134 SIXTEENTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



long struggle with the blight, have developed resistant strains. The hope of 

 the Eastern United States to remain a chestnut producing section seems to be in 

 discovering some Japanese or Chinese variety, or a hybrid, that is blight-proof 

 and which, at the same time, has other qualities which are desirable. Dr. Van 

 Fleet of the government Department of Agriculture has developed a number of 

 hybrid s between the Japanese chestnut and our native Chinquapin which hold 

 considerable promise to the Eastern growers. 



The chestnuts of the world are of several species. The American chestnut, 

 known to botanists as Castanea Dentata, is a tall straight tree, when grown in 

 forests, and produces nuts of the highest quality, although smaller than those of 

 most of their species. There are comparatively few named varieties of this 

 species, the Rochester being perhaps the leading variety. 



The European species is known to science as C. Sativa. Its tree is smaller 

 than that of the American species, but its nuts are larger, although of poorer 

 quality. Its blight resistance is greater than that of the native chestnut, but 

 not enough to permit it to survive when plauted in diseased sections. There are 

 many named varieties of this species, although most of these are varieties that 

 originated in this country from seedlings of this European species. 



Named varieties imported directly from Europe have not succeeded as well 

 in the Eastern United States as have the varieties originating on this side of the 

 water, although it is claimed that many of these named French varieties, when 

 grown on the Pacific Coast, do exceptionally well. This we would expect in 

 keeping with the well-known horticultural law that plants imported from the 

 Asiatic Coast countries do better in Eastern America than on the Pacific Coast, 

 while plants from Western Europe succeed better out here than in Eastern 

 America. Numbo and Paragon are two of the most populär named varieties of 

 European chestnuts growing in the East. 



The Japanese chestnut, C. Crenata, is highly resistant to blight, has a very 

 large nut, although its quality is so low that it usually has to be cooked to be 

 palatable, is precocious, prolific bearer, and produces an earlier maturing nut 

 than does either of the above named species. The tree itself is semi-dwarfed. 

 It seems to have everything but quality of nut to make it a desirable nut producing 

 species, and plant breeders feel that they can improve the quality of the nut 

 and are now working upon this problem. Alpha, Beta, Parry, Coe, Boone and 

 Giant are varieties of this species. 



The Chinese chestnut, C. Molissima, is a relative stranger in this country, and 

 we know less about it than the others. It makes a taller tree than the Japanese 

 and produces nuts of good quality. 



We have not experimented with the chestnut enough in the Northwest to be 

 able to say just what soils are best, but it appears to do well on most of our 

 fruit soils, where drainage is good. 



Forty to forty-five feet spacing seems to be about the need of the American 

 and European varieties. while the Japanese tree will do with a thirty foot 

 spacing. General culture is about that of the apple orchard. Little is known 

 regarding polleuization, but the general advice is to plant several varieties, when 

 growing the European varieties. The Japanese varieties are apparently self- 

 fertile. 



One grower in the Middle West reports the following yields from a Boone 

 seedling tree : Eight pounds the sixth year ; 26 pounds the ninth year ; 50 pounds 

 the twelfth year ; 80 pounds the fifteenth year, and 140 pounds the seventeenth 

 year. He received 25 to 40 cents per pound in the Chicago market that year. 



One grower near Salem with tweuty crowded trees, all seedlings, harvested an 

 average of 50 pounds i>er tree from trees in their twenties. One tree yielded 100 

 pounds. We have record of other Oregon trees that have borne as high as 150 

 pounds of nuts, and of a number that have averaged 50 pounds per tree for years, 

 which would give 1,200 to 1,500 pounds per acre. 



