My work has lately been facilitated by Mr. Gravatt and Mr. Clapper. I visited them at Beltsville and Mr. Clapper personally toured the orchard with me at Glenn Dale, showing me the kind of helpful courtesy that one never forgets and that is a tribute to these men.
Some promising material was given to me which will greatly facilitate my work. Mr. Gravatt suggested the use of "Ammate" as an experiment to poison trees that interfere with any American chestnut growth I wish to save. The experiment is intended to eliminate the resulting sprouts that accompany girdling. Incidentally, part of the experiment is to attempt to give light and cultivation and fertilizer to 100 native chestnut sprouts in a four acre area.
I have some information on American chestnut sprouts that may be of interest to the membership. In an endeavor to locate the best American material, I have been combing the woods and thickets on Long Island, in New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Dutchess County, New York (the latter not extensively). Many thousands of sprouts were examined to discover the following:
Their present status.
1. Sprouts occur almost always in woodlands.
2. They reach their greatest height and are most luxuriant at the edge of woodlands or in clearings therein.
3. They rarely exceed 15 feet in height and reach a diameter of about three inches.
4. One in many hundreds, and only where there is light in abundance, will bear flowers.
5. One in many thousands bears female or pistillate flowers which sometimes produce "blind" or empty nuts. [Unpollinated—ED.]
6. Rarely, indeed very rarely, are two flowering trees close enough to produce viable seed.