56 
Although Mr. Bramble worked with Castanea dentata only, it is 
probable that a similar situation obtains in other species of chest- 
nut. In our inoculations of the Chinese chestnut in 1936, remark- 
able resistance was shown, due, we believe, to the formation of 
such occluding cork layers. 
It will be recalled that last year (1935) Mr. R. C. Ching, of the 
u-Shan Arboretum and Botanical Garden at Han-Po-Kou, Lu- 
Shan, Kiukiang, China, having read our report of the disastrous 
effect of the cold on our Chinese chestnuts, sent us some nuts from 
his trees (C. mollisstina) growing at an altitude of 4000 feet. 
Ilere, he stated, they had been subjected during 1930 to a“ tem- 
perature as low as 15° F. below zero, w 
temperature for t 
— 
ule normally the lowest 
oat 
ve months of December, January, and February 
ranges from 5° to 10° I. below zero.” Mr. Ching sent us 
also nuts of C. Henryi and C. Seguin, which came from the same 
locality. Most of these nuts germinated well. The best of the 
Chinese measured 19 inches high at the end of the season, ~ 
—_ 
he 
best seedling of C. [fenryi measured 16 inches after having made 
3 seasons’ growth im one year! The Chinese chinquapins from 
Mr. Ching showed good growth also, but of course not as great 
as that of the other two species. We believe that all these chest- 
nuts, particularly C. mollisstma, will develop into most promising 
breeding stock, and we would like to acknowledge our indebtedness 
to Mr. Ching for his substantial expression of interest in our work. 
so 
Planting of “ Naturals.’—leach fall there are many nuts which 
develop as a result of what may be called “ open pollination.” In 
— 
1é Tree 
which bears the nuts. The male may be any one of the trees of 
the plantations which were shedding pollen at the time when the 
these we can be certain only of the female parent, i.e., t 
pistils were receptive. We believe, however, that in the great 
majority of cases, pollination is effected by pollen from other trees 
of the same species. In the first winter after we began planting 
. ) 
“naturals” (1934-5), we lost most of them from field mice, 
these 
moles, and fungi. The next fall (1935) we enclosed the nuts 
in cylindrical wrappings of rather old and rusty wire netting (such 
as is used for wire screens). In this way we secured a fairly good 
germination last spring, but in several cases the wire netting inter- 
fered with the egress of the primary root. Last fall we tried 
