18 



to be sup])().secl that clie.stmit growing has disappeared from this coun- 

 try for all tiiiif. No plague has ever hvvu known to wipe a race com- 

 pletely out of existence, and it is ujithinkable that the Wight will do 

 so with the genus Castcinca. 



The native range of the AiinTJean sweet chestnut centers largely 

 in the Appalachian region troiii I'orlland. Maine, south to Atlanta, 

 Georgia. The species becomes more sparsely rej^resented as the dist- 

 ance increases in any direction from this central area, practically disap- 

 pearing on the west, in the region of tiu' Mississippi above Memphis. 

 Its northern boundarj- might rougl)]y be described as extending from 

 lower Illinois through northern Indiana, southwestern Michigan, south- 

 ern Ontario, central New York and middle New England. As was to 

 have been expected, the 'blight has wrought its greatest destruction in 

 places of densest representation of the chestnut species. It is in the 

 outlying districts of scant frequency that the danger of infection from 

 chestnut trees from the forest is least to planted trees, and likewise, 

 tliere it is that combative measures sliould be most successful. Ob- 

 viously, the farther from the center of the native range trees can be 

 planted, the less is the likelihood of infection. 



Well outside the native range of tlie chestnut species, there are a 

 lunnber of districts in the United States within whicli it should be pos- 

 sible to build up a new chestnut-orchard industry. In proof of this, 

 there are many jirofitable trees and small orchards in the mid-west and 

 on the Pacific Coast, particularly in western Michigan, northern In- 

 diana, southwestern Illinois, in the eastern foot-liill region of northern 

 California and in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Probably the most 

 outstanding instance of successful chestnut orcharding now existing in 

 the entire country is a planting of Mr. E. A. Riehl, of Godfrey, Illi- 

 nois, situated on the bluff of the Mississippi River eight milese west af 

 x\lton. Here ]\Ir. Riehl has produced half a dozen or more hybrid 

 varieties which are paying very satisfactory dividends on fertile hill- 

 side land which is miainly too steep for cultivation. A number of these 

 varieties have 'been taken to northern California where they are prov- 

 ing highly successful. 



In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, two species are represented 

 with about equal frequency. These are the native chestnut from the 

 eastern states and that from Japan. Neither has performed in such 

 a way as to be particularly encouraging. The former has not been 

 productive and the latter has produced nuts of quality so inferior as to 



