own here merely to call attention to the
disease, because no discussion of the chestnut industry at the present
time can be complete without at least calling attention to the
seriousness of that blight. That tree, perhaps, has not been affected
more than two years, possibly one. Is that right, Mr. Pierce?

Mr. Pierce: About two. That's an 18 or 20 inch tree, isn't it?

Mr. Reed: Yes, sir.

Mr. Pierce: It must be an 18 or 20 inch tree to be so badly blighted at
the top.

Mr. Reed: Two years, but you see it's pretty well gone. We come now to
the Paragon, one of the first trees of that variety ever propagated. It
was planted where it stands, by the introducer, Mr. Henry M. Engel, at
Marietta, where they had quite an orchard at one time, but the blight is
so serious that there are only a few specimens of the trees left. That
tree is probably in the neighborhood of twenty-five years old. The next
slide shows two trees of the same variety that we may possibly see this
afternoon. They are on the farm belonging to Mr. Rush and they are about
twenty years old.

Prof. Smith: What have those trees yielded?

Mr. Rush: They yield four, five, six and seven to eight bushels. You can
see that they are not far from the barn and the roots run under that
barnyard manure pile.

Mr. Reed: What would you consider an average crop?

Mr. Rush: They grow five or six bushels per tree.

Mr. Reed: The greatest attention that has been paid to developing the
paragon chestnut in orchard farming has been on the plan Mr. Sober has
just shown, by clearing away the mountain side and cutting down
everything but the chestnut sprouts. This photograph was taken in a
thicket where the underbrush had not been cleared away. Those are a good
age now or perhaps a little bit older than we usually graft, aren't
they, Mr. Sober?

Mr. Sober: Yes, sir; one or two years old. When they get to be three
years old they are past grafting, according to my method.

Mr. Reed: This photograph was taken at Mr. Sober's a little over a year
ago, taken in the rain and is not very clear, but it shows the distance
between the trees at the time when these trees were four or five years
old--is that right?

Mr. Sober: They are eleven year old trees.

Mr. Reed: Do you thin them out after they get that size?

Mr. Sober: Yes, sir, they should be thinned out more, but I hesitated on
account of the blight; I have thousands that I could spare, but for fear
the blight will tak