32 



Hickories, while very numerous throughout this section, seem, 

 in the case of the shell bark, to bear but sparingly. In the higher 

 altitudes, up between two and three thousand feet above sea-level, 

 they apparently do a great deal better. Pignut types bear profusely. 



The chestnut blight is going strong throughout this section, the 

 infestation being now over ninety per cent. This will hit the wild 

 chestnut business a body blow in the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Moun- 

 tains section. I do not doubt but what in tlie course of time our chest- 

 nut trees will dcA'elop a relative immunity or higher resistance to the 

 blight, just as happened in China and Japan, where trees are infested 

 with blight but the disease makes but little headway and the tree goes 

 on about its business. It has been observed, time and again, that 

 where the plant or organism has been brought in contact with the 

 disease, the plant or animal ultimately becomes able to defend itself. 

 In spite of the blight, one sees many large healthy trees that have been 

 but very slightly affectedi 



I believe it is of the utmost importance that the planting of both 

 Chinese and Japanese chestnut trees be encouraged. My young trees 

 of these varieties, about six years old from the nursery, have as yet 

 shown no signs of blight. 



In this part of the country, which usually includes southern Ohio, 

 the most successful nut bearing trees, will, I believe, always include 

 the black walnut, butternut and Japanese walnut. They all grow 

 rapidly, bearing early and regularly, and are good shade trees as well. 



I do not know of a more stately shaped tree than the pecan, but 

 as to whether it will be profitable, commercially, in this section, as a 

 nut bearer, remains to be seen. 



Countries somewhat adjacent to large bodies of water are much 

 less troubled by late spring frosts than other sections, but land dis- 

 tricts such as ours are often severely dealt with by late spring frosts. 



On a recent trip through Virginia I noticed, at Culpepper, a large 

 and flourishing English walnut tree, and was told that it bore a con- 

 siderable quantity of nuts nearly every year. For my own home loca- 

 tion I believe that, with the exception of Japanese walnuts, we will 

 have to stick to native things. 



