260 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Growth. 



Very vigorous and thrifty. Young trees have a characteristic, up- 

 right, rather stiff appearance, the branches being straight and all 

 coming from the uprights at the same angle. This appearance is lost 

 after fruit spurs become abundant. 



Foliage. 



Abundant and thrifty. 



Harvest Season. 



Early. 



Precocity. 



Quite strong in the south. One of the best in this respect. 



Production in Older Trees. 



The original tree is said to have produced 325 pounds in one year 

 and is uniformly a large producer. This is due to its great size as well 

 as fruitfulness, as there are few larger walnut trees in the State than 

 this. Our own five years' observation of this tree has shown it to be 

 unusually thrifty and vigorous and a bearer of heavy crops, even under 

 adverse conditions. Its long sustained vigor of growth is in fact the 

 most valuable characteristic of the variety. 



Susceptibility to Blight and Other Troubles. 



The original tree shows considerably less blight than its neighbors, 

 although not immune tr the disease. It is so large, vigorous and thrifty 

 that good crops are produced in spite of the disease. The same vigor 

 of growth, together with the abundance of foliage protects the nuts to 

 a large extent from sunburn and other climatic injuries. The nuts of 

 the original tree have been decidedly free from sunburn as compared 

 with those of neighboring trees. 



Some young groves of this variety have shown considerable perfora- 

 tion in the nuts, but the old tree is noticeably free from this trouble. 

 See page 376. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



From the above description we may sum up the characteristics of the 

 Chase variety by saying that it is a very large, thrifty, vigorous-growing 

 tree, which on account of its vigor of growth is a good producer and 

 comparatively free from disastrous losses by blight or other injurious 

 influences. Its nuts have no exceptional characteristics, but are of good 

 average quality as compared with the product of the present groves of 

 southern California. The tree has considerable precocity in bearing and 

 may therefore be recommended to those who desire quick results, both in 

 growth of tree and production of nuts. 



