BULLETIN NO. 47. 
It is generally believed that the disease which is now destroying the 
American Chestnut-tree and the European Chestnuts planted in this 
country will not attack the Asiatic species. If these trees are really 
immune they will probably be of much economic importance in the 
United States. The Japanese Chestnut- tree ( Castanea crenata) is a 
common inhabitant of the mountain forests of the central and northern 
parts of the empire. The Japanese have paid much attention to im- 
proving it as a fruit tree and very large chestnuts are sold in the 
markets of Kobe and Osaka, and are sometimes imported into San 
Francisco; and nearly as large nuts are raised in great quantities in 
the neighborhood of the northern city of Awomori. Several of these 
improved forms of the Japanese Chestnut have long been cultivated in 
the United States; the tree is hardy in the Arboretum but it does not 
grow particularly well in eastern Massachusetts, and the climate of 
the middle states appears better to agree with it. Unless the rav- 
ages of the chestnut disease can be checked, it is to China that we 
must turn for a tree to replace the native Chestnut in New England. 
Fortunately the common Chestnut of northern and central China (C. 
mollissima) is a tree of good promise here. Raised in the Arboretum 
from nuts found in Peking by Professor Sargent in 1903 the plants 
have grown without any check or injury and are now forming tall 
straight stems and narrow heads. They flowered and produced a few 
fruits last year and they are now coming into bloom again and look 
as if they would soon become productive. The other Chinese Chestnut 
(C. Vilmoriniana ) is a larger tree and an inhabitant of the mountain 
forests of western Hupeh where it grows at altitudes between two 
and four thousand feet above the sea-level. Like the American Chin- 
quapin it has only one nut in a burr. Plants of this noble tree have 
been raised at the Arboretum from seed collected by Wilson and are 
growing well, but it is too soon to speak of its hardiness and value in 
this climate. The Chinquapin ( Castanea pumila) in the shrubby form 
common in the South Atlantic states, and in the tree form of the 
region west of the Mississippi River, from southern Missouri to Texas, 
is in flower. Although the species is not immune, the plants in the 
Arboretum have not yet been attacked by the disease. The Chinqua- 
pin blooms earlier than the common Chestnut-tree (C. dentata ) on which 
the flowers are usually open during the first week of July. The Chest- 
nut collection is on the right-hand side of the Valley Road just beyond 
the Hickories, going from the Centre Street entrance. 
Several Grapevines are in flower and their perfume fills the air. 
Much time and labor has been expended in forming this collection 
which is on the trellis at the east side of the Shrub Collection and is 
one of the most interesting and valuable in the Arboretum. These 
plants have great decorative value, but their value is still little known 
to gardeners and it is difficult to obtain many of the species. The 
value of Grapevines for covering walls can be seen near the Jamaica 
Plain entrance and on the wall between the Jamaica Plain and Forest 
Hills entrances, and their value for covering the ground can be seen at 
the junction of the Meadow and Hemlock Hill Roads, where there are 
grapevines which are cut back to the ground every spring. All the 
North American species which are hardy are growing in the Shrub 
Collection. Among little known species best worth attention are per- 
