a nut tree will do, those of you who have visited
Devil's Den in Gettysburg Battle Field, have perhaps noticed a butternut
tree, now quite old, growing out of the top of the cleft in a huge rock,
having sent its roots down to the adjoining soil for nourishment. This
tree has borne nuts even in its adverse situation.

For the benefit of those interested in the northern pecan, I wish to
record the fact that a seedling pecan tree is growing in Clermont
County, Ohio, on upland, not far from the eastern boundary line of
Hamilton County, about five miles north of the Ohio River. The nut from
which the tree grew was brought from Rockport, Indiana, and planted
about forty-one years ago. The tree is quite large and bears nuts
comparable with the wild seedling nuts that may be obtained from the
Rockport district. If a seedling does this, you may readily see what a
grafted tree will do.

THE PRESIDENT: We will now ask Prof. Collins for his address.

THE SEARCH FOR BLIGHT-RESISTING CHESTNUT SPROUTS[A]

_Prof. J. Franklin Collins, Rhode Island_

The chestnut blight has now been with us for more than twenty years and
has destroyed practically all the chestnut trees of the northeastern
part of the country. It has spread in all directions from its original
center in the immediate vicinity of New York City until it has reached
the limits of the native chestnut growth in the northeast and north, and
is steadily approaching its limits in the west and south. The disease, a
native of China and apparently imported into this country on some
Japanese or other oriental chestnut, found a more susceptible host in
our native chestnut and so became a virulent parasite on this new host.
It was not until 1904 that general attention was attracted to the
disease. By that time it had obtained a strong foothold on the chestnuts
of southeastern New York (particularly the western end of Long Island),
in southwestern Connecticut, and in northern New Jersey.

All of you are more or less familiar with the efforts made in
Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere in the northeast, in co-operation
with the federal government, to control the disease. These efforts are
now an old story to most of you and there is no need of repeating it at
this time.

Early in the fight against the blight the attention of many of us was
directed to locating possible immune or resistant species, varieties, or
individuals. The search for resistant native individuals and th