(40) A hybrid between an American chestnut and a chinkapin. It blights freely like its American parent. Some of the hybrids do that while others show the resistance of the chinkapin parent. This particular tree grows lustily, and I have taken the trouble to cut out the blight every year. The leaves and general appearance are very closely like the common American chestnut. When it first began to bear, the nuts were of the chinkapin type, a single nut to the bur and hardly to be distinguished from other chinkapins. A year or two later the nuts changed in appearance, becoming distinctly lighter in color and with peculiar longitudinal corrugations of the shell. A year or so later still the tree made another change, and it now bears two or three nuts to the bur like the American chestnut, the nuts retain their light color and peculiar corrugation.
(41) A group of European hazels (_Corylus avellana_). Several years ago the Prince of Colloredo-Mannsfeld was visiting Merribrooke. His Highness was much interested in the experimental work in nut trees and later sent me a number of hazel nuts from one of his estates in Bohemia. Among the hazel bushes which grew from these nuts there was one which bore large, long, thin-shelled nuts of high quality. This bush, as you observe, has rather small dark leaves and stout, crooked branches. At one of the meetings of the Association I spoke of the bush as having a bony look, and Prof. J. Russell Smith referred to it in discussion as the "Bony Bush" hazel, and that name has been retained. I have grafted a number of other American and European hazels from this bush and I have sent scions to friends.
(42) A Cook shagbark hickory from Moscow, Ky., grafted upon bitternut stock. This variety bears a very large thin-shelled, irregular nut, with rather poor cleavage, but the quality of the kernel is of such distinct value that I prize the variety.
(43) An example of the spur graft. A common T cut is made in the bark of the stock and then a slice of guest bark carrying a small branch or spur is inserted. In this particular case I put in a branch about ten inches in length and you see that it is growing very well.
(44) My beautiful Merribrooke chestnut grafted upon an ordinary American chestnut stock growing by the roadside. Five years ago I noticed this little chestnut tree growing by the roadside with two stems. One of the stems was blighted and I cut it off and stopped the blight for the time being. The following year the other stem blighted and I trimmed out the blight and sprayed the stem with pyrox. In the following year I grafted the stock, but blight appeared at another point, the blight was cut out, and the stem again sprayed. In the following year blight appeared again, but at another point, and after cutting it out I put on tanglefoot, simply because I happened to have some with me when passing the tree. This year the stem has blighted again and I have cut out the blight and sprayed it, and I shall now whitewash a large part of the stock with whitewash containing a little carbolineum. The graft now in its third year is bearing one big bur. The interesting point is that this tree has blighted every year for five years, and I have kept it going along by giving it attention. This means if we are willing to take the trouble we can get the best of the blight, even with such a remarkably vulnerable tree as this one proves to be.