s of the
blight. They are afraid to go into growing chestnut orchards; they have
had so many fake propositions in the past in pecan promotions that they
are afraid of chestnuts and everything else. Any proposition for
bringing forward chestnuts commercially must be a plain, simple,
straightforward statement of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. We are ready, all through the North and East, to raise
hundreds of acres of chestnuts, such as Mr. Reed has spoken about, ones
which resist the blight, or ones which resist the blight comparatively
well.

Let us consider comparative immunity for a moment. We know how expensive
it is to manage an apple orchard, and yet, with the present high prices,
the profits on apple orchards, well managed, are great. May we not have
chestnut orchards managed with the same degree of relative expense and
the same degree of relative profit? I would like very much to hear from
some of the men who have actually raised chestnuts in orchards
concerning the relative care of the chestnut compared with the apple,
and the relative profit. I see Col. Sober here; can't you tell us about
your experience in managing the blight? Can it be managed successfully
in proportion as apple tree parasites are managed?

Col. Sober: My experience has been this; I have four hundred acres of
chestnuts in bearing. They range from five years to fifteen years old. I
find that I can control the blight easier than I can control the scale
on apple trees. If anyone doesn't believe this I invite him and all to
come to my place and see for themselves. I think I have nearly one
million seedling and grafted paragon trees. I don't think you will find
fifty affected trees on the whole place today. I have men going in every
grove at the present time who have inspected thousands of trees and
found seven that had blight on the limbs, so I know what I am speaking
about.

The Chairman: What is your method?

Col. Sober: Cutting out, cutting off anything I see; if it is really
necessary, cut the tree down; but we don't often find that necessary
because just as quick as we see any affected, or any limb dying or dead,
we cut it off. I had my groves laid out in sections of a hundred feet
wide and numbered; and I had charts made so that they can be inspected
section by section. In that manner, every tree is inspected. One
individual will inspect the trunk and another one the top. In each
section I can show you as far as w