Blight-Resistant Chestnuts and Related Tree Crops 1 
Crosses between the Chinese hairy chestnut and the J apanese 
chestnut (Castanea crenata) might yield valuable hybrids, the latter 
being very resistant and yielding nuts of good size. 7 
_ Data as to the location of bearing trees providing suitable mate- 
rial for breeding will be furnished on request. 
EUROPEAN CHESTNUT 
(Castanea sativa Miller) 
_ The European chestnut has been cultivated and used for centuries 
in many parts of the world. It is one of the most widely distributed 
nut-food trees. It may have come from eastern Asia. Certain it is 
that it was well scattered throughout the south of France at the 
beginning of the Christian era. It was early introduced into 
Britain, probably by the Romans, and became so well established 
that it behaves like a native tree. The nuts were easily transported 
and early introduced into the United States, There are records 
of grafted trees and small grafted orchards in this country before 
the Revolutionary War. The early Spanish colonists scattered the 
trees throughout their possessions, and the species thus became 
established in many Spanish countries. It was taken to the Philip- 
pines by the Spaniards, and according to P. J. Wester ancient trees 
are still occasionally met with in old monastic gardens on those 
islands. 
The European chestnut grows to a large size, often attaining a 
height of 90 feet or more with a girth of 20 to 30 feet. The leaves 
are oblong-lanceolate, with rather coarse serrations. The nuts are 
larger than those of the Chinese hairy chestnut and our own Ameri- 
can species. The shell is dark brown and is usually tough and 
leathery. The quality of the nut is rather indifferent and does not 
compare favorably with our own chestnuts and a number of. other 
species that will be mentioned later. 
The Office of Foreign Plant Introduction has made several im- 
portations of this chestnut, but nothing new has developed as a 
result of this work. Considerable areas were planted to this chest- 
nut in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 
land prior to the advent of the blight, by which most of these 
orchards have been swept out of existence. As blight has not 
invaded the Pacific coast, trees of the European chestnut are now 
found in the valleys of Washington, Oregon, and California. There 
are also scattered plantings in sections west of the Allegheny 
Mountains, but most of these are hybrids and not pure types of 
Castanea sativa. 
Because of the rather indifferent quality of the nut and its sus- 
ceptibility to blight, there would appear to be no great future for 
this chestnut in this country except as a possible source of supply- 
ing timber and tannin when planted outside of our native chestnut 
region. There are numerous varieties, some of which are believed 
to be hybrids. It is possible that some of these hybrids, containing 
as they probably do the blood of our own native chestnut, might 
prove of value for further breeding work, using Castanea mollis- 
sima and possibly (. crenata and our own native chinquapin for 
crossing. There may be and doubtless are European varieties and 
types of this chestnut worthy of introduction for breeding and 
