Tasie 1. American chestnut scionwood accessions, screened for blight 
resistance, 1954-60. 
Year Scionwood accessions received from— Scions distributed to— 
No. No. 
1954 Md., Mo., Va. 5 Md., Ga., Tenn. 100 
1955 Conn., Md., Mass., Mo., Mich., 25 Ala, Ark., Ga., Ill, Md., Mich., 800 
N.Y., Va. Mo., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Va., W.Va. 
1956 Conn., Iil., Ia., Md., Mass., Me. 47 Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., |” 800 
Mo., N.H., Minn., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., La., Me., Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., 
Va., W.Va. Mo., N.H., N.J., N.C., Ohio, Pa., 
R.I., $.C., Tenn., Texas, Vt., Va., 
W.Va. 
1957 Conn., Md., Mass., Mo., N.H. 51 Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Mass. 900 
N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa, Va. W.Va. Md., Mo., N. J NHL N.Y, NC, 
Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., 
Va., W.Va. 
1958 Conn., Ind., Ky., Md., N.Y., Ohio. 35 Ala., CG a. D.C., Ill., Ind., Ky. 00 
Pa., Vt. Va, W.Va. ‘ Ma. Mass, NEL, J. NY. a 
Ohio, Pa., Vt., Va., W.Va. 
1959 Ind., Md., Me., Mich., Mo., N.Y., 42 Conn., D.C., Ind., Md., Mass., 650 
Ohio, Pa., Vt., Va. W.Va. Me., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., 
R.L, Vt., Va., W.Va. 
1960 Conn., Md., Me., Mich., Mo., 49 Conn., D.C., Ind., Ky., La., Me., | 1,000 
Minn., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., $.C., Vt, Mass.. Mich., N.H., N.J., N.Y., 
Pla W.Va., Wis., Nova Scotia, Ohio, Pa., R.L, Vt, Va., W.Va. 
ntario 
accessions are included; and each year certain earlier accessions that 
failed to show promise—either because their grafts blighted during the 
first growing season, or because of consistently poor results with grafts 
—are discontinued in the screening test. 
Scionwood has been received from the following states: Connecticut, 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New 
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West 
Virginia, and from Nova Scotia and Ontario, Canada. Well over half 
of the chestnut trees under test are from five states: Maryland (33), 
New York (22), Pennsylvania (13), Virginia (11), and West Virginia (14). 
Successful unions have been obtained in about 25 percent of the 
grafts made during the past 7 years. However, some cooperators always 
report 40 to 60 percent of successful grafts, while others report only 
5 to 15 percent of takes. Many of the cooperators have shown definite 
improvement in the art of grafting. 
Factors responsible for failures in grafting are: (1) weak scionwood, 
i.e., scionwood that is “pithy” and has poorly developed buds; (2) 
scionwood that has been mishandled, i.e., either too dry or too wet; 
(3) using dull cutting tools in performing the grafting operation; (4) 
placing the graft on a suppressed rather than on a dominant branch in 
the crown; (5) neglect in after-care of the graft, i.e., failing to remove 
competing rootstock branches near the American graft; and (6) un- 
favorable climatic conditions immediately following the grafting 
operation, i.e., a prolonged dry spell. 
Factors that contribute to success in grafting are: (1) a razor-keen 
grafting knife; (2) a tight-fitting surface between scion and rootstock, 
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