85 
The Problem Stated.—It is clear from what has been said that 
from the standpoint of forestry the oriental chestnuts (considered 
as a whole) and the American chestnut have each a strong point 
and a weak point. The oriental trees are typically low and round- 
headed and hence not good for timber, but they resist the attacks 
of the parasitic fungus. The American chestnut, on the other 
hand, is a tall forest tree, but offers little or no resistance to the 
fungus. The problem is, therefore, to combine the strong points 
in these trees by breeding them together in the hope of eventually 
producing a race which is both disease resistant as well as possess- 
ing the dimensions and habit of a forest tree. 
Progress in 1930.—1 shall describe our work in some detail both 
because it may be of some interest to members of the Garden and 
also because from the outline of the methods here presented they 
may be able to carry on experiments of their own and thus increase 
the chances of obtaining the desired result in this region. 
Many of the sprouts from the stumps of diseased chestnuts are 
producing pollen, but the flowering period, that is, the season when 
the pollen is ripe and being shed, occurs (in this neighborhood ) 
usually from about July 1-12, a period which is somewhat later 
than the flowering time of the orientals, or at least of some of 
them. Therefore it is impossible to secure pollen from native 
— 
stock sufficiently early to carry on thorough crossing experiments 
with many of the orientals, although there are a few late flowering 
ones with which this can be done. With the cooperation of the 
office of Forest Pathology, U. S. D. A., we were able to secure 
ample supplies of American pollen from Washington, D. C. and 
from Ohio, where the flowering period is some days earlier than in 
the New York region. Three Japanese chestnuts were used for 
crossing experiments, as follows—all on Long Island: 
tr. At Old Westbury, on the estate of Mr. Beekman Winthrop. 
2. At Syosset, on the estate of Mr. Bronson Winthrop. 
3. At Oyster Bay, on the estate of Mr. Renville S. Smith. 
These trees have all been described in detail in my report for 1929. 
(Brooklyn Botanic Garden Recorp, 19: 64-67, 1930.) The 
owner, in each case, kindly gave his permission for us to use his 
ERCE: 
The first step was the bagging o 
_ 
the young flowers of these 
Japanese trees, which was done on June 23d, several days before 
