You have just come from Dr. Van Fleet's chestnuts. You know that this is the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) which Meyer found in China. Dr. Van Fleet would probably tell you this is not the way to prune them if you want to increase the chances of these Chinese chestnuts withstanding the bark disease. You are probably familiar with the fact that Meyer discovered over in China on this species the original chestnut bark disease which has destroyed our chestnuts in this country. He found that this variety was highly resistant but not entirely immune to the disease. Dr. Galloway, who is handling the propagation and distribution of these Chinese chestnuts, for our office, wishes to have it understood that in the distribution of these which we will make in the spring we desire to have them sent out in blocks; we would rather not distribute these Chinese chestnuts in single specimens but would be very glad to consider offers from people who have a quarter or a half of an acre that they want to plant. We want to get some idea of the behavior of this species as an orchard crop.
This illustrates the way, as I understand it, that Dr. Van Fleet thinks the trees should be treated, on the left; the way they should not be treated on the right. They seem to be much more susceptible to the disease when pruned up in this neat orchard fashion.
One of Meyer's photographs taken at Fanshan, northeast of Pekin, where he found the chestnut bark disease. This is the way the trees appeared. This gives you some idea of the size of Chinese chestnuts which he got. Those back on the hills are all Chinese chestnuts on rather poor soil as he explains in his description of the photographs.
This is an orchard of Chinese chestnuts as planted by the Chinese on the richer soils of the low lands which show larger trees. Even when full sized they do not compare with our American chestnut but are old enough to show you that they have not been killed by this bark disease.
These trees show signs of the disease but that they have a high degree of resistance is apparently beyond dispute. This shows the black scar near the top which Meyer diagnoses as the remains of the chestnut bark disease.
The scar there in the crotch of this chestnut tree indicates the degree of resistance of this species. Just how it is going to behave here in America no one can tell but that it would be possible to grow orchards of these Chinese chestnuts with the care which you exercise in growing pears or even peaches I think is a pretty safe guess.
Meyer remarks that this tree is probably a century old and with signs of this disease on it. Here is one that he marks as between two and three centuries old.
This, gentlemen, is the newest arrival in this country coming from East Africa near Zanzibar. In Curtis's magazine there is published an account of this nut after Mr. Playfair a British subject who had lived on the island of Zanzibar. This is one of the most curious and most interesting nuts that has been brought to our attention.
It is borne by a climbing vine the stem of which sometimes reaches six or seven inches in diameter. The fruit is between two and one-half and three feet long and eight inches in diameter, and bears between 250 and 264 of these large seeds about the size of chestnuts and with a delicate flavored. In 1884 this Mr. Playfair sent some of these nuts to England, but we have just discovered them so to speak. They will probably grow in our tropical possessions and we must not overlook the fact that after all there is a distinct drift in our agriculture towards the development of that part of the globe which has been so overlooked by horticulturists in the past. It is not at all impossible that some of you who are here in this audience today will buy that Playfairia on the markets.
I thank you very much indeed for your attention.