was still alive and had nuts on it, the
second was dying and a third dead. This fourth union was still alive,
but it was badly damaged, too. That's Illinois 31 -4 on Japanese. Here
is another graft of Illinois 31 -4 on Japanese in a small tree, and if
that's poor union, I am no grafter!

Mr. Hardy: Mr. Stoke, may I ask you this: Is this [small graft] on the
same tree as this? [Indicating larger tree first referred to.]

Mr. Stoke: No. Those four grafts, you see, all went bad. This one is in
perfect condition. But I am having a hard time keeping that Illinois 31
-4 alive. I had a union on _mollissima_ three inches in diameter and as
perfect as this, two years ago. Last year it began to bulge at the point
of union. The top wasn't feeding back to the root, and this year it is
in bad condition,--foliage very small and it put on a very full crop of
burs which will never mature, and it's going to pass out. It is about
four inches in diameter now.

Last year to try to beat this thing I cut out the crown of a small
_mollissima_ at the below-ground level and put in several grafts of this
same Illinois 31 -4, and I got a nice growth, at least four feet high.
When I dug it up to transplant it--it was right in my garden--I found I
had a large callus more than an inch and a half in diameter at the union
but no roots. I reset it, and I haven't ventured to see whether it was
all right or not. This spring I tried again.

I have four little trees, one as high as my head, the others smaller. I
grafted each one on branch roots just as they lay in the ground. Didn't
dig them up and they grew nicely, and along in July I went around and
spaded them deeply and thought perhaps that would produce roots. About a
week ago I examined one. I have a magnificent callus but no roots yet
above the union. What the ultimate results will be I don't know.

With that particular hybrid I want to try one more thing. I want to grow
seedlings of the European chestnut, cut them below the ground, graft
Illinois 31 -4 on the root and it may make a union that will not fail,
because the European is a very robust grower, and by being grafted under
the ground the stock will be away from blight organisms.

[Editor's Note: Mr. C. A. Reed is naming this variety (Ill. 31-4)
"Colby" in honor of the originator, Dr. Arthur S. Colby.]

Mr. Hirschi: I would like to say I put on hybrids similar to that
Illinois 31 -4 and they grew the first year, and just made a bulky kno