8 CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE. 



TEMPERATURE AND LIGHT 



Chestnut is adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions. It 

 flourishes from an altitude of less than 500 feet elevation in south- 

 western Tennessee, where the average annual temperature is 59 

 degrees Fahrenheit (the -mean of the summer maxima 89 degrees, 

 and the winter minimum seldom as low as zero), to elevations of 

 more than 5,500 feet along the Smoky and Unaka Mountain ranges, 

 where the average annual temperature is below 50 degrees (the 

 mean of the summer maxima not more than 80 degrees, and the 

 winter minimum frequently 30 degrees below zero) . Its best growth, 

 however, is on moderately cool sites, such as shady slopes, coves, 

 and elevated benches of the eastern mountains between 1,000 and 

 3,000 feet in altitude. Here it not only attains its maximum dimen- 

 sions, but is numerically more abundant, occupying large areas to 

 the practical exclusion of other species. Rainfall has but little ef- 

 fect on its distribution, since Tennessee has a rainfall which is sel- 

 dom below 40 inches a year, with an equable seasonal distribution. 



REPRODUCTION 



For seedling reproduction, chestnut requires only a limited 

 amount of light. The seedlings will persist for many years under 

 the shade of old trees, and when twenty to thirty years old may 

 not exceed 15 feet in height and 3 inches in diameter. As a rule, 

 when the large trees which are overtopping these suppressed seed- 

 lings are cut, the seedlings respond quickly to the increased light 

 and make accelerated growth. If suppressed for a great many 

 years, however, the seedlings either die or lose their power of rap- 

 idly recuperating when eventually favored by more light. Even 

 though they continue to live, they ultimately develop into slow- 

 growing specimens similar to the large trees which form the pres- 

 ent old forest. Although sprouts will grow for a few years under 

 poor light, they ultimately require more light than seedlings, and 

 their best development can take place only under full light. When 

 single scattered trees are cut in a stand of normal density there is 

 frequently insufficient light for the sprouts, which die after a few 

 years. 



Production of Seed. Chestnut bears seed or mast abundantly 

 at intervals of a few years. In intervening years the seed crop is 

 lighter, but seldom entirely wanting. The flowers appear in mid- 

 summer, too late to be killed by frost, but rainy weather, during 



