08 
parts will be collected, preserved, and studied comparatively, dur- 
ing the ensuing year. 
On April 23, 1928, we received from the Office of Forest 
Pathology, United States Department of Agriculture, fifty-five 
nuts of the Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima (F. P. 64), 
and fifty nuts of the Japanese chestnut, Castanca japonica (F. P. 
69). A few of each kind were planted by Miss Maud H. Purdy 
on her farm at Pomona, New York. She now has three one- 
year-old trees of Japanese chestnut as a result, the rest having 
failed to germinate. At the Garden, five of the Chinese species 
and seventeen of the Japanese germinated. On August 2 these 
were transplated from the small pots in which they had germi- 
nated to the eastern edge of the experimental plot, being set ten 
feet apart in the row to allow for future growth. Since these 
species, especially the Chinese, are far more resistant to the blight 
than the American, the plan is, that when they arrive at the flower- 
ing age. cross pollination experiments with the American species 
be carried on, using particularly those native individuals which 
are stil! growing in the region of Greater New York and are, 
therefore, showing considerable resistance to the blight. On Octo- 
ber 15 we received from Mr. Ernest E. Smith, of Brooklyn, six 
nuts of the American chestnut, which were borne on fruiting basal 
shoots of diseased trees on his farm at Pomona, New York. 
These nuts have been stratified and will be planted next spring. 
On June 23 and June 25 I inspected exotic chestnuts at Roslyn, 
Westbury, Jericho, East Norwich, and Oyster Bay, Long Island. 
Many of these exotic trees have grown from seedling stock dis- 
tributed by the United States Department of Agriculture to pri- 
vate landowners, beginning as far back as 1915, although a large 
proportion have died. There are in addition a few scattering trees 
—mainly the Japanese species—which date back much farther than 
tgrs5, and are bearing good crops of nuts each year. Records of 
the condition, especially as regards disease resistance, of all these 
trees are being kept by the United States Department of Agri- 
culture against the possibility of their being used in the future 
as breeding stock. Each year I try to devote a part of my time 
to making these inspections, but there still remain a large number 
of records which should be brought up to date. 
