LUTHER BURBANK 



had been blended of all the different kinds of 

 chestnuts that could be obtained. 



These included, in addition to the Japanese 

 species just cited, representatives of the European 

 chestnut in several of its varieties one of which 

 came from China and of the native American 

 chestnut of the familiar type; and also the little 

 native species known as the Chinquapin. 



It is interesting to record that the chinquapin, 

 with its almost insignificant nut, crossed readily 

 with the Japanese species, the mammoth nut of 

 which would seem to place it in quite another class. 



But, in point of fact, there is apparently a very 

 close affinity between all the different chestnuts. 

 All of them have varied and thus perpetuated 

 forms that more or less bridge the gap between the 

 typical representatives of the different species, and, 

 so far as my observations go, all of them may 

 readily be interbred. In a word, the chestnut fur- 

 nishes most plastic material for the purposes of 

 the plant developer. Just how I have utilized that 

 material will appear as we proceed. 



At the time when I received the chestnuts from 

 Japan, there were already at hand trees of the 

 European and American species of various sizes. 

 So soon as the Japanese seedlings were of sufficient 

 size, I grafted them on these European and Amer- 

 ican trees, in this way being able to stimulate 



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