. This chinquapin wood is somewhat
coarse grained, but, for comparison with the American chestnut, I don't
know. I imagine it is finer grained.

DR. AUGUSTUS STABLER: I know that the chinquapin wood is very much
tougher than the American chestnut.

DR. MORRIS: Oh, yes. You cannot break the branches so easily.

Here is a branch from a hybrid between a chinquapin and a common
American chestnut (_Castanea dentata_). The leaves and bark, you will
observe, are very much like those of the larger parent. The burs are
borne singly or in small groups like those of the common chestnut,
instead of being crowded in dense clusters like chinquapin burs. There
are two or three nuts to the bur, while the chinquapin has normally, but
one nut to the bur. This particular hybrid tree showed an interesting
peculiarity. During the first two seasons of bearing it had but one nut
to the bur, and this was of chinquapin character. In the third year its
nuts were still borne singly, but they were lighter in color than before
and oddly corrugated at the base. As the tree became older its chestnut
parentage influence pre-dominated, and the tree began to bear two or
three nuts to the bur, and more like chestnuts in character, becoming
smooth again at the base.

I have a number of hybrids between chinquapins and various species and
varieties of other chestnuts, but none of these as yet has produced nuts
of marked value. There seems to be a tendency for the coarseness of the
larger nuts to prevail in the hybrids, a certain loss of gentility
beneath a showy exterior.

The next branch which I present for inspection is from a most beautiful
member of the chestnut family, the alder-leaved chestnut (_Castanea
alnifolia_). It is classed among the chinquapins in Georgia where the
plant is nearly if not quite evergreen. At Stamford it is deciduous very
late in the autumn, but sometimes a green leaf will be found in
February, where snow or dead leaves on the ground have furnished a
protecting covering. The notable value of this species is perhaps in its
decorative character for lawns, although the nuts are first rate. The
dark green brilliant leaves are striking in appearance, and the shrub is
inclined toward a trailing habit, much like that of some of the
junipers. This species is one of my pets at Merribrooke, and a perennial
source of wonder that nurserymen have not as yet pounced upon it for
purposes of exaggeration and misstatement in their annual ca