CHESTNUTS 221 



chestnuts, although it is accepted by the chinkapin. 

 The European chestnuts appear to grow better upon 

 American chestnut stocks than they do upon those 

 of foreign species. A Chinese chestnut that I cut 

 back and top-worked with scions of an American 

 sweet chestnut and also with scions of a hybrid be- 

 tween the American chestnut and the chinkapin al- 

 lowed both kinds of scions to grow thriftily during 

 that summer. In the following winter the American 

 scion growth all died but the hybrid scion growth 

 lived both kinds being equally hardy so far as cli- 

 mate is concerned. The difference in result evidently 

 represented stock influence. Some of the chestnuts 

 may perhaps be grafted upon some of the oaks. In 

 my own experience the American chestnut was ac- 

 cepted fairly well by the red oak, but absolutely re- 

 fused by several other kinds of oaks. A variety of 

 European chestnut was accepted by the water oak, 

 which had refused the American chestnut. This 

 particular feature of experimental work is too specu- 

 lative to call for extended reference in these pages 

 beyond the mere making of a suggestion. 



Orchardists are recovering from the effect of the 

 first shock that was given by the chestnut blight and 

 they are now ready to go ahead with hybrids and 

 with orchards situated at a distance from blight re- 

 gions and out of the line of flight of migratory birds 

 which carry blight spores upon their feet and in 

 their feathers. The most profitable chestnuts for 

 American orchardists will probably be those of the 

 sort which are to be cooked rather than the more 



