68 
sharp drop in percentage of germination from the figures attained 
last year (over SO per cent.) are not altogether clear. It may be 
due, in part, to a lack of adequate greenhouse facilities. Also, 
the poor viability of the seeds may have been inherent. In April 
and May these 65 seedlings were transplanted to the chestnut 
plantations on my land at Hamden, Conn. Little more than half 
their number—¥/ in all—survived the summer 
The European chestnuts (Castanea sativa) received in the fall 
of 1932 from the botamie gardens of Berlin, Geneva, and Paris, 
germinated well. Of the 350 nuts received, 176 seedlings (50 
per cent.) are now living, 29 in the Hamden plantations and 147 
in the nursery of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The losses at 
the Garden were due almost wholly to the depredations of squirrels 
and rabbits. 
—_— 
A number of seedlings have been grown from nuts of Ameri- 
can chestnut collected in various localities and sent to us by 
interested persons—notably those from Virginia given to us by 
Miss Hilda Loines. 
The Chestnut Plantation at Haimden.—Vhroughout the grow- 
ing season considerable time and attention were given to such cul- 
tural details as pruning, cultivating, and the control of insect pests. 
Toward the end of the summer this year the leaves of most of the 
species and hybrids were attacked by aphids and mites, causing 
a crinkling and browning of the leaves which was_ especially 
pronounced in the latter part of August and in September. Dr. 
\V. E. Britton, of the Connecticut Agricultural [Experiment Sta- 
tion at New Haven, kindly identified these attacks as evidently 
the work of the aphid Calaphis castaneae Fitch and of the mite 
Paratetranychus bicolor Banks. It was noted that the thicker, 
leathery leaves of the Chinese chestnuts (C. mollisstina) were al- 
most wholly unaffected by these insects. 
The area devoted to chestnut trees at Hamden is being enlarged 
constantly, and some of the trees there are now in their eighth 
year. As the plantings become more extensive and the trees more 
mature, the labor involved in their culture is increased, so that it 
would be most desirable to have the assistance of a gardener for 
a few days two or three times during the coming summer. 
It may be of interest here to state that the plantation at TTamden 
