Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1912 — CLEARS CHESTNUT MYSTERY [ARTICLE]

CLEARS CHESTNUT MYSTERY

Worm Girdles Tree and Stops Flow of Sap, Says Grower at Fleetwood, Pa. Fleetwood, Pa. —William D. Becker, an extensive grower of chestnuts and peaches, of this town, says there Is no such a thing as the chestnut blight, but that the chestnut trees are being

killed by a small white worm, ranging in length from one-half to threefourths of an inch and about oneeighth of an inch thick. This bores beneath the bark of the tree, leaving its exqrement, which, when the limb or sapling is girdled, prevents the sap from ascending, and then the tree dies. Becker says he has been a close observer for a number of years and finds that this destructive worm nearly always begins its work at the trunk of the tree. He also claims that the reason so many die is the killing of woodpeckers by boys, who, as soon as they get a gun, begin v to exterminate the most useful bird-guardian of the forest. He claims to know dozens of trees in his neighborhood where he can show how this worm does Its ravages.