REMEMBER THE 
As early as the 1870’s Japanese 
chestnuts had been imported to this 
country, and even in colonial days 
there had been imports of Euro- 
pean chestnut seedlings. Therefore, 
because they were available, the ear- 
liest breeding work in the long search 
for blight resistance was done with 
Japanese, European, and native spe- 
cies. The Chinese chestnut, though 
superior to the Japanese and just as 
resistant to blight, probably did not 
enter the United States until 1903, 
when C. S. Sargent brought a number 
of specimen plants from Peiping to 
the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. In 
1906, from Tientsin, Meyer sent the 
first Chinese nuts used for selection 
and breeding. 
Van Fleet died in 1922, and three 
years later Russell B. Clapper, of the 
Division of Forest Pathology, took over 
the chestnut-breeding work. After 
testing various possibilities of combin- 
ing Japanese, Chinese, and native 
species, Clapper found certain selec- 
tions of the Chinese crossed with the 
native chestnut produced trees that 
were resistant, fast-growing, and up- 
right. Graves, of the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden, found that a Japanese-Amer- 
can crossed with Chinese produced 
progeny showing much promise. 
The crosses which Clapper has pro- 
duced are decidedly encouraging in 
that many possess the best character- 
istics of both parents. In 5 or 6 years 
the young resistant chestnuts begin to 
bear nuts. The location of planting 
and the type of soil are important fac- 
tors in the quality of the resistance. 
Trees which are carefully tended the 
first few years and are planted in rich 
deep soil are more likely to escape 
blight and to resist it if infection does 
occur. 
One lot of these Chinese-American 
hybrids is increasing in diameter 
about one-half inch a year, and at 12 
years they are now large enough for 
farm poles. In about 25 years, if they 
maintain resistance, they will be tall 
enough for telephone poles. 
Clapper and Graves are chiefly in- 
CHESTNUT—ULM 381 
terested in producing a disease-resist- 
ant timber tree, though neither would 
be adverse to bringing back the nut- 
gathering parties of the old days. 
Ever since Frank Meyer began send- 
ing chestnuts back to the United States 
from Japan, China, and Korea, the 
Nut Investigations Division of the De- 
partment of Agriculture has been 
selecting the better varieties for or- 
chard raising. Clarence A. Reed, who 
has been working on this project for 
many years, claims that special selec- 
tions of the department are just as good 
for nut purposes as were our native 
chestnuts. The Chinese chestnut, es- 
pecially certain strains, is sweet and 
delicately textured. It is this type of 
nut which will be grown in the future 
chestnut orchards of the East. 
American chestnuts have been grown 
in California and a number of other 
western States ever since the early gold 
seekers introduced them. In the peri- 
od 1914-34 blight was discovered in 
British Columbia, Washington, and 
California, but prompt action on the 
part of pathologists prevented the in- 
fections from spreading. 
Only one type of fungus spore, pyc- 
nospore, has so far been found in 
California, but it is generally accepted 
that the ascospore stage was prevented 
from showing up only by prompt and 
thorough control measures. Most of 
the infections were detected at the 
ground line of the tree trunks, and, as 
pycnospores were found to live in irriga- 
tion water for over a month, control 
methods included building earthen 
dikes about the bases of the trees. 
The lower part of the trunks of some 
of the trees was painted with shellac. 
The orchards are inspected at least 
twice a year, and all diseased trees 
immediately destroyed. 
In Europe it is another story. Just 
before the last war, blight appeared 
with a vengeance. In 1938, evidence 
of the disease was found on trees about 
20 miles north of Genoa, in Italy. 
Later it appeared near the port of 
Naples and at Tarcento, north of the 
