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Breeding Timber Chestnuts for Blight Resistance

The Division of Forest Pathology, U.S.D.A. has been breed -ing chestnuts for blight resistance since 1909.The Brooklyn Botanic Garden began breeding blight-resistant chestnuts in 1930, and in 1947 transferred this project to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. The aims of both of these projects have always been fundamentally the same--to breed a chestnut tree of timber type, resistant to the chestnut blight and winter hardy. At the same time the quality and quantity of nut yield have not been totally disregarded but are of secondary importance. Other valuable by-products of this breeding work are the development of types suitable for preventing erosion on the drier sites and the development of prolific nut-bearing types suitable for wildlife. However, the main objective is the combination of erect, rapid growth with blight resistance.


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Author(s): G. F. Gravatt, Jesse D. Diller, Frederick H. Berry, A. H. Graves, Hans Nienstadet

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Northeastern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1953