[3] Weather records are taken from the monthly reports of the municipal airport at New Haven, Conn., and are compared with the New York City records for the same period, kept by the U. S. Weather Bureau at 17 Battery Place, New York City.
As in former years we continued the formation of hybrids of the combination C×J×A[4] which has to date given the most resistant individuals and the best timber form. 277 hybrid nuts of this combination were obtained by crossing JA with C, and C with JA. JA×J crossed with C yielded 25 nuts. CJA crossed with pollen from the Roxbury Americans gave 20 nuts. The Chinese-American hybrids are also promising both in form and in blight resistance. By crossing these with American pollen from Thomaston, Conn., and from Clinton Corners, N. Y., we secured 48 nuts. CA crossed with a good native American in Thomaston, Conn., resulted in 30 nuts, and the same combination using an American in Newfoundland, N. J., produced 9 nuts. The total number of nuts derived from all crosses was 504, a much smaller figure than that for the two preceding years. The reason for this is that considerable time was consumed in experiments designed to determine the length of the receptive period in the pistils.
[4] C = Chinese, J = Japanese, A = American chestnut.
The 1953 nut production (Table I) compared well with last year's. The total yields were as good as, or better than, the 1952 crop and the average weight per nut was not significantly lower than in 1952. Apparently the late summer and fall drought had no effect on nut yields and average weights. Obviously we have the warm winter and abundant early rains to thank for this situation.
Table I. Natural Yield of Nuts (open pollinations) From Sample Trees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total yield Av. weight per Approximate Age in Species Location in lbs. nut in grams no. of nuts years 1952 1953 1952 1953 per lb.[A] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 _C.crenta_ 13-2 27.5 43.3 14.5 14.0 32 27 _C.mollissima_ 1-3 22.2 20.8 10.6 10.5 43 27 _C.mollissima_ 1-9 28.2 26.2 9.9 9.7 46 27 _C.mollissima_ 1-15 6.8[B] 20.6 12.9 11.7 39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. based on the 1953 weights B. a considerable part of crop lost before it was collected