CHESTNUT BLIGHT IN MICHIGAN 
DOW V. BAXTER and FORREST C. STRONG? 
Although chestnut formerly held a leading place among eastern hardwood 
trees because of its abundance, rapid growth, and wood properties, it has 
never been commercially important in Michigan for lumber. This is due to 
the fact that its occurrence in Michigan has been limited to local areas in 
the southeastern part of the State. Chestnut extends naturally as far north 
as St. Clair county and it occurs abundantly on the sandy loam soils in 
eastern Monroe and Wayne counties. (Plate I.) Much of this remaining 
natural chestnut, however, is threatened by the rapid industrial development 
and expansion’ of nearby cities. 
A number of chestnut plantations have been established in Michigan with 
native and hybridized stock. The oldest planting was made, according to 
the best records available, about sixty-five years ago. (Plate IIB.) Al 
though these trees have been injured by ice storms and have been badly 
damaged by grazing, the trees continue to produce nut crops. The chestnut 
here were set out in a sandy loam, 25 to 40 feet apart, and were cultivated 
for the first 12 or 15 years. Since that time, the area has been closely 
pastured by sheep and cattle. As a result of this grazing, many of the 
trees have been injured as indicated by the presence of such chestnut heart- 
rotting fungi as Polyporus spraguei and P. sulphureus. As early as 1888, 
these trees, on an area of about one acre, produced nuts worth $10 or $15 
each year (5).2. Today orchards planted at the same time are producing 
5 to 8 bushels of nuts per acre practically every year which bring a price 
of from $60 to $160 per acre to the grower.® 
Numerous other plantations are to be found in Michigan. (Plate IIA.) 
Some of these date back to 1894 and 1896. Measurements given by Chit- 
tenden (2) for some of these plantations are presented in Table I. 
The 37-year-old planting, according to this author, has yielded 15 bushels 
of nuts to the acre some years. 
In forest plantations of chestnut, the trees are usually spaced 6 by 6 feet 
instead of the required wider spacings of 20 by 20 feet or more for nut 
culture. Very few forest plantations, however, have been established in 
"Dow V. Baxter, Ph. D., Asst. Professor of Silvics and Forest Pathology, School 
of Forestry and Conservation, University of Michigan. 
Forrest C. Strong, M. S., Asst. Professor of Botany, Michigan State College. 
The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance and co-operation of the Office 
of Forest Pathology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, in furnishing many of the illus- 
trations, for valuable information and for making possible some of the inspection 
work. 
?The numbers in parentheses refer to the literature cited at the close of this paper. 
2From information furnished by the late Professor A. K. Chittenden which he 
obtained through correspondence with owners of chestnut orchards in Michigan. 
