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President Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Moore.
The next thing on the program is the talk by Mr. G. S. Jones of Phenix
City, Alabama, on Growing Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama.
Growing Chinese Chestnuts in Lee County, Alabama
G. S. JONES, R.F.D. 1, Phenix City, Alabama
Ever since childhood, chestnuts have held a fascination for me. How well I remember the delightful Sunday afternoon trips we used to make in the fall up on Earkett's Hill to gather a few small nuts from some native trees which often had been burned by woods fires. I occasionally revisit this area to see these trees, which are in better condition now than then. Native chestnuts were never, to my knowledge, very abundant in our area and are now indeed scarce, but I still hear of a few living trees, some of which grow as far south as North Florida.
I first became interested in Chinese chestnuts from an article I read in the early '30's in a Department of Agriculture yearbook which I think had been written by Mr. Gravatt. This article told about these trees being introduced into this country because of their high resistance to blight. Until this time I had heard little about chestnut blight. In order to find out more about these trees I wrote Mr. Gravatt, who in reply said seedling trees were available for distribution on an experimental basis. I applied for some of these, more, I must admit, to get them to grow on our place just to have some chestnuts than with any thought of disease resistance. When these trees came in the spring of 1934 I even had some trouble in getting permission to set them in an open field near the house, for chestnuts were considered as a tree of minor importance, to be grown in some out of the way place.
These trees were set in sandy loam soil with a porous yellow subsoil in a field of medium elevation which has excellent air drainage so I have had little damage from cold injury. The soil is of fair fertility for the Upper Costal Plain area. Of the trees sent me, fourteen of the ML selection, originating, I am informed by Mr. Gravatt, from seed obtained in Anhwei Province of China, and 10 MO selection originating in Chekiang Province were set in my orchard. Only two of these failed to survive, leaving a total of twenty-two. These were cultivated with the field crops, mostly cotton and corn, and I must admit didn't have much individual attention for several years. I even left the side branches to minimize injury from the mule and plow used in cultivation. Some leaves and trash were put around them at times and they received some benefit from the fertilizer of the row crops. I mention this to show that my chestnuts grew quite well though only moderately fertilized, but receiving good cultivation while young. I might mention that I set two trees in stiff Piedmont clay soil a few miles above here, to try them under woodland conditions. These have never done well, although one had burs but I found no nuts. Other trees which I observe have not been given cultivation grow very slowly, although I have not seen any tried on what I would consider good woodland areas.
My trees, spaced about 40 x 40 ft., have grown quite rapidly so that now some of the limbs are almost touching. Tree ML No. 2, which is about average size, measured last fall in diameter 12-1/2 inches, in height 24 feet, with a limb spread of 30 feet. By 1943 the trees were getting so large that cultivation was discontinued. An attempt is made to keep all litter possible in the orchard, which, with the shade of the trees, has caused much of the soil to become loose and mellow. Since our sandy soil is very low in calcium I applied limestone one time at the rate of about 1500 lbs. per acre. This I hoped would improve the texture of the soil and make better conditions for growing bur clover between the trees. Basic slag which contains about 10% phosphate was applied at the rate of about 600 lbs. per acre in the early '40's. For the last four or five years I applied about 200 lbs. of guano (4-10-7 usually) and 200 lbs of basic slag annually. Since 1944 I have been adding about 50 lbs. of minor mineral elements to the above mixture. Whether it is a coincidence or not I cannot say, but the next year after applying these elements my yields increased from 430 lbs. the previous year to 961 lbs. and have remained high ever since. Minor mineral elements show beneficial results on our garden crops, and I am inclined to believe they are needed, since our soil is so sandy and porous, and especially the soil that has been cultivated so long. Since my trees have produced so well with this moderate fertilization, I have made no check against higher rates of application. In fact I am against the use of large amounts of mineral guanos since I know certain tender shrubs and plants are injured by their use and some soil bacteria and animal life are also harmfully affected, according to reports I have read.
Three of my trees bore a few nuts at four years. No record of yields was kept until the seventh year or 1942, in which I gathered about 328 lbs. of nuts. After that my records show for 1943, 554 lbs., 1944—430 lbs; 1945—961 lbs; 1946—1722 lbs; 1947—1554 lbs. No individual tree records were kept except in a few cases. I kept a rough record by looking at the burs at the end of the season, and classed trees as excellent, good, or poor producers, along with other characteristics of the trees. However, I know several of my trees produced over 100 lbs. each in 1946 and one tree, ML No. 2, of which I kept a record by weight, in 1947 produced a little over 150 lbs. of nuts.