92 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



and Eastern Tennessee, where specimens 13 feet in diameter and 120 feet high have 

 been found. This size, however, is exceptional. The average size at maturity in 

 regions of favorable growth is a height of 60 to 80 feet, with an average diameter of 

 5 feet, although much larger specimens not infrequently occur. Near the northern 

 limit of its range, which is about 44 latitude in the United States, the tree is 

 decidedly smaller and sprouts less readily from the stump than farther south. 



During the tertiary period Castanea flourished from Greenland and Alaska, and 

 traces of it are found in the miocene rocks of Oregon and Colorado. 



In New York the chestnut is plentiful throughout the valley of the upper 

 Hudson, in Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties, and along the slopes of the 

 foothills belonging to the Catskill uplift. It has not been observed anywhere on 

 the northern Adirondack plateau, and is scattered only sparsely throughout the 

 western portion of the State. In the Adirondack region it is too cold for the chest- 

 nut to mature its annual shoots, but in the western part of the State its sparseness 

 is due rather to unfavorable soil conditions than to climatic variances, the rich 

 alluvial soil of Western New York being little suited to its best development. The 

 tree attains its best development in that part of the State between the Delaware 

 River and the Catskills, along the glacial hills which are a continuation of the Kitta- 

 tinny Mountains and the northern " Jersey Highlands," a country famous for its oak 

 and chestnut. This region, although well settled and cleared, is dotted by many 

 large wood lots, and here lie most of the New York " chestnut hillsides," in which, 

 because of their small value for other purposes, lie the opportunities for the profit- 

 able chestnut culture to be described later. In Saratoga and adjoining counties 

 there also exist splendid possibilities for chestnut orcharding. 



Within the limits of its range the chestnut occurs either singly or in scattered 

 groups or groves, usually most abundant on the high, gravelly, well-drained land of 

 hillsides and ridges, seldom growing in pure stands, but usually mixed with oaks or 

 other hardwood trees. It has been stated on good authority that the " chestnut is 

 almost unknown on red shale land ; " but in Central Pennsylvania it is certainly 

 found growing well on almost typical red shale soil. 



Groups of young seedlings are found only in the pasture lands or open forest, 

 where there is plenty of light, since, as the chestnut when young is essentially a 

 light-needing species, it cannot grow in the lower story of a high, dense canopied 

 forest. The mature tree is moderately shade enduring. The chestnut is further 

 handicapped in its struggle with more tolerant species, by its characteristic trait of 

 not unfolding its leaves until most other trees are in full foliage, thus giving the 

 earlier trees something of a monopoly of the available light and space. 



