to
be useless as nut producers. If an outstanding variety is found,
everything around it should be chopped down to give it room for
development. I personally would raise and report upon some two dozen
trees of this kind, and if a large group joined in the work, hundreds of
tree could be tested."

Comment: That the chairman of this committee thinks the above suggestion
a good one, and the project a good gamble, is evidenced by the fact that
he has about a thousand of such trees now growing. Seed was bought from
Mr. Harry Weber's, Rockport, Ind., and Mr. C. F. Hostetter's
Bird-in-Hand, Pa., plantations in the fall of 1937 and planted at once.
Most of the seed was from Thomas trees which had been flanked in the
plantations with Stablers and other named trees, and from Stablers
similarly flanked. The trees have now had six years' growth. He hopes
for first nuts in 1944 _from seedlings planted in deep loam only_.
Growth elsewhere has been negligible. If no outstanding nut producers
are found, there will at least be some splendid timber, already assured.

It should be stated at once, however, that those whose object is the
assured production of nuts, rather than the discovery or development of
a new variety, should never plant anything but the best grafted trees
bought from reliable nurserymen. Your decision should be governed by
your interest. If you wish to be sure of nuts of a certain quality for
home use, buy grafted trees of that quality. If, on the other hand, you
have the urge to probe into the unknown and possibly create a new type,
the above project will appeal to you, especially if you should lack
training and time for more painstaking work. The following account is an
example of the latter kind.

Arthur H. Graves, Curator, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, says: "We are
breeding chestnuts for the purpose of obtaining a disease-resistant
timber tree stock similar to the old chestnut tree which has now nearly
disappeared on account of the blight. We started breeding chestnuts here
at the Botanic Garden in 1930, and now after thirteen years of work,
have on our plantation at Hamden, Conn., Litchfield, Conn., where the
White Memorial Foundation is cooperating with us, and Redding Ridge,
Conn., where Mr. Archer M. Huntington and the Connecticut Agr. Exp't
Station are cooperating, about 1000 hybrids, a large number of
combinations of Chinese, Japanese and American chestnuts, many of them
now in the third generation from the be