i6i BOTANICAL GAZETE. 



west of No. 5. It was blown down last winter. It grew from seeds 

 from Kentucky, planted 54 years since. It was known to bear fruit 

 only one year, and that was eight years since ; then only a few nuts. 

 It will be observed that Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are in a line and nearer 

 together than any of the others, being only i ^4 miles apart at the 

 extremes. 



No. 7 is a thrifty tree growing on M. Reel's farm. It is from 

 the same lot of seeds as Nos. 3 and 4. Is forty-five in hes in circum- 

 ference, and annually bears a large crop of empty burs. On occa- 

 sional years a few nuts have been found, never more than four or 

 five. It is two miles from No. 3, and the same distance from No. 4. 



No. 8 is a group of three trees, all standing within a few rods of 

 one another, on J. Hurshey's place. They are from seeds from Ohio, 

 planted by him in 1848, and are near one foot in diameter. Have 

 borne chestnuts in abundance for more than twenty years, without 

 one year of failure. These trees are i^ miles from No. 9. 



No! 9 is a group of two trees standing near together on the J. 

 Sitherland farm, grown from seeds which he planted thirty-five years 

 since. Both bear fruit freely. "The burs are always full." They 

 are 1 1^ miles from No. 8. One tree is much smaller than the other, 

 and is always fuller of nuts. The seeds were obtained from Perry 

 county, Ind., which is about 70 miles away in a direct line, and if it 

 is native there, is the nearest station of which I have any knowledge. 

 Thi'se trees are ij^miles from No. 8. (The chestnut is native in both 

 Perry and Spencer counties, Ind.) 



No. 10 is a tree, from seed planted by J. Hoff, on his farm, 34 

 5 ears since. It is four miles from No. 9, and annually bears a large 

 crop of burs, but never has a chestnut been found under it. 



The foregoing observations point to the following conclusions, 

 though they cannot be considered as positive demonstrations : 



(i) That in some cases the chestnut tree appears to be sparingly 

 self-fertilizing, while in others it appears to be sterile-for a long suc- 

 cession of years. See Nos i, 3. 7 and 10 



(2) That trees grown from the seed of one tree, freely fertilize 

 one another. See Nos. 4, 8 and 9. 



(3) That a sterile tree, growing grafts from another sterile tree, 

 becomes fertile when the grafts bloom, and sterile when they fail to 

 bloom. No. 2.— J. ScHNECK, Mt. Cannel, III. 



Queer Places for Ferns. — I think I may c\a.\m a. tieiv lorality 

 for a common fern. While recently exploring an extensive live oak 

 hummock, I came to a lofty pine-tree, Phius australis, I think, which 

 had had a large notch cut in it. about three feet from the ground. 

 Upon the base of this notch, with its roootstock firmly fastened to the 

 tree by the exuding pitch, grew a brave little upstart of a IVooihvardia 

 Virginica, Willd., its three or four six inch-long fronds healthy even 

 though dwarfed, and two of them well fruited. Several of the pinnae 

 had been glued fast to the side of the tree by a thin film of the pitch. 

 Two years ago I saw large, handsomely-fruited fronds of the Polype- 



