s and early spring frost. He didn't follow
through on that so I don't plead guilty.

MEMBER: Does the Chinese chestnut seed have a rest period?

DR. McKAY: For some years we have had a friendly discussion with the
Division of Forest Pathology in regard to whether a chestnut seed has a
rest period in the same way black walnut, hickory, or some of the others
do, and we are not absolutely set in our opinion on the matter. We have
the opinion that the Chinese chestnut does not require a rest period. I
will tell you that one species, the Allegany Chinkapin _(C. pumila_)
will germinate very readily as soon as it is matured. It will start
growing immediately. When you go into the oak species, you have a number
like that. They fall to the ground, and put a root into the soil, become
anchored, and grow slowly all winter long. We feel that the Chinese
chestnuts are of that type. Perhaps the old American chestnut was that
way. It fell to the ground in the fall and it sprouted rather promptly
within a month or so and grew slowly. Perhaps the Chinese chestnut is
not so much inclined that way. We have done this: we have taken them
from storage at various times during the winter and planted them, and
have never failed to get reasonably good germination. Others have. The
results there vary considerably. Perhaps we can't be too sure about the
matter. We simply feel that on the basis of what we have seen and
observed, they do not have a definite rest period. Many of the failures
that have been obtained have been due to poor storage conditions, where
the nut started to spoil and perhaps the workers didn't realize it and
planted that nut and the nut spoiled immediately. So you fail, not
because of the inability of the seed to sprout, but because it was
improperly handled and could not grow.

MR. O'ROURKE: Is it not a fact that ... seed has no true rest period as
we know it with trees? On the other hand, about 30 days' exposure to low
temperature and moist conditions will cause all those seeds to germinate
immediately. It may be somewhat the same with chestnut seed.

MR. STOKE: In confirmation, I furnished a man some seed some years ago
and we put them in flower pots and they were a foot high by Christmas.

MR. McDANIEL: The growth is normal from the immediate planting, too. You
don't get the suppressed growth later, as in prematurely germinated
peach.

MEMBER: The chinkapins will often sprout even before they come out of
the bur.