SECTION X.--AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS

ARTICLE 1. These by-laws may be amended at any Annual Meeting by a

two-thirds vote of the members present provided such amendments shall

have been submitted to the membership in writing at least thirty days

prior to that meeting.

PROCEEDINGS of the Thirty-ninth Annual Convention of the Northern Nut

Growers Association, Inc.

Meeting at NORRIS, TENNESSEE SEPTEMBER 13-15, 1948

The meeting was called to order by President John Davidson at 8:45

o'clock, a. m.

Address of Welcome

GEORGE F. GANT, General Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville,

Tennessee

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: It is a distinct pleasure to

welcome you to Norris and to the Tennessee Valley. You have had very

fine weather here, and we hope that you will enjoy the climate and the

scenery and the fishing and the pleasures of this part of the country

during your short stay.

The Northern Nut Growers Association is a much older organization than I

had thought, and it is much older than the Tennessee Valley Authority,

but a review of some of the things, you have done and some of the

interests you have expressed from time to time indicate that we have

many interests in common, your organization and the TVA.

You are concerned with experimentation of new and better ways of growing

tree crops. You are concerned with the environment in which tree crops

must find a place in our economy and in our culture, because, as I

understand it, your interest goes beyond mere economics to the full use

of trees.

Now, the Tennessee Valley Authority is likewise concerned with

experimentation. As a matter of fact, it is an experiment, a new and

different way of achieving a better use of natural resources.

There is nothing new in what the TVA does. There are no activities

conducted by TVA that have not been or are not being conducted by other

agencies all over the country and which have been conducted by Federal

agencies for many, many years. The TVA has no new regulatory or coercive

functions. As a matter of fact, the TVA has no coercive functions. It

has no new or unique or different governmental functions. There is only

one thing that is different about TVA, and that is the way in which it

approaches the job of resource use on an overall basis.

Now, I might illustrate that by referring to the construction of dams

and reservoirs. In the Tennessee Valley the TVA builds dams and

reservoirs to prevent floods, to produce a navigable channel, to produce

power, and in its reservoirs it also has the responsibility of

achieving the best uses of reservoirs and reservoir lands in the

interests of fish and wild life, in the interests of recreation, and in

the interests of malaria control.

Now, the unique fact here is not that these things are going on or being

done, at least in part, through a Federal agency, but that one Federal

agency is responsible for achieving a balance between all of these

activities and with the administrative responsibility for doing that. In

other efforts the situation is different, with as many as eight agencies

having something to do with the development of some one of these

activities in a way which might or might not be integrated.

Now, the second illustration, I think, is that unity can be accomplished

only if all of the agencies which are concerned with the use of

resources have an environment in which they can work effectively. The

Federal Government is not and should not in the Tennessee Valley be

developing all of these resources itself. It feels that the unified

development of the resources depends upon the participation of the

people of the Tennessee Valley and their institutions, the local and the

state agencies. There can't be unity any more if local agencies are

conducting one program and a Federal agency conducting another program,

than there can be if several Federal agencies are conducting several

programs.

Consequently, the Tennessee Valley Authority, except for the operation

of these huge new facilities which have been added to the resources of

the Tennessee Valley, conducts its activities in collaboration with

local and state agencies. That not only avoids the expense of

duplication, but it achieves the collaboration, the participation, the

active interest of the people in getting a full job done.

That is true in the field of forestry. Forestry has a particular role in

the Tennessee Valley. First of all, the TVA is concerned with the

effective use and control of water, not only in the river channel

itself, but on the land. Forestry, together with engineering and

agriculture, must come together, not only come together within the

administrative framework of TVA, but within the framework of what our

colleges and state departments are doing and with what the land owners

are doing in these watersheds.

Further than that, the TVA is fully aware that watershed protection

cannot be achieved except within the economy of the region. That means

that the best use of forest lands from the economic point of view, from

the productive point of view, as well as from the conservation point of

view, must be taken into account.

For these reasons the TVA is concerned not only with multiple-purpose

dams, but with multiple-purpose land use. These activities are not

conducted directly by TVA, but in cooperation with the land grant

colleges and with the appropriate state departments.

I think and I hope that as you review the several activities which are

going on in the Tennessee Valley area that you will keep these

characteristics of TVA in mind. We are very happy to have you here. I

hope that many of you will be able to extend your visit or to come back

and see us another time.

* * * * *

President John Davidson: I am personally very glad to have heard this

talk. I know quite a bit more about the fundamental principles of the

work underlying TVA than I did before.

Dr. MacDaniels, will you say a word on behalf of the Association?

+Response+

Dr. L. H. MacDaniels: Mr. President and members of the Northern Nut

Growers Association, I am sure that I voice the sentiment of all of the

Association to you, Mr. Gant, and all of the Tennessee Valley Authority

our very great appreciation of your allowing us to come and meet with

you and use the very fine facilities which are available here in Upper

Norris Park.

As far as I am concerned, and probably I am in the same situation as

most of you in the North; we have heard a lot about the Tennessee Valley

Authority, but mostly it is bandied around in the newspapers and usually

connected with some sort of a political argument of one kind or another.

And I think that to come here and to see the place and to live in the

cabins and drive through the forests, to swim in the lake, as some of us

did yesterday afternoon, went far away around the bend, and went in

swimming--I think you might improve the mud bottom in some places, which

is not too good, but it reminds us of our youth, at least--and to fish

in the lakes, although not too successfully. After we have done that we

certainly know much more about what sort of a development the Tennessee

Valley Authority is.

Another thing, as a member of the Northern Nut Growers Association and

as you are members, I think we all appreciate what the Tennessee Valley

Authority has done for the Northern Nut Growers Association. The

Tennessee Valley Authority has been the first, you might say, large

agency which has taken northern nut growing seriously and has used the

knowledge which has been developed by this Association in an extensive

way in the planting and developing of new varieties, developing of new

techniques in the use of the plants, the nut trees and the persimmons,

and what not, with which the Northern Nut Growers Association has been

concerned.

As we drive up the valley here and we see these thousands of walnut

seedlings which are still to be used and see the plantings which you

will see more intimately later, we can realize just how extensively the

Tennessee Valley Authority has been concerned with the development of

our forest resources and particularly these plants which are of economic

value, inasmuch as they are nut trees, and their relationship to

wildlife and a project of this kind in which forest resources and tree

resources are to be made use of.

I have noticed that you did mention fishing as one of the things that

has been developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. I also am reminded

of the fact that some of us, including our president, tried to go out

and exercise some of these fish, without much success, and I have been

trying to think of the reason. I know, as far as we are concerned, we

used all the plugs and spinners and floating baits and sinking baits,

and I went completely through my tackle box and pulled out the one that

we call the "Christmas tree," a big bunch of spoons with a place to put

a minnow on the end, and we dragged that around, almost swamped the

motor, but did get around; didn't catch anything.

It reminds me of an incident there at Cornell. We have a director, who

was head of the Pomology Department at that time. He had a dog that

wasn't disciplined very well, he wouldn't come when he was called, and

so on. The foreman out at the orchard had a dog that was very well

disciplined. He'd say, "Go get my hat," and he'd get the hat, and "Go

quickly," and he'd go quickly. And this head of the department asked the

foreman, "Well, how was it that you trained this dog, and how do you

train a dog, anyway?"

"Well," he said, "first of all, you have got to know more than the dog."

Perhaps that's the case with some of us and the fish. Anyway, we didn't

catch any fish.

I don't care to say any more, except, Mr. Gant, to express our

appreciation to you for the excellent facilities which you have

furnished.

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. MacDaniels.

I believe the next order is the little talk by myself.

President's Address

JOHN DAVIDSON, Xenia, Ohio

When I was notified that this Association, in session at Guelph, had

named me as its president, I was surprised and deeply honored. I suppose

there is not a single member of this body who does not have the feeling

that the Northern Nut Growers Association is "different," unique, and,

very special: Here are all kinds: scientists and rule-of-thumb planters,

experienced professionals and inexperienced amateurs, conservationists

and hobbyists, all bent on one objective--to enlighten Americans and

themselves on the values and opportunities that lie in the study and

practice of planting forest trees which bear crops--specifically, nuts.

But the interest of most of our members is rather broader than our name

would indicate. Forest _crops_, not merely nuts, are the logical

outgrowth in interest that such an organization as ours stimulates. Dr.

Zimmerman's work with papaws is a case in point. Mr. Wilkinson's work

with the Lamb curly walnut is another. The persimmon, the papaw, the

mulberry, the haws, the juneberries--you are likely to find them all,

sooner or later, among the nut trees of our members. You will hear

presently about a wood from one of our nut trees that is so valuable,

_and so possible to grow_, that we may presently be planting for

extraordinarily beautiful and valuable _timber_.

Patience is what it takes, and faith. Trees are an example to us. If we

could only look at the procession of the centuries with the eyes of the

sequoias, we should see creation moving on marvelously with magnificent

fruitfulness, and we should take courage.

Has the process of evolution been more successful with plants than with

the human race? Should benevolent creation _fail at its highest point_?

Certainly it should not. Nevertheless it certainly will fail there so

long as so large a body of the race is undernourished, ill-born,

hopelessly submerged--dragging downward rather than lifting upward.

Who knows the total answer? Education, of course, is a part of it--in

industry, in eugenics, in moral responsibility. But you can't preach

education effectively to a starving or half-starved man or child. The

multiplication of population, the better distribution of goods

throughout the world (which means in the end the avoidance of extremes

of over and under-production)--these are the world's next greatest

problems. I personally have the feeling that we are on the verge of an

almost unthinkable increase in food productiveness through chemurgy's

better and more complete use of plant life. We shall yet learn to gauge

population to food supplies and food to population. Both are essential.

We need more plant breeders and more organic chemists at work on food

supply all over the world. We need more people of good will and long

vision, fewer political and social parasites; more producers.

Singularly, at the very moment of writing these words, a letter from a

well known plant breeder is dropped upon my desk. In it he turns down

the idea of an hypothetical executive position which most people would

regard as promotion. The importance and interest of his work is so great

_in its own right_ that he would not think of changing.

That is what I mean. We need more of his kind in the world. It is hoped

that in this Association such men may find the kindredship and

comradeship they so richly earn.

This was the spirit with which our Association was organized by Dr.

Robert Morris, Dr. Deming, and a few far-sighted men in the early days

of this century and carried on by them, by Mr. Reed, Dr. Zimmerman,

Professor Neilson and their kind since. We salute them all. Their works

follow and honor them by their multiplied fruits.

I shall not take the time in this full program to review the events of

the past year. Some of our speakers will do this far better than I. But

I wish to greet our visitors and the new members who may not have been

with us before. We hope you will feel very much at home in our family of

kindred minds.

Also, these remarks would not be complete without recognition of the

efforts of those who unselfishly and unstintingly have given of their

time and strength to this important work: our Secretary, Joe McDaniel!

You all know him by his exceptional service to us all. (Let's rise and

give him a hand.) And while we are on our feet--one of the best

treasurers any organization ever had, efficient, kindly, but a veritable

watch-dog of the Treasury, Mr. Snyder! Also a hand to the members of our

important committees, Mr. Chase, Dr. MacDaniels, Mr. Slate, Mr. Stoke--I

can't name or praise them all as they deserve. The NNGA could not

possibly be what it is without them.

And now let us get on to the business before us.

Secretary's Report

J. C. McDANIEL, Nashville, Tennessee

The membership of the Association seems to be increasing fairly

steadily. When I checked the mailing list early last October, it had 667

names, as compared with 691 listed in the 37th Annual Report. When I

left Nashville last week, the number had increased to 742, according to

my stenographer's latest count. There have been some discontinued

memberships, as will happen almost every year in any organization, but

the new members have more than compensated for them, in numbers.

We did not add up a total on all the mail sent out in response to

inquiries, but it has been voluminous. Close to 800 requests for our nut

nursery list have been received solely as a result of Mr. Stoke's

_Southern Agriculturist_ chestnut article in last February's issue, and

they are still trickling in. Some new memberships have resulted from

these contacts, but more have come as a result of our column in the

_American Fruit Grower_, and a Chinese chestnut article in _The Flower

Grower_ early last spring, which gave our Association a boost.

Some members have said they did not find their _American Fruit Grower_

subscriptions of much value to them, particularly since the inauguration

of _The Nutshell_, our news bulletin which has been issued four times

since the last annual meeting. I will take some of the blame for this,

since as editor of _The Nutshell_, I am somewhat in the position of

competing with myself as columnist for the _Fruit Grower_. Space is

limited in the latter publication, too, and sometimes publication of the

"Nut Growers News" column is deferred a month or two, and again, I have

been known to miss a deadline. Most of the columns, as in the previous

years, are digests of material previously given in our Annual Reports.

This practice seems to be justified as a matter of keeping nut news

before the orcharding public and as a means of attracting some new

memberships for the Association. I do not know of a better conditioned

list of prospects than the more than 150,000 _American Fruit Grower_

subscribers all over the continent, who are at least interested in some

kind of fruiting trees or plants. In that many, by the law of averages,

are many with some interest in nuts. Several hundred will write to the

secretary or other N.N.G.A. members who are mentioned during the year,

and at least a few score normally will join us.

This does not minimize the desirability of having other publicity

outlets. More of you who have a knack at writing should try your own

contributions to national, regional or even community-wide publications.

Even short letters to the editor, in such cases, may be read by "kindred

spirits," and you will be read by men and women whose interest in nut

trees (even though it may have been a dormant interest) will be

stimulated to the extent of becoming N.N.G.A. members. Then it is up to

our officers, the program committee members, and our contributors to

keep them interested enough to renew their memberships another year!

Your comments on _The Nutshell_ have been quite flattering to its

editor. You _all_ can help make it a better publication by contributing

short original observations or clippings of good items on hardy nut

trees from other sources.

There is a continuing shortage apparent in the supply of good named

varieties of hardy nut trees in nearly all areas. This seems

particularly the case with Chinese chestnuts. Few propagators at present

have them in even enough quantity to catalogue, and the demand which has

been built up by the good publicity on chestnuts exhausts most

nurseries' supplies each spring before all orders can be filled. Our

nursery list in the Winter issue of _The Nutshell_ has gone to some

2,000 people and has helped the nurserymen to sell out their trees

quickly. We hope this will lead to a sound expansion in the commercial

propagation of _good_ nut trees.

I should again call attention to our affiliation with the American

Horticultural Society. This enables our members in good standing to

receive their good quarterly publication, _The National Horticultural

Magazine_, for only $3.50 a year. You may obtain your affiliate

membership through our Treasurer, or directly from the American

Horticultural Society, Room 821, Washington Loan and Trust Building,

Washington 4, D. C.

* * * * *

President Davidson: You have heard the Secretary's report. Has anyone

any revisions or modifications of this report to suggest?

Dr. MacDaniels: I move acceptance with thanks.

(The motion was seconded, a vote taken, and the motion carried

unanimously.)

President Davidson: If the Secretary will also read the Treasurer's

report, we will proceed with it.

Mr. McDaniel: Mr. Snyder wrote recently, regretting that he would miss

this meeting (for reasons of health). He says he can not accept the

position of Treasurer another year.

Treasurer's Report for Year September 1, 1947 to September 1, 1948

D. C. SNYDER, Center Point, Iowa

INCOME

Dues $1,396.00

Reports sold 153.75

Bond Dividends 25.00

Advertising 5.00

Miss Jones' Postage Acc't. 36.85

C. A. Reed Typesetting 32.50

Miscellaneous 7.60

_________

$1,656.70

DISBURSEMENTS

Fruit Grower Subscriptions 100.80

Reports, Stationery etc. 1,105.06

Secretary's expense 100.30

Treasurer's expense 58.17

Reporting Guelph Meeting 25.00

Miscellaneous 15.60

Bank service charges and checks returned N.G. 12.90

________

1,417.83

_________

Balance gained during year 238.87

On hand September 1, 1947 1,790.44

Paid out for Bonds 1,100.00

_________

680.44

_________

Cash total on hand, September 1, 1948 (subject to minor

bank service charges and checks which may be

returned) $ 919.31

Bonds in box at Peoples Bank & Trust Company $2,500.00

* * * * *

President Davidson: You have heard the Treasurer's Report. Any remarks?

It is a very good report. It shows that the organization is creeping up

financially and in very good condition due to the continuous care that

the Secretary and the Treasurer both have used in keeping up with our

membership, keeping dues paid up, and so on. I will entertain a motion

to accept our Treasurer's Report.

Dr. MacDaniels: I so move.

(The motion was seconded.)

Mr. O'Rourke: It should be accepted for audit.

Dr. MacDaniels: I will accept the amendment.

President Davidson: It is moved now, then, that the report be accepted

for audit. Are there any remarks?

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: The next order of business is the regular business

meeting of the Association. I think perhaps the first thing we should do

might be to proceed with the election of a Nominating Committee and the

Auditing Committee. I believe both, if I am not misinformed, are

elective and not appointive. The chair will entertain nominations for

the Nominating Committee.

+Nominating Committee Elected+

(The following were nominated for the Nominating Committee: Dr. H. L.

Crane, Harry R. Weber, Dr. Wm. L. Rohrbacher, J. F. Wilkinson, George L.

Slate. Upon motion that the Secretary cast a unanimous ballot for those

nominated, vote was taken and motion carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Am I correct in saying that the Auditing Committee

is elective, rather than appointive by the Executive Committee?

Mr. Silvis: I understood it was three members and just appointed.

Mr. McDaniel: Yes, under Article I of the by-laws, it is appointed.

President Davidson: In that case we will do nothing about that now.

I think perhaps we might proceed with a few resolutions or motions

before going to the further order of business. The chair will entertain

a motion that the Association give its thanks to Mrs. Baker and her

committee of the ladies for their entertainment of last evening and for

future entertainment.

Mr. Weber: I so move, Mr. President.

(The motion was seconded, a vote called for, and the motion carried

unanimously.)

President Davidson: Also the chair will entertain a motion that the

Secretary be instructed to send Dr. Deming our usual affectionate

greetings and assure him that his beloved association is still carrying

on in the spirit of the founders.

Mr. McDaniel: By the way, I have a letter from Dr. Deming. Should I read

that?

President Davidson: That would be fine if you would, yes.

+A Letter from Dr. Deming+

_(Secretary's note: We substitute a more recent letter, dated May 9,

1949)._

"... You are giving me much consolation for all _my_ broken promises to

get out the annual report at an early date. I suggest that you have a

lawyer draw up a contract for the printer to get out the report at a

given date or forfeit so much per day for all delay. If you don't do

that the printer will put you off for something that will give him a

little more profit. I don't know that we ever got out a report in plenty

of time for the members to get their orders in early or get other

benefits from the report if it arrived before planting time.

"I note in the announcement of our Connecticut state medical society

that it scheduled a recess of 15 minutes or so at intervals for members

to 'view the exhibits.' It looks to me like a good idea....

"Congratulations on the fast work of Joe, Jr. The idea is to get plenty

of limbs before letting him bear. Have you tried the sweet buckeye on

him? [See page 181.]

"We have Spring here, too, as well as you in Nashville, and it is good.

"I get awfully tired after very little exertion. I'll be 87 on September

1. Too old to undertake any obligations.

"Best luck.

"Yours,

s/W. C. DEMING"

President Davidson: That is expressed beautifully, as usual. May I have

that motion?

Dr. Crane: It has been moved and seconded that the Secretary be

instructed to send Dr. Deming our affectionate greetings and assure him

that his beloved association is still carrying on in the spirit of the

founders.

(A vote on the motion was taken, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Another, that the Association accept with deep

regrets the resignation of D. C. Snyder, and that the Secretary be

instructed to send him our affectionate greetings and thanks for his

long, efficient and outstanding services as Treasurer of this body. Are

you in favor of such a motion?

Mr. Weber: Take out the accepting the resignation part, and the rest

will be O.K.

President Davidson: That is right. As amended then, with the omission of

that "accepting the resignation."

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

+Clarence A. Reed Elected Honorary Member+

President Davidson: One more. The chair will entertain a motion that the

Secretary be instructed to send C. A. Reed our greetings and as a small

measure of the esteem we have for him and in recognition of his long and

extraordinary services to this Association, we elect him a life member

there-of.

Dr. MacDaniels: I think it should be an "honorary member" rather than a

"life member." A life member contributes $75.

President Davidson: I believe that is correct, an honorary member. With

that amendment, then.

Dr. MacDaniels: I would so move, Mr. President.

Dr. Crane: Second the motion.

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

Dr. Crane: Mr. President, I would like at this time, if I may, to say a

few remarks in regard to Mr. Reed. I saw him last Friday afternoon, and

he asked me to convey to the Association his very deep regrets that he

was unable to attend. He had planned to attend, but his doctor said

absolutely no. So he has learned from experience that he has got to pay

more attention to his doctor's orders than he has in the past.

He wanted me to tell the members of the Association that although he

wasn't here in body he was in spirit and in mind.

President Davidson: That's fine. I think perhaps we should proceed first

with the reports of committees.

The Finance Committee. Mr. Weshcke is not here. Mr. Weber is next in

order on that committee. I presume there would be nothing special to

report at this time.

Mr. Weber: Nothing.

President Davidson: Press and Publication. Mr. Stoke is chairman of that

committee. Mr. Stoke is not present at this time. Dr. MacDaniels, would

you have anything to say in the matter of Press and Publications

Committee? Have you any recommendations or reports to make?

Dr. MacDaniels: Mr. Chairman, I hadn't planned to make any report. As a

matter of fact, I had very little to do with the work of the

Publications Committee this year. I have been rather happy that it has

been handled otherwise, and I think our thanks are due to our Secretary,

who has carried the brunt, in fact, almost the entire burden of the

publication of the proceedings. Also of _The Nutshell_. That occurred

through a series of circumstances which I don't wish to outline here. I

think probably the chief determining factor was that the contract for

printing was awarded to a firm in Nashville, which almost automatically

made it at least convenient and expedient to have the matter handled in

Nashville. I believe you will concur in that general opinion.

Mr. MacDaniel: Yes.

Dr. MacDaniels: So that our Secretary has had an unusually heavy burden

which we should not expect him to carry again.

President Davidson: Thank you, Dr. MacDaniels.

The chair will entertain a motion to accept Dr. MacDaniels' report on

behalf of the Press and Publication Committee.

(It was so moved and seconded, a vote taken and motion carried

unanimously.)

President Davidson: On Varieties and Contests. Mr. Zarger is not going

to be with us, I am afraid, and if there is any other member of that

committee present who has something to say on the matter of variety and

contests, we would be very glad to hear from him. I don't hear anything,

so we will proceed to the next one.

The report of the Survey Committee. Mr. Silvis is chairman of that

committee, and I will say on his behalf that he was raring to go and

would have gone if it had been the feeling on the part of some of the

other members that a survey was timely at that time. It happened that

that was not the feeling, it was not a good year to make a survey, and

on that account I wrote to Mr. Silvis that possibly it would be well to

put off any important survey for the year 1947.

Do you have anything to say, Mr. Silvis, in addition to this?

Mr. Silvis: Well, on the cuff, no, and off the cuff I would like to make

this remark, that I just had one question I was going to require every

member to answer to me for, and that was what kind of a nut tree should

I plant, and thereby try to establish a zone between frost-free dates

for various locations or states or territories. It didn't develop.

I received as late as last week John Bregger's note explaining why it

was his reply came late. But I do want to make this remark, and for our

able Secretary's first issue of _The Nutshell_ I know this to be a fact,

that with it, it's the nuts, and without it, it's hell.

President Davidson: What shall we do with Mr. Silvis's report? We have

some action to take presently on the matter of survey in addition to

this report. Could I have a motion to accept the report of the Survey

Committee?

Dr. Crane: So move.

Mr. Weber: Second.

(A vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)

President Davidson: Mr. Chase disappeared again. He is chairman of the

Program Committee. We all have evidence of what he has been doing.

Perhaps his program is sufficient to report.

Mrs. S. H. Graham is chairman of the Membership Committee. I think Mrs.

Graham is not here, so perhaps we can pass on.

Report of the Necrology Committee fortunately is blank.

Mr. McDaniel: There is one that I know of. Mr. Schuster of Oregon passed

away last winter.

President Davidson: I think that points out a little weakness in our

organization. The death of Mr. Schuster should have been reported and

some notice of it taken, perhaps.

Mr. Stoke, you are here as chairman of the Exhibits Committee. Would you

like to say something?

Mr. Stoke: I don't know that I have anything to say. The exhibits speak

for themselves back there. I wish to thank those who made contributions

to that exhibit, and some still came in this morning that you haven't

seen. I think it's been fine cooperation.

I feel an apology is due for not getting out more publicity on behalf of

the committee. I had hoped that another copy of _The Nutshell_ would be

out before this meeting so I could make another call for exhibits, but

it wasn't, and I didn't get my material in to our Secretary in time for

the earlier one.

Mr. McDaniel: I believe we did have a notice in the summer issue.

Mr. Stoke: Yes, there was a notice. At any rate, we have had exhibits

here all the way from Georgia to New York. I am not sure whether they

have any from Canada or not. I think it makes a very nice display, and I

certainly appreciate your cooperation.

Dr. MacDaniels: In connection with these exhibits, we were driving along

talking to Mr. Slate about the desirability of the Northern Nut Growers

Association sending an exhibit to the Harvest Show of the Massachusetts

Horticultural Society. That was done about ten years ago, and the

Society gave us a silver medal at that time. I know from talking with

Mr. Nehrling that they would be pleased to have such an exhibit put on,

and I think that if we could take much of the material from our exhibits

here and send it there that that would make an acceptable exhibit, and

we almost assuredly would get not only considerable publicity out of

that, because it would be an exhibit of the Northern Nut Growers

Association, but we might also get either a cash award or a medal. I

think if we work behind the scenes, if we preferred the cash we could

get that, which would be of some value to the Association.

Now, I speak of this merely to bring it to your attention and to point

out that any of the personally furnished exhibits that you wish to turn

over for that purpose, you may arrange with Mr. Stoke for that.

(Further discussion on the details of sending in the above-mentioned

exhibits.)

Dr. MacDaniels: I would move this Association favored sending an exhibit

to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Harvest show, provided

material is available.

Dr. Crane: Second the motion.

Dr. Silvis: May I make this remark and also be in the form of a motion,

that those exhibitors report immediately at the adjournment of this

session to Mr. Stoke and make known to him whether yes or no, whether

their exhibits can be sent up.

President Davidson: Do you make that motion in the form of an amendment?

Dr. MacDaniels: I will include that in the motion.

Dr. Crane: I accept it.

(A vote was taken on the motion as amended, and it was carried

unanimously.)

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 West

Virginia

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 Experiment

Station

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 deg.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 native _Castanea dentata_

trees, 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 Phenix

City, 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 consider _good_ woodland 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 deg.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, Alabama

Polytechnic Institute, will give us a talk on Processed Chestnuts on the

Market 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. crenata_ Sieb. and Zuce.) and the Chinese

chestnut (_C. mollissima_ Bl.), 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 of _Castanea 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 pure _C. mollissima

seedlings_ in certain important respects because of hybrid vigor, but

taken as a whole the best types of _C. mollissima_ seedlings 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 of _Castanea mollissima_ were

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 selected

_Castanea mollissima_ nuts 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 of _C. crenata_, the Japanese chestnut; and _C. mollissima_

selections 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 |

_______________________|______________________________|

_______________________________________________________________

|

| HARVEST DATA

|_______________________________________

|

| 1938 and 1940 Planting[4]

Length |_______________________________________

Date Harvest |

Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield Range in

Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree Yields

_______________________|_______________________________________

|

1941 8-14 51 | 44 63 .7 .1-6.9

1942 9- 3 41 | 30 46 .7 .1-5.2

1943 9- 9 26 | 357 108 3.3 .1-29.7

1944 8-15 44 | 716 136 5.3 .1-37.0

1945 8-18 34 | 3,025 208 14.6 .1-50.7

1946 8-20 41 | 1,447 173 8.4 .1-48.3

1947 8-26 43 | 6,615 188 35.2 .1-108.5

_______________________|_______________________________________

[Footnote 3: 28 trees planted in 1926 and 16 planted in 1935, at spacing

of 25 to 40 feet.]

[Footnote 4: 274 trees planted in 1938 and 60 in 1940, at spacing of 25

feet on square.]

The yield's produced in the 1938 planting have been outstanding, as

indicated by the data in Table I, The trees began bearing when younger

and developed heavier production than those of the 1926 planting,

whether judged by age of tree or years of bearing. Many of the trees

have produced nuts of outstanding size, attractiveness, eating quality,

and keeping quality. There has been the usual degree of variation common

to any collection of seedlings, but the best trees in this planting have

been superior to any previously seen. Nut size has varied from 23 to

more than 100 to the pound; the color of the nuts has varied from light

tan to deep mahogany, and a few are nearly black. All have been of good

eating quality. The keeping quality has varied materially, some keeping

very well and others quite poorly.

Bur opening, has likewise varied so that at one extreme the nuts drop

entirely free from the burs on some trees and at the other extreme the

burs drop with the nuts in them and considerable work is required to

remove the nuts. It is out of this group of trees that the three

seedlings have been selected that the U. S. Department of Agriculture is

considering worthy of variety status. These have not yet been officially

released and no official description is yet available. The yield data

for these three selected Seedlings are given in Table II.

Table II. Yield data by years, of three seedlings tentatively proposed for

variety status, Philema, Georgia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tree Proposed Yield in Pounds by Years Total yield No. Nuts

(in Lbs.) per Lb.

---------------------------------------

No. Name 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 from Planting

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

7880[5]Meiling .2 3.6 20.9 36.9 23.9 73.1 36.9 195.5 38-43

7919 Kuling 4.0 3.8 5.8 6.5 13.8 34.2 50.2 38.2 168.5 35-43

7930 Nanking .1 3.8 28.0 37.8 1.0 87.7 54.6 213.0 30-43

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Footnote 5: Meiling ("Beauty") is the first name of Mme. Chiang

Kai-shek.]

The trees of the "FP" designation and, of other species were grown to

fruiting, but have since been removed or topworked in entirety because

of their lack of desirable characteristics and because they produced

pollen for cross-pollination which would result in undesirable progeny

when the _Castanea mollissima_ nuts were used for seed. Furthermore, a

number of trees of the three-letter designations have been removed or

topworked because they produced very small nuts, or showed poor keeping

quality, or because of some other undesirable characteristic. Therefore,

the nuts now being produced in this experimental orchard are of pure _C.

mollissima_ inheritance of the best type, and, as such, represent some

of the best and purest seed nuts available in this country today. This

procedure is being continued so as to maintain the quality of the nuts

for seed purposes at its present standard.

Unfortunately, many of the nuts offered in the general trade for seed

purposes at the present time are coming from orchards composed of a

mixture of species or types comparable to the 1938 Philema planting

before culling. This is very undesirable because of the great

variability in the nuts produced by trees with such an origin. When

grafted or budded trees of the newer and improved varieties are

available to orchardists chestnut growing for nut production may be

based on the same sound practices as the other fruit industries.

In the topworking of "FP" trees at Philema with scions from other

strains of _Castanea mollissima_ the degree of incompatibility has been

so great, that the scion tops will have either blown out or died at the

end of four or five years from grafting. At the present time this

failure can only be attributed to the fact that the stocks were of mixed

ancestry. On the other hand, scions of pure _C. mollissima_ placed on

the same stock strains have made good unions and are entirely normal

after as long as 13 years from grafting. This problem of incompatibility

between stock and scion is one that yet remains to be completely solved.