trees in their proper place. Man often acts in a
shortsighted way by depending largely on annual crops for the main
source of food for himself and his animals and neglects the long lived
trees which may not have to be planted but once in a lifetime and which,
if given a little intelligent management, will improve instead of
deplete his land and at the same time make a far more beautiful
landscape.

I only have a few trees (maybe 200 or 250) in my nursery which I usually
dispose of at the farm or use to set on my place. I have not attempted
to grow many seedlings as I don't wish to get into this phase of work.
It would take too much time from other work which I like to do. This
fall I have sold over 600 pounds of nuts to various nurseries for
planting so I would prefer that they grow and sell trees from my
orchard. I gather planting nuts from the trees which show the best
qualities, consistently, and sell the nuts from the other trees for
eating purposes. The trees from which I sell eating nuts have some bad
qualities such as some of the nuts being retained in burs, irregular or
poor production, and nuts that seem to be too dry at ripening so I would
not offer these for sale although the pollen from these trees does mix
with the others causing some of the nuts to carry these bad features, a
thing which will hardly be avoided in open-pollinated seedlings.

Your letter made me more proud of my orchard than ever when you made the
statement that my last year's production of 1,722 pounds for 22 trees so
young as mine may have set a record for production. [See 1946 NNGA
Report, p. 128--Ed.] I had little idea how my trees compared with other
orchards, for Mr. Gravatt had not told me anything about this. In fact I
have never seen him nor did I take the trouble to write and ask this
question. I knew my trees were producing much better than an orchard of
the Soil Conservation Service at Auburn but I attributed that to the
better type of soil (for chestnuts) in which my trees are set, and
better air drainage. I had also heard about an orchard near Blue Springs
above Columbus, Ga., which was not doing so well because the soil was
maybe too heavy or damp. I can say one thing and that is that my Chinese
chestnuts have surely surpassed my fondest hopes and dreams, for that
small area has certainly made me lots of money and has given me much joy
in tending it and watching it grow.

You asked me to give some information about my 1947 c