ON THE CHESTNUT 
development, and to observe the progress of cions 
from several hundred seedlings on the same tree. 
This, of course, is precisely the method I used 
with my plums and other orchard fruits. The 
advantages already detailed in connection with the 
orchard fruits were found to apply equally to the 
chestnut. The engrafted cions were led to fruit 
much earlier than they would have done on their 
own roots; there was saving of space; and it was 
easy to hybridize the many cions that were thus 
collected on a single tree. 
Of course, I was carrying forward numerous 
experiments with the chestnut at the same time— 
crossing each species with every other species, so 
that in a single season there would be a large 
number of hybrid forms of different parentage. So 
when two of the hybrids were interbred, the 
strains of four different species or varieties were 
blended. Thus a hybrid of the second generation 
might combine the ancestral strains of the Japa- 
nese and European and American chestnuts and of 
the little chinquapin. 
Moreover I had opportunity for wide selection 
among hybrids that combined these various strains 
in different ways. And for the next generation, I 
could combine different hybrids or inbreed a given 
strain or introduce the traits of a different variety 
as I might choose. 
[101] 
