imber destroyer can be stayed
by any agency in the control of man. Already the losses, direct and
indirect, occasioned by chestnut blight are computed as high as
$50,000,000, about half of the estimated value of the entire stand.

With the very reasonable assumption that our native chestnut is doomed
to virtual extinction it is well to consider in time if it can be
replaced as a timber and nut-producing tree by other chestnut species or
combinations of species less subject to injury by this disease-producing
organism. The Endothia fungus, as a destructive parasite, is apparently
confined to the chestnut, rarely if ever harmfully affecting genera even
as closely allied as the oak (Quercus) or Castanopsis. Of the various
species of chestnut or Castanea those native to Japan and Central China
appear most resistant, probably having been for ages accustomed to the
presence of the fungus, while the European chestnut, _Castanea sativa_,
our native _C. Americana_, and our chinquapin, fall easy victims when
exposed to infection. Of the Asiatic forms _Castanea crenata_ of Japan
and Eastern China and _C. molissima_ of the interior are most promising
in this respect, though the latter is still an almost unknown quantity
as regards cultivation in this country.

_Castanea crenata_, commonly known as Japan chestnut, in its more
typical forms is highly resistant, so seldom showing material injury
that, for practical purposes, it may be regarded as immune. Japan
chestnut seedlings raised from nuts grown in proximity to our native
chestnut and exposed to the influence of its pollen are at times more
seriously affected, but are rarely destroyed by the bark disease. The
Japan chestnut is of comparatively low growth, of small value for timber
purposes, but as a nut-producer is very fruitful and precocious, bearing
great crops at an early age. The nuts are often very large but usually
of poor quality. The species, however, proves quite plastic in the hands
of the plant breeder, being readily modified in the directions most
desired by the ordinary methods of cross-pollination and selection. It
freely hybridizes with all other chestnut species and varieties that
have been tried, and forms the basis of the most hopeful work in
breeding for disease-resistance that has yet been attempted.

_Castanea molissima_ is of much taller growth and bears nuts of moderate
size, but of really good quality in the types that have reached this
country. It can