st have had some difficulty in crossing the
species because they did not bloom at exactly the same time. He was,
however, successful in securing five hybrid seeds, raising three trees
from them, naming them the Blair, the Boone and the Riehl. Naturally
there were differences in the characteristics of these trees though they
were all vigorous and produced nuts of commercial value. The Blair and
Riehl began to bear at four and five years respectively, while the Boone
bore its first crop at seventeen months of age. The Boone is the most
valuable since it matures fruit of good quality about two days earlier
than the Blair and two weeks before the Riehl. It also retains the burr
and drops the nuts free at the beginning of the season so that about
half the nuts can be picked up before the burrs fall.

Mr. Endicott was so pleased with the results of the cross that he raised
over 175 seedlings from the Boone tree. From these second generation
hybrids he secured trees very uneven in growth and size with a great
range in time of coming into bearing. The nuts differed widely in size,
quality, and season of ripening. The character of the burr showed all
gradations between the extremes of thickness, length, rigidity of
spines, etc. These striking variations in the second generation trees
show that many hereditary factors had been segregated and recombined and
offer a most interesting opportunity for scientific study. I have
visited the orchard several times.

Mr. Endicott died in 1914 but his son Robert has since cared for the
trees which have brought him considerable revenue. He tells me that he
secures about 160 pounds of nuts per year from each of the three
original trees. At an average price of thirty-five cents a pound
wholesale the crop from each tree is worth $56.05 per year. Since the
chestnut blooms late it is pretty certain to escape spring frosts. The
Blair, for example, has had a crop failure once only since beginning to
bear.

(Displays photographs of the Japanese and American chestnuts and the
Boone tree).

Mr. Endicott is top working some of the worthless second generation
trees with wood from the Boone tree.

(Displays photographs showing method of grafting).

I have had the good fortune to visit Mr. Riehl several times and have
secured many representative nuts from his collection. While he has grown
a large number of nut species and varieties he believes that the
chestnut pays the best in southern Illinois. H