EIZRGENCY PLANT DISEASE PREV-ENTION REPORT 
Narraive Report on Forest Tree Disease Survey for Period Ending Jan, 31,
1944 
Edwin E. Honey, Pathologist, U.S.D.A., Plant Disease Survey, Madison, Wisconsin

This report includes recent observations and unreported records taken earlier

in the 1943 season on forest tree diseases and wood ddcay fpngi.  The identity
of 
certaii'furigi here reported have been determined*or :verified by Drs. W.
W. Ray and 
D. A. Preston of the Emergency Plant Disease P revention Project. 
Conifers 
Ables balsamea (L.) 1,ill.-Balsai fir. 
'Witches broom, cause undetermined, no funos' fruiting. -Probably caused
by a 
rust fungus.  Present on Madeline Island, Ashland County, Septrember;;' appears
to be 
of little economic importance. 
Pinus Banksiala Lamb.--Jack i. 'e 
Cronartium Quercuum ,(Berk.) 1iyabe, Eastern'Rust Gall. Exahinations were

made of natur-al Jack'pine-and--of--plantations groting in' Wood '-and Adami
Counties 
on Plainfield sand- among stands of scrub oak. Th'e majority' of these oaks
appear 
to be :Quercus velatina Lam. arid  . ellipsoidales E J. Hill. Of 575 natural
Jack 
pine examined in Adams County only 1.6 per cent were found infected,. the
greater 
number of which revealed galls on the trurik. Of 2,686 planfed Jack pine
examined 
in eight locations in Adams Cdunty only 0.'44  er cent Were infected labout
equally 
on branch and trun-ik. In older Jack pine plantations in Woo C6unty a total
of 
477 examined trees revealed ari average of 35.2 per 'cent infdcte'd with
an average 
"of about five galls per 'infected trde, which is in inarked contxast
with conditions 
"found in thd younger pIntatidns in'Adams Couity. Jacl pine' in Ada
's County 
showed: a surprisingly low per 'cent of tree's inifected, since 'infected
oak was close, 
-internmingled and abundant. Pe'rhaps 'this i~s eiplai4ed by' dry c6nditions
when 
"sporeg were -produced on oak. In the older Wodd Codnty planfat1ons
the majority of 
galls appeared to be located between six to ten feet from the ground indicating

that these trees had obtained this size at least before environe'ntal conditions

and the production of inoculum combined to de'velop heavy infection. The
younger 
Adams County plantations had apparently not experienced such a year favorable
for 
infection. :'Should a plslntation be very young when a favorable year for
infection 
occurs it is conceivable that extreme damage might *result from the deforming
and 
killing of young trees such as is comiLonly observed normally in small amounts.

"Burn Blight"--Cause undetermined. 
'Injury to 'Jack and red pine associated with spittle bug e.g., Aphro'hora,

saratogensis Fitch) has'been observed in seven counties: Oneida, Vilas,,Florence,

Marinette, Langlade, Forest and Oconto. This trouble has been found widespread.

It is rapidly and alarmingly extending its range. It is especially severe
in 
cer7tain areas in Marinette and Oconto Counties where killing on hundreds
I f acres 
of, trees between 5 and 15 ye'airs old has already taken pla'ce. Dr. Riker
has 
isolated Dematium p_4ulans from insect 'injuries and Nectria sp.' from the
margins 
of dead bark. " 
Forking -- Causes pVobably Various; incoi rletely understood. 
Of 3,261 young Jack pine about 1.5 to 8.0 feet" in height and from four
to 
eight years old in eighlt plantations in Adadiis County only 1.1 per cent
sh'wed 
forking, 
In Oneida% County Jack pine planted in 1939 and averaging 4.6 feet in height

showed 39.6 per cent of the trees forked and prolepsis of the 1943 buds on
25.4 
per cent of the trees. Ia Sabuk County 20,.3 per cent of the trees were forked
and 
29.3 per cent of the trees showed prolepsis o' 1943 terminal buds. Prolepsis
of 
1943 buds was absent on examined' trees in Dane" County.