MR. O'ROURKE: He wishes to know of something to protect his chestnuts.
DR. McKAY: We don't plant in the Fall. I know of one person who uses red lead. We have never used it. I know that has been done. We store our chestnuts in cold storage over the winter and plant in the Spring.
C. S. WALTERS: May I interrupt? We tried 50 chemicals, treating walnut seed with them or putting them on the seed spot after the nut was planted. The squirrels lifted every nut except those that wouldn't have germinated anyway. The rascals knew the difference. We tried allylisothiocyanate—"tear gas." The squirrels would dig those nuts up and when the vapor got too strong they would go away and allow it to evaporate. Within two weeks they would come back—maybe two or three times—before they finally took the nut. We tried cayenne pepper and n-butyl mercaptan—the main ingredient in "polecat essence." We had squirrels all over our test plots, and the only nuts they didn't take were the bad ones.
MEMBER: I have had every other kind of rodent. I found I have to plant in the spring and always in a tin can, with rock wool over the nut.
MEMBER: We have used rock wool; planted in the spring. They will get them any time.
MEMBER: I did the same thing with chicken wire and no squirrels got them.
MEMBER: I would like to ask Mr. Chase if he has planted chestnuts on a quantity basis.
MR. CHASE: We planted them on a quantity basis and as some of you know our nursery is adjacent to a wooded area where you would assume there would be a lot of rodents and polecats, both kinds—four and two legged. I made that statement once before about never having had any squirrel damage. We don't have any trouble. We do not lose chestnuts. We mulch with composted mixtures.
MEMBER. They claim sawdust will help keep them away.
MR. CHASE: On the other hand, a gentleman wanted to get started with chestnut in the Smokies. We helped him get lined up and he planted in beds and these are perhaps a hundred feet long. We mulched heavily with sawdust. The area had been cut over six to eight years ago and had immense piles of sawdust. We mulched with about four inches and some animal got every chestnut out. We never knew what animal it was. There wasn't any evidence on the top. They got every chestnut which was quite a shock to him. I brought this point out that there was danger and he was going to build the bed up high and cover with wire or he was going to get some of this old camouflage netting type and cover that bed for protection both against rodents and early spring frost. He didn't follow through on that so I don't plead guilty.