trees a day would make it, say, with a $2.50 man, not very high for a tree. I think it costs in all something like four dollars a tree during the whole season, but that is a very rough estimate and the materials are not included.
The Chairman: The cost will have to be calculated on a sentimental basis for the ornamental trees, and on a commercial basis for the commercial trees. The actual value of the spraying has not yet been determined. This spraying cannot reach the mycelium in the cambium layer; if the disease has been carried in by a beetle or woodpecker your spraying would be ineffective.