President Davidson: Place of Meeting Committee. I judge that that committee is not ready to report, is it, Mr. Slate, for this following meeting?
Mr. Slate: The chairman didn't realize until just before we were ready to leave that he was a member of that committee. I have given the matter some thought on the way down, and in the previous years I have usually gone fishing for invitations some time before the meeting. I did drop a line overboard a few days ago, but I didn't catch anything more than I caught in this big lake up here.
Now, from previous experience I don't believe we can consider going to the Middle West. Mr. Snyder, Mr. Becker in Michigan, and Dr. Colby at Illinois, have not thought that they had enough material to make it worth while to go out there. That throws it back to the East, and we have been to some of the better places in recent years; Ronoake, Virginia, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Boston.
I think there are two places that we should consider. I think we should consider Beltsville and the New York City region. We all know that there is plenty of material at Beltsville. We have not been there for some time. And in the New York City region we have the plantings of Gilbert Smith, who is probably 85 or 90 miles above New York. He is not far from Poughkeepsie where I am sure there are ample facilities for handling the crowd. Then there may be possibly some of Dr. Graves' plantings that would be worth seeing on a field trip.
Now, of course, the committee will be very glad to receive invitations from anyone here and consider them, and we will make the final report at the final business session at the time of the banquet, I believe. But between now and then I want you to consider the matter rather seriously and let me know what you are thinking about.
President Davidson: I think it would be desirable, if it were possible, for Mr. Slate to wire the proper authorities at Beltsville or Poughkeepsie.
Mr. Weber: Mr. President, one of our members is Mr. Bernath, who has been quite faithful in attending nearly all our meetings, and he has, I imagine, much of interest to show to the members, and he is located near Poughkeepsie. I am just throwing that out for the members to think over as to what they would think about Poughkeepsie as a possible meeting place.
President Davidson: That's worth listening to.
Would it be advisable, do you think, for Mr. Slate at the expense of the Association to wire to Poughkeepsie or to Beltsville to see whether an invitation is available or not?
Mr. Slate: Those places are well represented now.
Mr. Weber: I imagine Mr. Bernath can speak for himself.
Mr. Bernath: I don't know, I think if we could delay it another year, Mr. Smith is going to retire from the State School, and he will have plenty of time. I am very busy, and he will have loads of time on his hands, and then he can give it his attention. I think that would be all right next year.
Mr. Slate: That's up to the Association to decide.
Mr. Bernath: We would like to have you come at that time.
Mr. Slate: Beltsville is very well represented in Dr. Crane.
Mr. Weber: Mr, Chairman, in view of what Mr. Bernath says, I'd accept Mr. Bernath's suggestion and have Poughkeepsie on the list for the year following.
Mr. Bernath: That's right.
President Davidson: Dr. Crane may have something.
Dr. Crane: Mr. President and members of the Association, we'd like to have the Association meeting at Beltsville again. However, we have had four years of May freezes in Beltsville Station, and I am going to tell you all is not in any too good condition. A lot of it has been pulled, and we have had to replant an awful lot of the stuff that is now just planted this year. We lost a lot of the plantings that were made last year because of injury. As you folks probably know that have been there before, we labored under very great difficulties on soil conditions in that we have mostly sands and gravel.
So we are kind of in a mess there right now. We'd be glad to have the Association meet at Beltsville, and we have right good facilities there for meetings, but as far as any plantings in the area, a lot of the work we are doing, we are kind of going through a period of change right now and getting re-established, and I want you to know the situation.
President Davidson: Well, we have been forewarned. It's a case, I judge, of not being unwilling to see us, but you are not so anxious, for us to see you, is that it?
Dr. Crane: I wouldn't want you to come there under false hopes that you would see a lot.
Mr. Gravatt: I would like to say we have done quite a lot of work in breeding chestnuts and also work with forest types, crossing American chestnuts and Chinese. But I agree quite with Dr. Crane, that we haven't so much to show you there. Of course, it's a dog-gone good thing to get familiar with these diseases and see what you are up against, because all through the history of nut culture, and so forth, one of the basic defects has been the failure to appreciate the importance of insect and disease factors. And we are very much in need of more basic research along those lines, but I agree with Dr. Crane that at present we have a limited amount to show you there.
Of course, there is the Plant Industry Station there with a lot of experimental work, greenhouse work and all sorts of basic research work, fertilization work, and so forth, going on there. A lot of people like to come to Washington. Our plantings are pretty much the same condition as Dr. Crane's and not a display proposition such as you have here at TVA.
President Davidson: Suppose we regard this report, then, as temporary and hear more from you later.
I think that concludes the reports.
The Board of Directors, unless there is some other order of business to be taken up, have some recommendations to make to the Association. One is the recommendation that the Association place the annual membership fee at $3, the supporting membership fee at $10 and the life membership fee at $75. They didn't wish to take the responsibility of doing anything more than referring that matter to this Association.
Dr. MacDaniels: That could be handled in the by-laws under the constitution.
President Davidson: We still also have another rather important matter that's been referred to the Association, and that is the matter of a sufficient amount of remuneration to permit our Secretary to hire a stenographer to do the extra amount of work that is gradually accumulating in that office. The resolution that is referred to you calls for a payment of 50 cents per member to the Secretary for this purpose…. We have no right to be set up so that the work of the Association would encroach upon a person's job as it is set up at the present time. That recommendation was that it was contingent, of course, upon raising the dues to $3.00 and take 50 cents of that to offset the stenographic help and try to re-organize our affairs between the Secretary and Treasurer so that as much as possible of the routine mailing, and routine stenographic work would be carried in this way.
(Discussion on the above recommendation.)
Mr. Weber: I move that the additional remuneration be granted, 50 cents per member, to the Secretary.
Mr. Smith: I will second the motion.
Mr. Fisher: I'd like to make an amendment to that, that the dues be raised to $3.00 in order to make this possible.
Mr. Weber: I will accept the amendment.
Mr Smith: And I will second the motion contingent, of course, to the raising of the dues.
(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)
President Davidson: We will appoint a Resolutions Committee.
+Resolutions Committee+
Sterling Smith, H. L. Crane, Raymond E. Silvis, H. F. Stoke.
President Davidson: I think so far as I know that's everything except the report of the Committee on the Constitution. Unless I hear otherwise we will proceed with that report.
(Discussion on Constitution.)
(Constitution and by-laws approved as set out in another part of this report, the Constitution having first been read at 1947 meeting)
President Davidson: As I understand it, then, this constitution, unless we make some other provision, is in effect as of now.
Mr. Weber: Now with these by-laws in effect there will have to be a fresh nominating committee elected for the next year.
Mr. Smith: Mr. President, I make a motion, if it's in order, that the Nominating Committee as elected previously for this meeting also continue and serve for next year.
Mr. Clarke: Second the motion.
(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)
President Davidson: There is one other matter that was brought up at the directors' meeting, and inasmuch as the directors did not have a quorum, it should be voted through here, I think, and that is that a motion is in order to pay Mrs. Gibbs $25 for her services as stenographer at our meeting. That was done, I believe, at Guelph, and it involves a lot of important work.
Mr. Korn: I second the motion.
(Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.)
President Davidson: Shall we adjourn, with a continuance of the business meeting at the banquet?
(Recess taken until 1:00 o'clock p. m.)
+Monday Afternoon Session+
President Davidson: Shall we come to order?
We now come to the interesting part of our program, and we will listen first to Mr. Quick of West Virginia, who will take the place of Mr. Sayers, the State Forester at Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. Quick.
The Development and Propagation of Blight Resistant Chestnut in WestVirginia
RALPH H. QUICK, Conservation Commission, Charleston, West Virginia
Mr. Quick: Ladies and gentlemen of the Association, your guests and friends: In substituting for the State Forester of West Virginia I realize that I am undertaking a big job. A few of you know Mr. Wilson Sayers, who is the State Forester, and those of you who do may assure the rest of the group what a big job I am undertaking, because I feel that I am in pretty good-sized shoes.
The subject that has been assigned is The Development and Propagation of Blight Resistant Chestnut in West Virginia. Now, being a forester, I am perhaps interested in blight resistant chestnut from a little different standpoint than the majority of this group. As representing the Conservation Commission of that state I might say that we are interested primarily from the game-food viewpoint. Now, that's a little bit different, I expect, than most of you have been thinking about, or some of you, at least. But that is the standpoint from which we are interested.
So I would like to go along with you this afternoon and discuss some of the things that we have done and some of the things that we are learning—there are a few yet—that lead us along that line to believe that we can do something with blight-resistant chestnuts in West Virginia as a game food. We are just at the beginning, so to speak—that is, the Conservation Commission of that state is just at the beginning of our study. We have been fooling with it a little off and on since back in the middle '30's, but interest has lagged and then has picked up again two or three times.
I am sure that as far as the production of good strains of blight-resistant chestnut, better strains of Chinese, and so on, that there are people in West Virginia who are more capable of telling you what has been done from a private viewpoint than anyone with the Conservation Commission, but we are interested in learning about it and producing it in large numbers for a game food, and, of course, if we are interested in distributing from our nursery over the state for that purpose, we are interested in producing better strains of blight-resisting chestnut as we go.
Along back in the 1920's a few plantations, or a few trees were planted in the state by what was then the old Fish and Game Commission, and the records have been lost, as has been true in many other states. But then, apparently, the beginning was made. In going over some of those early plantings I will only have time to hit the high spots and the ones in which we are particularly interested in our line, but the first ones were back there somewhere in the '20's.
One of the best plantations, the one that we are particularly interested in at the present time, is in Jackson County, West Virginia, and it is of the University of Nanking strain, and there were 34 trees planted there back in 1926, and we are told that they were planted from 2-0[1] stock, from nuts that came from China in 1924. Twenty-six of those trees survived, and we think they are pretty good nuts. You may be interested to know that that plantation now averages 22 feet in height and has an average diameter at breast height of 8 inches. The spacing in that plantation was 26 by 26 feet.
Now, we can't take credit, nor do we want to take credit, for that plantation. The state agency had nothing to do with it. It was put in there through the cooperation of the gentlemen from Beltsville, but we are very much interested in that plantation; so interested that we have gone to the owner, along with the permission of the fellows from Beltsville, and sewed the thing up for a five year period, during which time we hope to get the seed and to improve our own strains and establish blocks of our own on state-owned land under different conditions and on different sites where we expect in the future to be able to secure seed for our use and production at the nursery.
In the first few years that this plantation that we are speaking of in Jackson County produced, not many people paid much attention to it or attached much significance to it. The man who had charge of it gave the nuts away for experimental purposes or for any reason that anybody happened to ask for them, and shipped a lot of them free. But along in the early 1940's he began to find out what he had, and he started selling seed and made a pretty good thing out of it.
Last year was the first year that we had gotten seed from that plantation. We got 75 pounds of good nuts taken in the fall of 1947.
We have another orchard, another plantation that led us to become interested, I guess, in producing blight-resistant chestnut as a game food and along forestry lines, and that is the orchard that we have on nursery property. It was one of the early ones, and I expect one of the earliest in the state, but it was planted along back in 1936, fifty-one trees.
When we started in this we didn't know anything about it at all, so we have built up our small knowledge in the last few years. But it didn't take us long to realize that our orchard on our nursery property was of badly crossed material, and it had some very undesirable trees. If we succeeded in doing anything with them as a game food we would have to eliminate, and only last year did we get around to the place where we could secure authority to eliminate the undesirable species. We have about half of the stand left now, but we are pretty sure that the trees that we do have are of good strain.
It might be interesting for you to note—maybe some of you can top it—we were interested when this orchard was planted, in what would happen if the trees were planted and allowed to grow as a forest stand. So they were planted in six-by-six spacing. Of course, we got a lot of self-pruning and a lot of competition, as we would in forests by the trees growing up and competing with each other and reaching for height and light. Some of them died and some were so badly suppressed that they failed to make any growth at all. But there is one tree that we still have in that orchard that we are proud of, not from the standpoint of nut production, nor does it produce a very good nut as far as the human taste is concerned. But it has made a single stick that far surpasses any other tree we have in the orchard. It looks like a forest tree. In 1945—it might be hard for you to believe—it grew nine feet. That isn't an exaggeration. It was measured. We thought that was a lot better than fair growth. Of course, it hasn't made any growth like that since, and I don't think it ever did before, but it just had the push to go and went nine feet in one growing season.
Leaving that orchard for a few minutes, there were 38 plantings of from 10 to 50 trees each made by the Soil Conservation Service and the Division of Forest Pathology of the Bureau of Plant Industry in the spring of 1939. These were examined by Dr. Diller of that Bureau in the spring of 1940 and in 1947. He has told us that he graded those plantings as he found them, 10 being good, and he said the next 15 were only fair and he put 13 down as total failures.
Of those 13 that failed—from the forestry standpoint now, remember—he said that 7 of the failures were due to poor site selection, three were suppressed by surrounding hardwoods and other competing growth, and three had been destroyed by cattle.
[Footnote 1: Meaning, two years old, not transplanted in the nursery.—Ed.]
+A Commercial Chestnut Nurseryman+
I don't know whether any of you know of—I expect you do—the Gold Chestnut Nursery in West Virginia near Cowen, and it is owned and operated by Mr. Arthur A. Gold. He has been interested in blight-resistant chestnuts from a commercial standpoint, selling from his nursery for a good many years. He has worked with us some in the Conservation Commission and has given us the benefit of his experience. And if any of you have the opportunity I think you would be interested in seeing Mr. Gold's nursery. He was an old-time nurseryman that handled most of the conifers found in a commercial nursery, but in the last few years he has gone into chestnut production almost entirely, and if you have an opportunity, I am sure Mr. Gold would welcome you to his nursery in Webster County.
The Game Division of the Conservation Commission of West Virginia established three or four small plantings on the state forests in 1938 and 1939, but they had low survival. Dr. Diller in going around with some of us and checking on those has found that we were back there where all of us were trying to find something and trying to learn something and that we made many mistakes and that we picked poor stock, for one thing, and poor sites for another thing, but the great disadvantage and the biggest limiting factor was our poor selection of sites there in the beginning.
In handling chestnuts that you people handle maybe in small or large quantities where all of your time can be devoted to that particular thing, you probably have a lot of things that you do that we don't have time to do because at the nursery in West Virginia we are interested primarily in producing conifers and other forest trees for the reforestation of abandoned land. So in handling this Chinese chestnut as a game food we are working on a sideline. We have to pick it up as fast as we can do the job and do as much as we can and learn about as much as we can. And, of course, we learn slower than people who have the time to spend and perhaps the money to spend at it. But we are limited in those two respects.
But seed collections are made, and we find it necessary in collecting from two of the orchards that we are now using for seed to collect twice a day in the season that the nuts are ripening, because both of those orchards which we prize are close to forest lands and squirrel country, and they really give us a race for it. The fact of the matter is the orchard at the nursery has attracted the squirrels on that particular side of the mountain. I have hunted on opening day and killed my limit of squirrels without going outside of the residence and been back at work time at eight o'clock. It really attracts them on that side of the hill. We are going to compete with the squirrels, but as you will see, we have just about given up that orchard as a seed source.
We find it necessary to treat the seed, of course, before we plant it. Many of you people, of course, go into the spraying end of it before the nut ever develops. We haven't the time or the money right now to go into it that way, so we try to take care of the nut after we collect it and bring it in.
I expect it is not necessary for me to go into any of the details on any of the methods that may be used to get rid of the weevil, because you are all familiar with that. Maybe it suffices to say that we at the nursery now are using the hot water treatment. The little weevil is found in there and not always apparent. In fact, most of the time it isn't apparent that the nut is infested, but they are, and if we take measures to kill the weevil we haven't any germination of the weevil. We used gas once, but we are limited in that at present. It is a lot more expensive.
We have, in the first few years that we tried to produce chestnuts at the nursery, stratified them. We got along pretty well with that in damp sand, we got along fairly well in sawdust, and we got along especially well with damp sphagnum moss. But in the end we determined that we are getting better results if we plant the nuts as they are collected. In other words, the seed was taken from the orchard, treated to kill the weevil and put in the ground in the fall.
Now, you can't get away with that everywhere. Our orchard is far enough away from the nursery that we don't have any rodent damage. We have had some trouble from skunks, and they finally find out that the nuts are in there in a row where we have planted them, and they go right down and get them. But we have no trouble from mice or rats. We are far away from woodland and buildings.
We find that some people have trouble with wind or water erosion. We don't have that. So we can get by and do a better job and produce better trees by sowing nuts in the fall, and we sow them in the fall, just as if we were sowing black walnuts for production and distribution over the state.
By the next fall when we are ready to distribute those seedlings as 1-0 stock we find that we have produced seedlings of about 14 inches in height as 1-0 stock. From what I have seen that isn't a bad size to produce as 1-0 stock, though it is better in some places. We find, too, in the spring before germination, that in our particular section of the state along the Ohio River valley we sometimes get a dry spring and find it necessary to irrigate that land where we planted the chestnuts, just as the seed beds where we planted pine, in order to keep the ground moist and keep it in a condition where seeds will germinate freely.
We weed our chestnuts just as we do every row planted in the nursery, cultivate with the tractor about three times in a season, which is all the time we have to give to it, and hand weed it once. Perhaps it ought to have a little more than that. Some seasons I am sure it should, but that's about the time we are allowed or the time that we can allot to that.
I hope, Mr. Davidson, you will check me here on this time. I don't want to get too far out and upset the schedule.
President Davidson: All right, if necessary.
Mr. Quick: In distributing, the seedlings or blight-resistant chestnut seed in West Virginia we began back in 1943 putting them out in quantity. We had to limit them, the only thing in the nursery we had to limit the amount as to seed. That was because everybody in the state became very much interested, and the Conservation Commission makes those available to any land owner in the state free of charge if he will plant them as a game food but not under other circumstances. He can't use them for ornamentals, and he can't use them for shade purposes in his yard. But he can receive a limited number if he is willing to use them for game. So in scattering them over the state, so many people wanted so many of them that if we didn't watch we'd have all of our chestnuts planted in three or four, or half a dozen spots in the state, and we are interested in learning as much as we can by having them put out at different elevations, different sites and under different conditions, so we had to limit it to ten to an individual in 1943. We have gradually upped that as our production has gone up, from 15 to 20, then 40, and this year we are offering 50 to any land owner in the State of West Virginia.
Now you can see why we are interested in trying to improve the nut. If we are going to distribute them all over the state, let's distribute a good nut, a nut that is not only a heavy bearer for the game, but a nut, too, that is fit for human consumption.
In our site recommendations we have been trying to follow pretty well the ideas of the boys from Beltsville, and we found out that what they have been telling us is just about right. In other words, we are setting our chestnuts in the cove types, moist with gentle slope, preferably on the north, and we are getting better growth there. It doesn't mean as far as we are concerned that it doesn't grow well on drier land and on rich hill-tops but the growth is so much greater when it's put in good ground and under those conditions. In other words, it needs a tulip poplar site; where tulip poplar is growing or has recently grown might be one way to select a site for our chestnuts.
In these five year now that we have been distributing these chestnuts we have distributed something like 200,000. Now, we know that all of those seedlings haven't been good strains, but they have been the best we could do at that time as we were going along. We hope to learn from you people, and we hope you can give us help in improving our strains so that we can distribute better chestnuts over the state.
We haven't had a good system of checking up, until the present time, on plantings that have been made in the past, but we are initiating a system just now wherein all plantations that have been made from forest stock will have regular examination all over the state of West Virginia, and we are including chestnuts in that. We have made some checks in the state on certain selected sites and have found out, strange enough, that these little plantations that are spotted around on the farms, if they were put in correctly and handled properly according to our instructions, have given us a survival of about 80 to 85 per cent, which is, as you will remember, about the percentage in the Nanking strain planting in Jackson County, 26 out of the 34 original trees. That seems strange, but it has proved true all over the state in the few checks that we have made. But we are going into it and checking these plantations and by so doing I believe we can eliminate a good many of our own troubles, along with your help.
* * * * *
President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Quick for a very interesting paper.
Is Professor Moore, present? Our next talk will be on The Present Status of the Chestnut in Virginia, by Professor R. C. Moore of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute of Blacksburg, Virginia. Professor Moore.
The Present Status of the Chestnut in Virginia
R.C. MOORE, Department of Horticulture Virginia Agricultural ExperimentStation
Briefly reviewing the past, Virginia has been in the same position as many other states in regard to the large number of native American chestnuts that once grew wild before the blight epidemic occurred. Most of the chestnuts were found on loose, open type soils rather than on heavy limestone soil. In mountainous parts of the state, considerable income was obtained from the sale of wild chestnuts. Men, women, and children gathered these nuts and traded them at the stores for merchandise. One small country store, in Floyd County, southwest Virginia, assembled and shipped between sixty and eighty thousand pounds annually. A small town, Stuart, in Patrick County, shipped three carloads daily during the peak of the season. These nuts found their way to city markets, where chestnut roasters were as commonly seen as popcorn poppers. Since many of these native chestnut trees grew in forests or on wasteland, there was little expense involved except in the time required to gather them. The demand was good but frequently the sale price was rather low, especially during years when the crop was heavy.
After blight destroyed the wild trees, a considerable amount of timber was cut from the dead trees. At present this wood has largely decayed beyond usefulness except for firewood, although in some areas it is being gathered for pulpwood. Sprouts have arisen from the bases of the trunks and have borne nuts, but blight sooner or later destroys those sprouts.
Chinkapins are found in many counties of Virginia, especially on shale or sandy loam soils. Blight affects chinkapins to a considerable extent; but because of their bushy type of growth, new shoots arise to replace blighted shoots, thus perpetuating the plants so that they have not died out. Chinkapins are gathered by children for eating and for sale along the roadside, but at present they have little total economic value.
+The Asiatic Chestnuts+
Since the native American chestnuts passed out of existence, there has been a gradually accumulating interest in the Asiatic species, especially Chinese chestnuts, which appear superior, in blight resistance and nut quality to the Japanese species. The growing of these Chinese chestnuts is such a new enterprise that its problems are not fully solved nor its opportunities fully explored.
The earlier plantings of seedling Chinese chestnut trees were made by cooperating growers and nurserymen. They were interested in a forest type chestnut that might replace the dead native trees. A few of these plantings were made under semi-forest conditions, on cut-over timber land or on dry ridges. The first lesson that was learned was that the Chinese chestnut is an orchard type tree requiring rather fertile soil and ample moisture. It would not compete favorably with most native forest trees, but rather was a slow growing, shallow rooted type of tree. Under these unfavorable growing conditions the trees tended to be small and to sprout from the bases of the trunks. The weakest seedlings died.
In other cases the trees were planted in yards, back lots, along the sides of ravines, or in other locations where the soil was fertile and moist. Under these favorable conditions most seedlings have grown and produced crops of nuts, especially when the trees were pruned and competing weeds and brush were mowed. Very few of these first seedlings of the Chinese chestnuts showed much promise although a few of them were fairly satisfactory.
Several old Japanese chestnut trees have been observed. One of these is estimated to be 50 years of age with a trunk diameter of 18 inches and a height of about 50 feet. It is growing in a very fertile spot and heavy crops in the past have broken its limbs. Chinkapins growing nearby appeared to have supplied pollen. Recently the nearest chinkapins were cleared away and hence at present the nuts fail to fill well. Another large tree in eastern Virginia produces many burs but the nuts fail to develop, indicating self-sterility. The nuts of both trees are rather coarse and of poor quality.
More recent plantings have been rather widely scattered over the state, although the total number of trees is not large and no one person has planted many trees. One large general nursery, serving this area, reported sales last spring of 196 Chinese seedling trees to thirty-five different customers. The largest single sale was for fifty trees. Several customers purchased only one tree each.
+Problems Encountered+
In visiting and corresponding with individuals who are growing Chinese chestnuts, I have made a few observations, as to problems that have arisen.
+1. Site and Soil.+ The most successful trees from the standpoint of growth and production were those growing on fertile, well drained soil in which moisture was plentiful. The Chinese chestnut tree appears to be shallow rooted and to require good growing conditions. Dry ridges were unfavorable for growth, and in bottom land the trees frequently were subjected to late spring freezing of tender shoots.
2. Blight injury to the trees and weevil damage to the nuts seemed to be the most serious enemies of chestnuts. Seedlings varied considerably in their resistance to blight. Some of them showed no indications of blight; others were damaged but outgrew the injury; and a few trees were weakened and died.
Weevils appeared to be quite prevalent. One grower reported almost 100% wormy nuts. It is my understanding that a spray program has been developed for control of the weevil. Mr. H. F. Stoke of Roanoke believes that the Illinois No. 31-4 chestnut (a hybrid) is resistant to weevil, probably because of its thick burs and closely set spines.
+3. Cultural Care.+ Chinese chestnuts benefited from pruning; it being especially important to cut away the sprouts at the bases of the trunks. Mowing weeds and brush around the trees seemed helpful. Applications of nitrate of soda stimulated more rapid growth of young trees, and in limited amounts benefited the older trees. It appears, however, that there may be a danger of overstimulation which increases the hazard of limb breakage by snow and ice, especially in the case of younger trees. The largest crops of nuts, however, were frequently produced on trees of only moderate vigor.
+4. Freezing damage to the bark of the trunks and large limbs.+ This occurred in the VPI Horticultural Department planting in 1945, when a temperature of about 17°F. occurred after the trees had started growth in the spring. This injury appeared as a darkening of the outer bark and cambium. Trees that were severely damaged became weakened and tended to sprout vigorously from the bases of their trunks. Other trees overcame a slight injury with little apparent ill-effect.
+5. Seedlings or Varieties.+ The question is whether to grow seedlings or grafted varieties. Seedlings are more easily propagated, the nursery plants less expensive, and the trees longer lived on the average; but seedling trees and nuts are quite variable. Named varieties are difficult to propagate, the nursery plants expensive, and stock-scion incompatability may occur; but the trees and nuts are uniform. Seedlings serve a useful purpose in developing new varieties; but with more planting of superior varieties and a fuller understanding of propagation methods, and of cultural care, chestnut growing on a commercial scale may be more likely to become a reality.
+Future Prospects+
For the present, at least, it appears that growing Chinese chestnuts may be limited to small specialty plantings rather than any large commercial enterprise. The trees seem well adapted to yard and back lot planting as ornamentals and to furnish the family with nuts. Also hobbyists and specialists find them to be interesting plants with which to work.
The industry is new and involves uncertainties and risks, which a commercial grower should not be expected to assume. Further study is needed to clear up the uncertainties, especially as to production costs, markets, and profits to be expected. As additional trees come into bearing over a wider area, a better understanding may be had of the economic value of these chestnuts in the various sections of the state. There is a market for high quality chestnuts, but it remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient profit with the risks involved to attract commercial growers.
+Summary+
In conclusion, the following points are to be stressed in regard to growing chestnuts in Virginia:
(1) Chinese chestnuts are adapted for home planting or for planting by hobbyists and specialists; but their commercial prospects as yet are uncertain.
(2) The trees require fertile soil with ample moisture but should not be planted in frost pockets.
(3) Weevils and blight have been the most serious pests.
(4) Seedlings serve a useful purpose in developing new varieties; but greater progress should be expected from growing superior named varieties.
(5) Additional study is needed to determine the profit prospects, to evaluate varieties, and to work out details of cultural practices, harvesting, and storage of nuts on a variety basis.
Although the chestnut blight has destroyed the nativeCastanea dentatatrees, it is hoped that breeding programs may produce a blight resistant, hardy tree, of a size that will lend itself to orchard planting and cultural practices, and which will be regularly productive of high quality nuts.
* * * * *
President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Moore.
The next thing on the program is the talk by Mr. G. S. Jones of PhenixCity, Alabama, on Growing Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama.
Growing Chinese Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama
G. S. JONES, R.F.D. 1, Phenix City, Alabama
Ever since childhood, chestnuts have held a fascination for me. How well I remember the delightful Sunday afternoon trips we used to make in the fall up on Earkett's Hill to gather a few small nuts from some native trees which often had been burned by woods fires. I occasionally revisit this area to see these trees, which are in better condition now than then. Native chestnuts were never, to my knowledge, very abundant in our area and are now indeed scarce, but I still hear of a few living trees, some of which grow as far south as North Florida.
I first became interested in Chinese chestnuts from an article I read in the early '30's in a Department of Agriculture yearbook which I think had been written by Mr. Gravatt. This article told about these trees being introduced into this country because of their high resistance to blight. Until this time I had heard little about chestnut blight. In order to find out more about these trees I wrote Mr. Gravatt, who in reply said seedling trees were available for distribution on an experimental basis. I applied for some of these, more, I must admit, to get them to grow on our place just to have some chestnuts than with any thought of disease resistance. When these trees came in the spring of 1934 I even had some trouble in getting permission to set them in an open field near the house, for chestnuts were considered as a tree of minor importance, to be grown in some out of the way place.
These trees were set in sandy loam soil with a porous yellow subsoil in a field of medium elevation which has excellent air drainage so I have had little damage from cold injury. The soil is of fair fertility for the Upper Costal Plain area. Of the trees sent me, fourteen of the ML selection, originating, I am informed by Mr. Gravatt, from seed obtained in Anhwei Province of China, and 10 MO selection originating in Chekiang Province were set in my orchard. Only two of these failed to survive, leaving a total of twenty-two. These were cultivated with the field crops, mostly cotton and corn, and I must admit didn't have much individual attention for several years. I even left the side branches to minimize injury from the mule and plow used in cultivation. Some leaves and trash were put around them at times and they received some benefit from the fertilizer of the row crops. I mention this to show that my chestnuts grew quite well though only moderately fertilized, but receiving good cultivation while young. I might mention that I set two trees in stiff Piedmont clay soil a few miles above here, to try them under woodland conditions. These have never done well, although one had burs but I found no nuts. Other trees which I observe have not been given cultivation grow very slowly, although I have not seen any tried on what I would considergoodwoodland areas.
My trees, spaced about 40 x 40 ft., have grown quite rapidly so that now some of the limbs are almost touching. Tree ML No. 2, which is about average size, measured last fall in diameter 12-1/2 inches, in height 24 feet, with a limb spread of 30 feet. By 1943 the trees were getting so large that cultivation was discontinued. An attempt is made to keep all litter possible in the orchard, which, with the shade of the trees, has caused much of the soil to become loose and mellow. Since our sandy soil is very low in calcium I applied limestone one time at the rate of about 1500 lbs. per acre. This I hoped would improve the texture of the soil and make better conditions for growing bur clover between the trees. Basic slag which contains about 10% phosphate was applied at the rate of about 600 lbs. per acre in the early '40's. For the last four or five years I applied about 200 lbs. of guano (4-10-7 usually) and 200 lbs of basic slag annually. Since 1944 I have been adding about 50 lbs. of minor mineral elements to the above mixture. Whether it is a coincidence or not I cannot say, but the next year after applying these elements my yields increased from 430 lbs. the previous year to 961 lbs. and have remained high ever since. Minor mineral elements show beneficial results on our garden crops, and I am inclined to believe they are needed, since our soil is so sandy and porous, and especially the soil that has been cultivated so long. Since my trees have produced so well with this moderate fertilization, I have made no check against higher rates of application. In fact I am against the use of large amounts of mineral guanos since I know certain tender shrubs and plants are injured by their use and some soil bacteria and animal life are also harmfully affected, according to reports I have read.
Three of my trees bore a few nuts at four years. No record of yields was kept until the seventh year or 1942, in which I gathered about 328 lbs. of nuts. After that my records show for 1943, 554 lbs., 1944—430 lbs; 1945—961 lbs; 1946—1722 lbs; 1947—1554 lbs. No individual tree records were kept except in a few cases. I kept a rough record by looking at the burs at the end of the season, and classed trees as excellent, good, or poor producers, along with other characteristics of the trees. However, I know several of my trees produced over 100 lbs. each in 1946 and one tree, ML No. 2, of which I kept a record by weight, in 1947 produced a little over 150 lbs. of nuts.
[A note from Mr. Jones early in 1949 reports a crop of 1,836 pounds of chestnuts harvested from his 21 trees in 1948, the largest yield to date. His ML No. 2 tree produced 165 pounds.]
Nuts on a few of my trees begin ripening the latter part of August, but September is the heavy month, with some extending to the middle of October. Their early ripening period while the weather is usually hot and dry, I think tends to cause damage to nuts from the effects of the hot sun and rapid drying. Damage to the nuts and consequent spoilage can be kept at a minimum if they are gathered promptly, which should be daily.
+Preparing Chestnuts for Market+
Here is how I generally handle my crop. As soon as the nuts are gathered I put them in a container with water and remove the nuts that float. This eliminates practically all spoiled nuts and those beginning to spoil. Those that sink are then placed in coarse mesh burlap bags (about 25 lbs. to the bag) which are tied near the top. These bags are laid on a slatted platform under a shade tree and pressed out flat, so nuts will not be thicker than 2 or 3 inches. These bags are thoroughly wet with water once or twice daily, depending on the weather, until I can carry them to cold storage and store at 30°F., or they are marketed fresh, advising buyer of the perishable nature of these nuts. Last year my nuts kept excellently in cold storage, and after remaining there about six weeks had dried sufficiently to keep much better after taking out than when they were fresh.
Nuts for planting purposes can be kept in excellent condition for several weeks by spreading them thinly between layers of damp sphagnum moss and storing in a cool place. This cannot be allowed to get very wet or sprouting will begin. While holding the nuts out of cold storage I attempt to keep sufficient moisture available so the nuts are not allowed to dry much, and yet have plenty of ventilation to keep them from heating or souring. Until I began using this method, a large percentage of my nuts began spoiling soon after gathering, which caused me much discouragement, as I did not want to offer such a product for sale. Since then my losses still run around 12%, but this could be reduced still further by more prompt gathering and by the elimination of several trees which retain nuts in the burs to a large extent.
I have been able to dispose of my nuts quite easily in near-by Columbus, Ga. and for the last few years have had quite a demand for nuts to use in planting.
My orchard as a whole has been very healthy, showing no blight signs that I can detect, although there is little chance of exposure to blight in my section. One tree is slowly dying, which may be due to cold injury, as it comes into leaf early and also ripens very early. So far I have noticed no damage from chestnut weevils. As my trees are seedlings, there is quite a bit of variation in size of nuts and production of individual trees.
+Undesirable Traits in Seedling Trees+
I might mention some undesirable traits which I notice in my trees. First, I would place retention of nuts in the burs as the worst trouble. This is quite bad in five or six of my trees. Next, nuts too dry and loose in the hull at time of falling, which is present in four or five trees, some of which retain nuts in the burs and some which do not. The dry textured nuts seem to spoil more easily than plump well filled ones. Some trees produce too small nuts but the trees which produce extra large nuts do not usually yield nearly so heavily as those producing small to medium size nuts. I consider too early ripening as undesirable, for those that ripen later are usually better keepers, but this does not always hold true as some of the later ripening ones are also poor keepers.
This year my trees have an excellent crop of burs and show promise of a good average yield on each tree. Considering all things, I am highly pleased with my Chinese chestnuts and believe they have a good future in our section if no greater troubles arise than I now know of although there is much room for improvement.
+Other Tree Crops+
Although Chinese chestnuts are my largest producing tree crop, I am working with a number of other trees and shrubs for both nut and fruit production, as well as other purposes. I have several Thomas black walnuts which I set about 1938. Three of these have grown quite rapidly and are beginning to produce nice crops of nuts, although the kernels have a tendency to be spongy at times.
Of course, I have a small orchard of budded pecans, which do so well in our section. These trees, which are young, are just coming into production. Some other nut trees which I am trying in field plantings include native chestnuts, chinkapins, hazel nuts, native black walnuts, and scaly bark hickory (Carya ovata). Since most of these are young and grow so slowly, I cannot say much about their production yet. I have also planted quite a large number of white oaks from a high production tree in hopes of producing acorns for hogs and wild life, also some cork oaks on an experimental basis.
Among non-nut producers I am trying honeylocust, persimmons, and mulberries. I also grow catalpa and black locust for fence posts. This makes no mention of the great variety of native timber trees such as pines, tulip poplar, and others which I try to protect from fires so as to get as great a variety of trees as possible to use for various purposes. I also encourage the growth of ornamental trees and shrubs such as dogwood, redbud, and holly to add beauty to the landscape in season.
Dr. J. Russell Smith's book, "Tree Crops" has been a great inspiration to me along these lines, and I am attempting to study and use as many trees, shrubs, and plants here on my place as possible because I believe we can live easier and better and make better use of the land both for ourselves and nature when we learn how to use our various native plants to the best advantage along with many of the exotic ones.
I might end by saying that I would much rather work in the shade of trees than in the open sun and benefit by their long life and varied uses than to depend so heavily on short lived crops which often require such intensive care.
* * * * *
President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Jones. A very interesting paper with details that are worth listening to.
Professor J. C. Moore of the Department of Horticulture, AlabamaPolytechnic Institute, will give us a talk on Processed Chestnuts on theMarket throughout the Year.
Processed Chestnuts on the Market throughout the Year
J. C. MOORE, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.
Professor Moore: Mr. President, members of the Association: I have a few packages here that I just wanted to pass around after we get through with a short discourse on processed chestnuts. It might be somewhat of an inspiration to look while I talk a few minutes about it.
These nuts, of course, have been put up from the 1947 crop, but I have nuts put up in 1945 that are still in fair shape. The quality on the 1945 product is not too good. The quality on the 1947 product is excellent when the nut is hot. For instance, a toasted chestnut, I think, has a quality that no other nut has. When the nut sits in a bag sealed for several weeks and gets cold it still is good, but it doesn't have quite the crispness that it has when it is really fresh and hot.
We were very much disappointed with Chinese chestnuts when they first began to bear at Auburn. We got some plants from Mr. Gravatt and the Bureau of Plant Industry in Beltsville in 1938. They were planted; some of them started bearing in 1941. The nuts were large in size; the trees seemed to be perfectly healthy. The early bearing habit gave us a great deal of encouragement. Then we sampled these nuts, and the quality was not good. While the nuts were green and in storage the nuts decomposed in just a few days' time.
The first nuts that we harvested in 1941 were picked, placed in paper bags, set in the office, and we forgot about them, because they were not good when we put them in the bags, and we just put them back for our record purposes. A few days afterwards they were moldy and ruined. In 1942 we had a little better crop, but again the nuts rotted. In 1943 we had a still larger crop, and the nuts rotted again. We did not know how to take care of those nuts at the time.
In 1944 Mr. L. S. Holden was with the Soil Conservation Service. He was transferred to Auburn at the time I was transferred down into Haiti to do some work on rubber production, and he took my place at Auburn on the hillculture project. In the fall of 1944 Mr. Holden had an idea that he could can those chestnuts and preserve them. So he took the nuts, cracked the hull off of the nut, ground it with a little food chopper, and placed the nuts in cans, pints and quarts, put them in a pressure cooker at 15 pounds pressure and cooked them for 15 minutes.
During the fall of 1944, or after the crop was produced, Mr. Holden left Auburn, and he told me when he left that he had sent some of the samples to different parts of the United States and had gotten favorable replies from the samples that he had sent out. That gave me a renewed courage, and along with that in 1945 we sold quite a few raw nuts on the market at Auburn. Those nuts sold just like hot cakes for 40 cents a pound. There were quite a few comments came back to us about those nuts. They were the most beautiful nuts the people had ever seen, and several different ones made comments that the nuts toasted had excellent quality and the nuts boiled had excellent quality, and raw nuts after they were cured had an excellent quality.
Those few different peoples comment on the material and Mr. Holden's work that he had done on canning gave me an idea that maybe he had something, and I have worked since that time trying to perfect a product that would be edible from the hand from a cellophane-bag standpoint. At the present time we have a plan worked out whereby we can produce large quantities of Chinese chestnuts in Alabama.
The thing that is going to confront us in the near future is the marketing possibility. We have to handle Chinese chestnuts rapidly if we put them on the market raw. This processed method that we have has been worked out to perfection, we think, for cold storage purposes.
Now, you can put Chinese chestnuts raw in cellophane bags and seal them with a hot iron. These bags are not sealed. It is a non-sealable cellophane. I didn't get hold of the type of cellophane that you can seal. They are unsealed. They have been in this package about a week, and the nuts are in good shape. On cold storage I have held those nuts for 40 days. Last year was the first time that I tried them in sealed cellophane, but sealed in cellophane bags in cold storage last year they remained perfectly good for 40 days. At that time the cold storage plant went bad, and, of course, the nuts molded.
We think that on the cold storage proposition, and if you have followed food processing and cold storage possibilities on strawberry shortcake, strawberry pies, apple pies and other types of cold storage products, I think when you go to the locker and pick out a little bag of lima beans in a cold storage locker or any other kind of cold packed foods, if you see a pack that looks attractive, chestnuts, after you get accustomed to their flavor especially, it will be a difficult thing for you to fail to pick up a bag of chestnuts and walk out with them among your other grocery purchases. That type of marketing has possibilities throughout the year.
With that possibility from last year this crop came in. We had an excellent crop. I contacted Mr. Harris, who is one of the professors working with food processing at Auburn, and we went over the work quite carefully together, what I had done and the possibilities for the work in the future, and with some suggestions from him and with his help we think we have just about fixed a product that will be a permanent thing on the grocery shelves throughout the year.
Up to the present time all of the nuts that were canned in cans with the shells on developed throughout the year somewhat of a soured condition. When you opened the can and smelled, the odor was foul. When you cracked the shell and tasted the nut, the flesh had just the least bit of a foul odor. Mr. Harris suggested that probably that was a flat sour. We weren't sure that it was flat sour, but we haven't had the bacteria check to find out whether it was caused by one of the thermophilic bacteria or not, but we are pretty confident that it was a flat sour that caused the foul odor. With careful heating and careful drying we have developed some products here that I think have a possibility, and these products will maintain their quality throughout the year.
+Nuts Cured Before Canning+
I have canned chestnuts that have been canned for three years, and the quality is just as good as it was a month after they were canned. The product, however, when it is canned green does not have the quality that it does when it is canned after curing. The way we handle these, to begin with, is to take the nuts from the field, put them on a woven wire and elevate the wire so that air can go under and over, cure at room temperature for about three days. If you cure longer than three days you will lose quite a few of your nuts. That is a rapid cure. We have not tried curing under cooler conditions to see if we can eliminate part of the damage that is caused by deterioration, but curing the nuts rapidly you get a deterioration on quite a few of the nuts after the third or fourth day. If you take the raw nuts three days cured rapidly where the air can circulate over and under, the quality is excellent raw, and I have those nuts cured for three days in cellophane bags on cold storage that can be sold throughout the year. Those nuts must be heated enough to stop the deterioration, whatever it is. It may be a physiological condition, I am not sure, it may be a vitamin reaction, I am not sure, but when the nut dries too fast it turns white on the inside, gets hard, loses its flavor, and it is no good.
This nut (indicating) canned in cans, I will give you the treatment for it. I told you we cured them on those drying racks for three days. Then we put them in a pressure cooker and run the temperature up to about 10 pounds pressure for 30 minutes, take them out of the pressure cooker and hull them, and at that stage they hull quite easily. The hull itself will turn loose from the nut quite easily if you heat it a little while before you try to hull. A machine which can thresh the hulls off very easily will be simple to develop. After the shell is taken off, then they are put in an oven (a drying oven that has an automatic control at 270 degrees), for about 10 minutes in order to evaporate the excess moisture that you get in the steaming process. Then they are put in the cans hot, set back into the oven and heated for just a few moments to get your temperature up again and you put lids on at a boiling temperature. You get quite a vacuum created by sealing them hot. We have had as high as fourteen and a half pounds of vacuum on those cans the third day after they were canned, and if you can get a vacuum like that by sealing the nuts hot, you can preserve their quality for a long period.
I don't care if you open any bag that's here and taste these products. You will find that the ones with the shells off are much better than the ones with the shells on. I believe you will find that. However, the quality of the nut with the shell on is excellent.
[Illustration: Mr. Hardy and some chestnuts prepared for storage(Courtesy Southern Agriculturist)]
Chestnut Growing in the Southeast
Max B. Hardy,[2] Leeland Farms, Leesburg, Ga.
+Introduction+
Just about forty years ago the first blight resistant chestnuts were introduced into the Southeast. This event was to have more far-reaching effects than could be foreseen at that time, as is illustrated by the present extensive interest in the growing of these chestnuts as an orchard crop.
Chestnut blight, a fungus disease of the native American chestnut (Castanea dentata(Marsh) Borkh), first appeared on Long Island in 1904 and destroyed this magnificent nut and timber tree. A Phytophthora root disease added its toll so that a bearing tree of this species is a rarity in the East at the present time. The U. S. Department of Agriculture began making introductions of two species of chestnut from the Orient in 1906, both of which were resistant to the blight which was then destroying the native American chestnut. Of the two species, the Japanese chestnut (C. crenataSieb. and Zuce.) and the Chinese chestnut (C. mollissimaBl.), only the latter proved to have much merit other than blight resistance and chestnut growing in the eastern United States in recent years has been confined almost entirely to the Chinese chestnut.
About twenty-five years ago, after the first introduction from the Orient of seed nuts of blight resistant chestnut species, the U. S. Department of Agriculture distributed a few seedling trees to various interested growers in the Southeast. Some of these trees are still growing and bearing good crops of nuts and have reached rather large size. The distribution of trees produced from nuts imported at subsequent intervals was continued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture until rather widely scattered planting of several species under varied soil, climatic, and cultural conditions was attained. As time passed it became clear that only the Chinese chestnut had promise as a commercial crop for the production of nuts. As a timber tree none of the introduced species has as yet shown outstanding merit.
[Footnote 2: Formerly Associate Pomologist, U. S. Pecan Field Station,U. S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, Georgia.]
+General Observations+
The Chinese chestnut grows well throughout the southern part of the natural range of the American chestnut and southward to the Gulf Coast, and possibly even into central Florida. Farther north it apparently grows and produces better crops along the Atlantic Coast than inland, thus indicating the need of this species for a long growing season and freedom from late spring and early fall frosts. In the plantings in Georgia, from Atlanta to the southward, no loss of crop from late spring frosts has ever been noted. In the Gulf States and northward along the Atlantic seaboard the Chinese chestnut tree is vigorous, healthy, and productive, coming into bearing at a fairly early age and thereafter producing regular crops. The trees grow to be rather large in size, developing a somewhat rounded form with a spread of branches about equal to the height. Without pruning when young many sprouts usually develop near the ground so that the mature tree has numerous trunks of about equal size, with the lower lateral branches resting on the ground.
Nearly all of the Chinese chestnut trees being grown at the present time are seedlings and exhibit a wide range of tree and nut characteristics. A few trees develop a somewhat more upright type of growth than that commonly seen, but this type is generally less productive than trees of more spreading habit, and the nuts are smaller and less desirable. Some trees showing the most upright type of growth originated from nuts imported from the more northern provinces of China and may represent a distinct strain or form ofCastanea mollissima. The degree of incompatibility exhibited when southern China strains are grafted on northern China strains would indicate the same conclusion. Unfortunately, several different species or strains have been included in the plantings of most cooperators with the U. S. Department of Agriculture so that seedlings resulting from cross-pollination of these types may exhibit an even wider range of characteristics and performance from the standpoint of commercial production than is commonly seen at present. A few of these hybrids may be superior to pureC. mollissima seedlingsin certain important respects because of hybrid vigor, but taken as a whole the best types ofC. mollissimaseedlings are superior to the other blight resistant species for purposes of nut production.
The earliest introductions of blight resistant chestnuts from the Orient are represented by very few trees in the Southeast, but a small number of plantings of trees distributed in 1926 have been observed. These are producing good nuts and the trees are quite healthy, regardless of conditions of planting except when they have been given no attention of any kind. In one planting the trees were planted about 10 feet apart on the square with the result that they are tall and spindly with nut production only in the tops and very light on a per tree basis, which indicates the need of adequate spacing if the trees are to be vigorous and productive. Incidentally, this close spacing has not resulted in a desirable timber type of growth.
In two other plantings the trees are planted in cleared areas in cut-over timber and then given no further attention. In both locations a few trees are still living but are of no value either for timber or nut production. In still another planting on a bench about halfway up a mountain, where infrequent cultivation or mowing is practiced, the trees are growing and producing moderately well but the nuts are small. A few other scattered plantings of a few trees each are doing well around homes though receiving only moderately good care.
The distribution of trees by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1935 and 1937 has resulted in a few plantings that have done moderately well. In one planting the trees are growing fairly well without care but are producing few nuts. In another planting the trees are planted on rather heavy soil that is terraced; they are given applications of commercial fertilizers and infrequent cultivations and have been producing fairly good crops of nuts in recent years. Still another planting of a considerable number of trees has been entirely removed through lack of interest of the new owner. The plantings described have all been on private property.
Plantings at various experiment stations have received somewhat more attention in general than those on private property; but because of lack of keeping quality of the nuts have not for the most part been accepted as a promising crop and have been the subject of very little study.
From the foregoing observations it is evident that the Chinese chestnut cannot withstand the effects of crowding either in a solid planting or in competition with native growth. The trees have performed moderately well with a minimum of care, but respond to good care by increased production and nut size. The rotting of the nuts soon after harvest as a result of improper methods of handling and storage has prevented an earlier acceptance of the crop as of potential economic importance in the Southeast.
+Experimental Studies at the U. S. Pecan Field Station, Albany, Georgia+
In 1926, twenty-eight seedling trees ofCastanea mollissimawere planted in the Champion experimental block at Philema, near Albany, Georgia. These trees grew well and began producing nuts in 1932. In 1935, an additional 16 trees were planted in the same block. The trees in both plantings have shown good vegetative vigor and have been fairly productive. All the variations common to any group of Chinese chestnut seedling trees have been in evidence. One or two trees have lacked vegetative vigor but have produced heavy crops of nuts for their size. Type of bur opening has varied from free dropping of nuts to those burs from which the nuts are removed with difficulty; nut size has varied from about 35 to about 90 nuts per pound; the date of earliest and latest ripening of the nuts varies by about three weeks; nut color has ranged from light browns to dark mahogany and dark chocolate brown; and keeping quality and eating quality have ranged from good to poor. However, nut production, as shown by the data presented in Table I has been good and nut quality has been acceptable, so that with increasing knowledge of the storage requirements of the nuts the trees have paid a good profit in recent years. One of the older trees has consistently produced close to 150 pounds of nuts each year for the past few years.
Some of the trees in this planting have been topworked to selections from other plantings, including the variety Carr which showed up very poorly in comparison with most of the seedlings. Some of the trees have been culled out because of poor yield or nut size; and some have died as a result of poor drainage.
An additional planting at Philema in the Brown tract was made in 1938. The trees were planted in a portion of a five-acre block at some distance from the original plantings, with a spacing of 25 feet apart on the square in soil of rather light and sandy texture with fair subsoil drainage. The fertility was low but has been improved through the use of winter leguminous green manure crops and commercial fertilizers. Some of the trees planted consisted of trees grown from carefully selectedCastanea mollissimanuts imported from south China and designated by the initials MBA, MAY, MAZ, and MAX. Others carried the designating letters of "FP." The nuts from which these trees were grown were imported by the Division of Forest Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture which also grew and distributed the trees. Still others were selections ofC. crenata, the Japanese chestnut; andC. mollissimaselections from an experimental planting in California were also included. In 1940 the remainder of the five-acre block was planted with trees grown from seed produced by the original Philema planting.
Table I. Summary of chestnut yields at Philema, Georgia.
______________________________________________________| || HARVEST DATA ||______________________________|| || 1926 and 1935 Planting[3] |Length |______________________________|Date Harvest | |Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield |Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree |_______________________|______________________________|| |1932 | 14 3 4.7 |1933 | 7 7 1.0 |1934 | 80 16 5.0 |1935 8-29 22 | 222 22 10.1 |1936 8-26 33 | 379 25 15.1 |1937 8-26 37 | 278 18 15.4 |1938 8- 6 42 | 480 21 22.9 |1939 8-15 42 | 995 26 38.3 |1940 8-27 38 | 740 34 21.8 |1941 8-14 51 | 1,467 38 38.6 |1942 9- 3 41 | 876 32 27.4 |1943 9- 9 26 | 1,335 38 25.1 |1944 8-15 44 | 560 29 19.3 |1945 8-18 34 | 1,450 27 53.7 |1946 8-20 41 | 1,455 28 52.0 |1947 8-26 43 | 1,975 27 73.1 |_______________________|______________________________|