CHESTNUT BLIGHT RESISTANCE 



Castanea Alnifolia and C. MoUissima Show No Signs of Blight American 

 Chinquapin Seems Almost Equally Vigorous — Japanese Varieties 

 Usually Succumb Experiments Prove Nuts Develop 

 Freely When Female Flowers Are 

 Not Pollinated. 



Robert T. Morris, M. D., New York, N. Y. 



EIGHT years ago, when the chest- 

 nut blight (Endothia parasitica) 

 began seriously to menace my 

 native chestnut forest, situated 

 in the towns of Stamford and Green- 

 wich, Conn., notes were made upon the 

 subject and a number of varieties and 

 species of chestnuts were added to the 

 collection. At that time there were 

 about five thousand old American 

 chestnut trees (Castanea americana) 

 upon my country ])lace; there were also 

 half a dozen chinqua])ins (Castanea 

 piimila) about five years of age, and a 

 few grafted trees of named varieties of 

 chestnuts which had been purchased 

 from nurser\'men at about the time 

 when the chinquapins were purchased. 

 There were two saplings of Castanea 

 mollissima, the Chinese chestnut, which 

 had been given me by Professor C. S. 

 Sargent. 



None of these notes in relation to ages 

 of trees and numbers of trees, which 

 follow, are quite scientifically accurate, 

 because as a busy man with many kinds 

 of responsibilities, the matter of records 

 has been left to employees. Changes 

 in the meantime have taken place 

 among the employees. I am writing 

 from memory, rather than from notes, 

 when making this contribution. 



When it became evident that the 

 American chestnut trees on my place 

 were seriously menaced, the question 

 of finding Ijlight-resisting individuals 

 among species and varieties came up, 

 and I proceeded to add to the col- 

 lection various species and varieties 



26 



until it included twenty-six different 

 kinds. Among these kinds, species 

 were as follows: American sweet chest- 

 nut (Castanea americana), bush chin- 

 quapin (Castanea pumila), tree chin- 

 quajjin (Castanea pumila arboriformis), 

 aider-leaf chestnut (Castanea alnifolia), 

 evergreen chestnut (Castanopsis chryso- 

 phylla or C. sempervirens — I do not 

 know which species). In addition to 

 these American species of chestnut 

 there were two specimens of Castanea 

 mollissima, and many specimens of 

 s]3ccics not determined by me, from 

 England, France, Italy, China, Korea 

 and Japan. There were also a number 

 of grafted varieties of descendants from 

 Eurojoean and Asiatic progenitors. 



PROGRESS OF DISEASE. 



The fate of those chestnuts may be 

 briefly summed up at the j)resenl time 

 about as follows: — 



The evergreen chestnuts (Castanop- 

 sis) which I set out on several different 

 occasions, were always eaten during the 

 winter or spring by cattle or by rodents, 

 on account of their attractive green 

 leaves and tender shoots above the 

 snow, notwithstanding various attempts 

 at ])r()tection. 



I'^x'ery one of tlie five tliousand old 

 American chestnut trees liecanie bliglit- 

 ed, and they were removed. \'ounger 

 trc'fs and stump shoots of the American 

 chestnut are now practically all dead or 

 dying with the blight. 



\'arif)us grafted varieties of European 

 and Asiatic chestnuts have shown 



