There seems to be a very good opportunity for growing the chestnut commercially beyond its present range; that is, where it is so infrequent as not to be in danger from infected growths nearby.
In the eastern part of the state different people have reported that the blight seemed to them to be dying out and, a number of these reports coming from a certain locality, the Commission decided to investigate one which seemed to be better reported than the others. It was found, after a very extensive investigation, that this dying out was true only in the sense that it was not spreading, perhaps, as fast as it had been spreading before. The mycelium and the spores were healthy and were affecting the new trees in quite the same manner as the year before and as in other parts of the state.
The Chairman: The question of controlling blight after it has appeared is of very great consequence. Concerning any commercial proposition with chestnuts the people are wide awake to the seriousness of the blight. They are afraid to go into growing chestnut orchards; they have had so many fake propositions in the past in pecan promotions that they are afraid of chestnuts and everything else. Any proposition for bringing forward chestnuts commercially must be a plain, simple, straightforward statement of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We are ready, all through the North and East, to raise hundreds of acres of chestnuts, such as Mr. Reed has spoken about, ones which resist the blight, or ones which resist the blight comparatively well.
Let us consider comparative immunity for a moment. We know how expensive it is to manage an apple orchard, and yet, with the present high prices, the profits on apple orchards, well managed, are great. May we not have chestnut orchards managed with the same degree of relative expense and the same degree of relative profit? I would like very much to hear from some of the men who have actually raised chestnuts in orchards concerning the relative care of the chestnut compared with the apple, and the relative profit. I see Col. Sober here; can't you tell us about your experience in managing the blight? Can it be managed successfully in proportion as apple tree parasites are managed?