No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 123 



woini, or weevil. He statwd tlial his crep last season was scarcely 

 woilh gathering-. 



The lollowiiig letter bearing on the subject was read by the secre- 

 tary: 



Edenville, Pa., January 15, 1901. 



Mr. Enos B. Engle, Secretary State Horticultural Association, Waynes- 

 boro, Pa.: 



Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your favor and in reply will say that I will not 

 be able to attend the meeting at Harrisburg on account of one of my clerks 

 being away on a leave of absence. 



You ask me for my views in reference to "the outlook for profit in chestnut 

 culture." My experince in chestnut culture is very limited. I have an orchard 

 of about 4,000 trees, a small proportion of which had been bearing for the 

 past three years. The first year I did not find many weevil, the second year 

 more and this season still more, although I was trying to counteract their 

 work as best I knew. The second year ten per cent, were stung by the weevil, 

 and this season not less than fifteen per cent., and if I had not made an effort 

 to prevent them from doing their work the percentage would have been much 

 higher this sea,son. I find the same conditions on the mountain with the native 

 chestnuts, only much more so. I have given the weevil problem a great deal 

 of thought and attention for the past year, and to sum up with the knowledge 

 I now have, I believe that "the outlook for profit in chestnut culture" is very 

 poor indeed, and unless some way is found to counteract the ravages of weevil 

 it will be an entire failure. 



I have, for the past two years, been experimenting in various ways to prevent 

 them from getting their work in and I shall continue to fight it out on that line, 

 but whether the ^veevil will come out the victor in the end I cannot say. Hoping 

 that some one will report more favorably so as to give more encouragement to 

 the grower, I remain 



Yours respectfully, 



L. L. SPRINGER. 



The Secretary. — lu confirmation of the views advanced by my cor- 

 respondent, I will give briefly the result of my observations in the 

 chestnut grove grafted by my father some twelve or fifteen years 

 since, the pioneer chestnut orchard in the country, if I am not mis- 

 taken. I might state also just here that a forest fire swept over 

 almost the entire grove in July last, and the probabilities are that 

 it will be almost a total loss, although the extent of the damage can- 

 not be definitely fixed until the coming year. 



The grove was started by grafting Paragon on the one-year-old 

 sprouts of common American chestnut, that had grown up after 

 the original trees had been cleared away. The grafting was a 

 success, as nearly all the scions grew and made fine, stocky trees 

 which began bearing the second year after grafting. Where they 

 stood too close they were thinned out from time to time, preference 

 being given to the most vigorous trees. The grove contains about 

 thirty acres and bore annuallv. increasing in quantity, until 1899, 



