to be a very difficult problem to plant
them again because the land is overgrazed. Protecting the plantings
against sheep and the goats is quite a problem.

(The film, "The Filbert Valleys," was shown.)

MR. STOKE: I noticed them grafting chestnut trees several feet from the
ground. Why are they doing that?

DR. GRAVATT: They are doing it in order to develop a quick supply of
scion wood. But the procedure is bad. It is much better to graft close
to the ground, and mound it up with dirt. The blight gets in below the
graft if the graft is high on the trunk. They have had success grafting
below the ground level and find they may get a shoot six feet high the
first year.

DR. MACDANIEL: How about the incompatibility in the graft? Does that
show up much?

DR. GRAVATT: We don't know yet, because they always get a certain number
of failures. I looked over quite a lot of grafting of Chinese chestnuts
on Japanese-European hybrids, and they are thriving. After four years
they are already regular trees with big crops on them.

TUESDAY MORNING SESSION

PRESIDENT BEST: Our first paper is "Rooting Chestnuts from Softwood
Cuttings" by Roger W. Pease.

Rooting Chestnuts from Softwood Cuttings

ROGER W. PEASE, _West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station,
Morgantown, W. Va._

Some 15 or 20 years ago the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment
Station undertook to develop, if possible, blight resistant chestnuts
from American chestnut stock. With the passage of time the approach to
the problem has changed. During the early days little thought was given
to procedures for propagation, but recently the emphasis has shifted
toward methods for propagation when and if there are found hardy,
timber-type, blight-immune chestnuts of any species.

The practicability of budding or grafting chestnuts is debatable. We are
leaving budding and grafting to experienced workers throughout the
country and are endeavoring to develop a method for rooting chestnuts
from softwood cuttings. Results so far are encouraging, but the work is
still in the experimental stage. We do not advise anyone to start
rooting chestnuts on a commercial basis, but we hope that further
experimental work will be done by interested agencies.

To give complete details of several years' work would take more time
than is feasible here. Circular 87, _Growing American Holly from
Cuttings--Cold Frame Method_, obtainable from the Mailing Room, West
Virginia Agri