6 MICHIGAN CIRCULAR BULLETIN NO. 135 
Table I.—Growth of Chestnut in Michigan 
No. of Diameter | Diameter | Height Yield 
. Age, oe average | maximum | average | per acre, 
Species years trees tree, | tree, tree, cubic 
per acre | inches inches feet feet 
ne Gen Dekchmetaetie aeian 12 100 4.0 7.5 |- 20 78 
RoE SE epee erred cbabnerenee ae z| er| wa] 200; 65| 2,100 
Chestnuts: sg ais sa aveens td Bis on ees ote 45 51 19.9 27.0 65 2,700 
Michigan. The oldest forest trees set out in the state were planted in 
1876 by Dr. William James Beal of the Michigan State College. Although 
many of the trees died, several are still rather successfully competing with 
such species as oak, beech, maple, and a great variety of other hardwoods 
as well as conifers. 
Referring to this mortality, Coons (3) states, “Dr. Beal, who planted 
nearly all of the trees and who has watched their growth for years, attributes 
the death of the trees to severe winters.” : 
The planting of chestnut on sites similar to those found on their experi- 
mental forest areas near Ann Arbor is not recommended by the University 
School of Forestry and Conservation. While other hardwoods, such as 
sugar maple, cottonwood, black locust, yellow poplar, and red oak, have 
shown a mean annual height growth of approximately one foot or more, 
chestnut has shown a mean of less than 0.5 feet. The trees in this plantation 
were set out in 1906. The trees were planted 6 by 6 in a deep fresh clay 
loam with little organic matter in the soil. At 19 years of age the average 
height was only 8.3 feet, according to Young. (6) A great number of the 
trees were winter-killed in 1910 and in 1911. Mice girdled many of these 
chestnut trees in 1912, 1913, and 1914. As the vacant spaces in this planta- 
tion were filled in with white pine, red oak, and European larch in 1917, 
and in 1925 with Scotch pine, the plantation is now a mixed one. Although 
chestnut blight infection occurs on native trees only a few miles east of 
Ann Arbor, no blight has been found in this plantation. 
The Spread of the Chestnut Blight 
That chestnut blight infection has spread rapidly from the original center 
of its introduction at New York City is well known to everyone interested 
in forestry and chestnut culture. The unchecked spread of the parasite 
into New England forests and its advance in a southwesterly direction along 
the slopes of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains has wrought more 
destruction than any other forest-tree disease known. The blight organism 
has invaded the forests of the Southern Appalachians and has been found 
in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan. Although a spot infection has 
been reported in a commercial orchard in western Illinois, this blighted 
chestnut was destroyed. : 
The chestnut blight was first discovered in Michigan in 1916. It was 
found on Paragon nursery stock which had been shipped into this state 
from New York and planted in the forestry nursery at the State College. 
The diseased plants were destroyed as soon as they were discovered and no 
‘This infection involved only one limb and was eradicated at the time. 
