DEATH OF CHESTNUTS AND OAKS. 8 



increment was less than 1 millimeter in radius. In those trees 

 which had been killed the annual increment in radius for the last 

 6 to 10 years of their life was only one-third to one-fourth of a milli- 

 meter. The average rate of increment was found to be 25 milli- 

 meters in diameter for 1\ years of growth. This small increment 

 indicates that the chestnut in this region is growing under very 

 unfavorable conditions. 



A clearer idea of how slowly these chestnuts have grown can be 

 obtained by comparing the diameters of a few of these trees with 

 those of chestnuts grown under more favorable conditions in Other 

 localities. For this purpose data are used which were published in 

 1905 by the Bureau of Forestry in Bulletin 53, entitled "The 

 Chestnut in Southern Maryland/' by Raphael Zon. The Forest 

 Service has permitted the writer to use some unpublished data con- 

 sisting of growth-diameter measurements made in West Virginia and 

 Tennessee by Walter Mulford in 1905-6 and in Hyde Park, Dutchess 

 County, N. Y., by J. G. Peters in 1905. The data from Hyde Park, 

 where the growth conditions for chestnuts were favorable, are espe- 

 cially valuable for comparing with the growth data of chestnuts in 

 New Berlin, as the two localities are in the same State. The growth 

 data of chestnuts grown -in Connecticut, included in Table I, were 

 obtained by compiling the figures contained in Bulletin 154 of the 

 Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, entitled "Chestnut 

 in Connecticut and the Improvement of the Woodlot," by Austin F. 

 Hawes. 



Table I. — Diameter measurements and average ages of chestnut trees. 

 Diameter, Breast High (Inches). 





New York. 



Connecti- 

 cut. 



Mary- 

 land. 



Tennes- 

 see. 



West 

 Virginia. 



Age and diameter. 



New 

 Berlin. 



Hyde 

 Park. 



Age (years): 



10 



1.6 

 3.7 

 5.7 

 7.6 

 8.3 

 9.5 

 10.7 

 11.9 

 12.0 

 11.2 

 11.3 



2.5 

 4.9 

 7.2 

 9.4 

 11.4 

 12.9 

 14.0 





3.75 

 6.67 

 9.25 

 11.5 

 13.4 

 15.2 

 17.3 

 18.1 

 19.1 

 20.0 



0.7 



3.1 



5.6 



8.2 



11.2 



13.7 



16.0 



18.4 



20.3 



21.7 



22.7 



0.5 



20 



3.4 

 6.4 

 9.5 

 12.6 

 15.6 

 18.7 

 21.7 

 24.8 

 27.8 

 30.8 



2.4 



30 



4.3 



40 



6.4 



50 



8 4 



60 



10.4 



70 



12.5 



80 



14.4 



90 





16.3 



100 





18.2 



110 





19.9 











Age (Years). 



Diameter, breast high (inches): 



32 



25 



29 



17 



32 



46 



31 



35 



25 



39 



56 



38 



39 



29 



44 



65 



43 



42 



33 



46 



80 



47 



45 



38 



49 



90 



54 



48 



43 



53 



