d been on the lookout for immune or resistant trees, but
without result. As far as I am aware, no systematic organized search had
been made for such individuals.

It was our plan to commence the search in the region of New York City,
because this area is probably the oldest center of infection in the
United States. Apparently this is the port of entry where the
undesirable immigrants (Japanese or Chinese chestnuts) passed through
quarantine and were allowed to disembark carrying their terrible scourge
with them unnoticed. According to Metcalf and Collins,[2] this was
probably as early as 1893. This was why we selected this area to begin
on, for here the disease has had a longer opportunity to run its course
than anywhere else, and, consequently, has had ample time (more than a
quarter of a century) to call out the non-resistant trees. Those
remaining, if any could be found, might be suspected, _a priori_, of
being resistant.

As the work progressed, I soon realized that it would be most difficult,
or perhaps impossible, to locate resistant or immune trees in a region
not so long exposed to infection; for, in such a region, one would have
to inoculate all individuals suspected of possessing resistant
qualities, in order to ascertain whether their healthy condition was
actually due to resistant qualities or simply the result of a chance
escape of infection. We therefore decided to restrict the work, for the
present at least, entirely to a definite area about New York City. This
area includes all of the territory within a radius of about 16 miles
from New York City Hall, and therefore comprised in a general way,
Greater New York and the adjacent parts of New Jersey.

RESULTS OF THE SURVEY

First I made a thorough canvas of Staten Island, doing the work on foot,
aided by the trolley and the Staten Island R. R., and often guided by
that genial naturalist and lover of Staten Island, Dr. Arthur Hollick of
the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, I made a careful
survey of the whole 64 square miles of which the island is composed.
After two weeks of this kind of work, I began to get fairly well
discouraged, not so much because of lack of results which, it is true,
were entirely negative, but more on account of the appearance of the
dead chestnuts. For where it was not entirely cut out, the bare,
weathered poles showed that they had been dead for many years. The only
encouraging feature was the finding of large qu