so that this summer (1947)
we have set out in our nurseries about 325 hybrid seedlings.

In 1947 we have made 58 combinations in which 213 branches were bagged;
October 10-13 we gathered 380 hybrid nuts resulting from these cross
pollinations. The large yield of 1947 is doubtless the result in part of
a good growing season, for there was plenty of rain--at times almost too
much--in southern Connecticut. One drawback was the cold period during
the latter part of June. From the fifteenth to the twenty-sixth the
minimum temperatures were 55 or below--on three days as low as 50. This
set back the flowering period four days to a week later than usual,
depending upon the species or hybrid.

_Cooperation in Diller's Underplanting and Girdling Method for the
Establishment of Chestnut Forest Stands._ In the 37th Annual Report of
our Association for 1946 is printed a paper by Dr. Jesse D. Diller of
the Division of Forest Pathology, U.S.D.A. entitled "Growing Chestnuts
for Timber" pp. 66-68. Many people seem to think that all you need to do
when planting a tree is to stick it in the ground--just _any_ ground.
This may be true of some kinds, but is certainly not true of the
chestnut. For best growth and development the chestnut requires a fairly
deep, well-drained soil, rich in mineral elements and humus, with a fair
degree of moisture and plenty of sunlight. Two things chestnuts will
_not_ endure are shallow soil and drought, the latter often depending on
the former.

As tree indicators of the kind of site required for the establishment of
a chestnut forest Dr. Diller has chosen yellow poplar, northern red oak,
white ash, sugar maple, and yellow birch, with spice bush as a shrub
indicator and maiden hair fern, bloodroot and other herbs as herbaceous
indicators. Using a small area of about one eighth of an acre, Dr.
Diller's plan is to girdle all the trees and then underplant with
chestnut seedlings. He says: "As the girdled overstory trees die they
gradually yield the site to the planted chestnuts in a transition that
does not greatly disturb the ecological conditions, particularly of the
forest floor. Rapid disintegration of the mantle of leaf mold is
prevented by the partial shading which the dead or dying overstory,
girdled trees cast." This may seem to some a rather drastic method, but
when so much is at stake, namely the re-establishment of the chestnut in
our forests, it would seem a justifiable experiment on a small area.