An additional planting at Philema in the Brown tract was made in 1938. The trees were planted in a portion of a five-acre block at some distance from the original plantings, with a spacing of 25 feet apart on the square in soil of rather light and sandy texture with fair subsoil drainage. The fertility was low but has been improved through the use of winter leguminous green manure crops and commercial fertilizers. Some of the trees planted consisted of trees grown from carefully selected _Castanea mollissima_ nuts imported from south China and designated by the initials MBA, MAY, MAZ, and MAX. Others carried the designating letters of "FP." The nuts from which these trees were grown were imported by the Division of Forest Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture which also grew and distributed the trees. Still others were selections of _C. crenata_, the Japanese chestnut; and _C. mollissima_ selections from an experimental planting in California were also included. In 1940 the remainder of the five-acre block was planted with trees grown from seed produced by the original Philema planting.
Table I. Summary of chestnut yields at Philema, Georgia.
______________________________________________________ | | | HARVEST DATA | |______________________________| | | | 1926 and 1935 Planting[3] | Length |______________________________| Date Harvest | | Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield | Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree | _______________________|______________________________| | | 1932 | 14 3 4.7 | 1933 | 7 7 1.0 | 1934 | 80 16 5.0 | 1935 8-29 22 | 222 22 10.1 | 1936 8-26 33 | 379 25 15.1 | 1937 8-26 37 | 278 18 15.4 | 1938 8- 6 42 | 480 21 22.9 | 1939 8-15 42 | 995 26 38.3 | 1940 8-27 38 | 740 34 21.8 | 1941 8-14 51 | 1,467 38 38.6 | 1942 9- 3 41 | 876 32 27.4 | 1943 9- 9 26 | 1,335 38 25.1 | 1944 8-15 44 | 560 29 19.3 | 1945 8-18 34 | 1,450 27 53.7 | 1946 8-20 41 | 1,455 28 52.0 | 1947 8-26 43 | 1,975 27 73.1 | _______________________|______________________________|
_______________________________________________________________ | | HARVEST DATA |_______________________________________ | | 1938 and 1940 Planting[4] Length |_______________________________________ Date Harvest | Year Harvest Period | Yield No. Trees Av. Yield Range in Began in Days | in Lbs. Bearing per Tree Yields _______________________|_______________________________________ | 1941 8-14 51 | 44 63 .7 .1-6.9 1942 9- 3 41 | 30 46 .7 .1-5.2 1943 9- 9 26 | 357 108 3.3 .1-29.7 1944 8-15 44 | 716 136 5.3 .1-37.0 1945 8-18 34 | 3,025 208 14.6 .1-50.7 1946 8-20 41 | 1,447 173 8.4 .1-48.3 1947 8-26 43 | 6,615 188 35.2 .1-108.5 _______________________|_______________________________________