Tip or simple layering seems to be the most satisfactory method of propagating the hazelnut and filbert. Shoots or suckers, one-year old and arising from the base of the plant are used. They are left attached to the mother plant and are bent over until the ends of tips rest upon the soil.
To encourage root growth, the underside of the branch to be covered with soil is frequently notched or ringed. The part of the branch in contact with the moist soil is then covered leaving a small portion of the end protruding. The branches are sometimes pegged down with forked sticks or weighted with stones. After one season's growth, the branch should be established with roots and top. It is then cut from the parent and removed for transplanting to its permanent location.
Well, now, my good friends, I have talked about five or ten minutes longer than I intended to, but you just listened so attentively you encouraged me, so it's your fault. I am happy to be here. Show me an organization like the Northern Nut Growers Association, as full of vim and vigor and vinegar and going ahead, and I will show you a successful organization.
Thank you.
MR. CHASE: Thank you, Professor Talbert, for a very nice message.
I am still a little angry at Professor Talbert because I realize now that if he had accepted my invitation to come to another good southern state two years ago our meeting would have been a much better one at Norris.
Now, we have several papers here which deal with chestnuts, and there seems to be a good deal of interest among the membership concerning chestnuts this year, and perhaps before we get into chestnuts for nut production we might hear a short resume of Dr. Graves' breeding work for timber type chestnut. This problem of chestnut for timber purposes, of course, accounts for the presence of Chinese and Japanese chestnuts in the country today, and yet most of our efforts to establish chestnut plantings for timber purposes have been unsuccessful. You heard from Dr. Diller last year concerning these efforts.
This paper will deal with the breeding work which is now under way by Dr. Graves in Connecticut, and I have asked Dr. McKay to give us a brief digest of this paper.
Chestnut Breeding Work: Report for 1950
ARTHUR HARMOUNT GRAVES
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.
and
Division of Forest Pathology, U.S.D.A. Plant Industry Station,
Beltsville, Maryland