Prof. Neilson: Hickory nuts frequently sell for about 10c a pound, sometimes as low as three pounds for a quarter.
After the discussion closed three telegrams were read, from the Kellogg Hotel, The Agard Hotel and The Chamber of Commerce of Battle Creek, Mich. inviting the association to hold its next meeting in that city. A motion was unanimously adopted to hold the next convention there September 10th and 11th, 1934.
Motion was made to give Mr. Z. H. Ellis a life membership in return for his contribution of $50.00. The motion carried.
Miss Sawyer: Is the mollissima chestnut blight proof?
The President: I should like to have Dr. Smith answer that question.
Dr. Smith: The mollissima chestnut came from China where it has been exposed to the blight for ages. It is blight resistant but not blight proof. An occasional tree gets the blight and dies; an occasional tree gets the blight and recovers. It is the opinion of Mr. G. F. Gravatt, of the United States Department of Agriculture, that the physical prosperity of the tree has much to do with its ability to throw off this disease. For example, some of the trees at Bell, Maryland, got to be a foot in diameter and bore crops, without any sign of blight until the terrible drought year of 1930 when some of them developed blight and then later recovered from it. I think mollissima chestnuts are less likely to die than cherries or peaches, and probably less likely than apples.
While the subject of blight resistance in chestnuts is up, I should like to call attention to the fact that there are many Japanese chestnuts in the eastern part of the United States that have survived the blight. Some of them bear good nuts, very good nuts, although most of the Japanese have a properly bad reputation for flavor. Doubtless an experimenter has a chance of producing something very valuable by breeding from the best blight resistant Japanese chestnuts now surviving in the eastern United States.