ay down south are going to be hardy way up north, but in this matter of
hardiness you sometimes have to wait for 50 or 100 years before you are
sure of your conclusions.

DR. CRANE: That's right.

The next question I was going to ask these growers in the areas growing
chestnuts is how much trouble they have had with hardiness or cold
injury to chestnut trees that they have had. Has there been any?

MR. STOKE: I have had none.

MR. SILVIS: We have had none in Massillon.

DR. CRANE: Wilson, how about Georgia?

MR. WILSON: None.

MR. KEPLINGER: Dr. Meader sent me some stock from seed that he brought
from near Seoul, Korea in 1947. They are very productive up there at
Durham, New Hampshire. I have two trees from seed from these trees. They
have much more narrow leaves, than any Chinese chestnuts I have seen so
far.

DR. CRANE: Are you sure they are pure Chinese?

DR. MACDANIEL: I am sure they are not. I have seen pictures and had some
correspondence with Dr. Meader on them. They seem to be the Japanese
species, C. crenata type, or possibly hybrid, not strictly Japanese.

MR. PEASE: I want to throw in something a little bit aside. I think we
kid ourselves and the public in assuming, tacitly, that Chinese
chestnuts, no matter how narrow the strain, are going to breed true or
anywhere near true. Any one lot of seedlings are likely to show great
variation in hardiness, disease resistance and other characters. There
is a great difference between resistance and immunity. I speak this way
because I have seen plenty of people selling Chinese chestnuts who
actually believe they are immune, and I have seen customers mad enough
to shoot them when they have seen half of them die of blight.

MR. MILLER: When considering hardiness, climate is one thing and air
drainage is another. In any climatic zone the exact location or site,
particularly air drainage is important. I have my orchard on a southwest
slope with perfect air drainage. I have 250-some trees that are six or
seven years old growing very nicely, and I have not had any loss, even
with English walnut, the Carpathian or any of the other trees. I think
that many of us are overlooking the fact that air drainage and location
of the orchard is one of the main things. I don't think this has
anything to do with the particular seed or the varieties, but I think
that is one thing that we must consider.

DR. CRANE: No question about that. Chinese chestnuts are like peaches,