s of chestnuts directly from Japan. I
made two trips into Spain and the authorities there have promised to do
everything possible to eradicate these small spot infections.

In Denmark, England, France, Germany, Portugal, and Turkey no blight had
been reported by the authorities with whom I conferred, but in most of
these countries very little inspection work has been conducted. Any
inspection for blight in southern Europe is complicated by the presence
of the ink root rot disease, which from a distance looks like the
blight. I remember one grafted orchard planting, in the Asia Minor part
of Turkey, where a large proportion of the trees were dead or dying,
with yellow leaves hanging, resembling the blight. Incidentally, here,
as at a number of other places in different countries, orchards, forest,
and nearby agricultural land was owned by the village itself.

In southern France I was impressed by a most serious and widely
distributed disease of Persian walnuts. Vigorously growing trees start
to decline and within a year or two they are dead. The French
authorities had no satisfactory explanation of the trouble. I informed
them that it looked a lot like trees killed by ~Phytophthora cinnamomi~,
the cause of the chestnut root and ink disease in America and Europe.
This fungus also attacks both Persian and black walnuts and other trees
(including apples) under certain conditions.

Sincerely,
G. F. GRAVATT
Senior Pathologist,
Division of Forest Pathology

U. S. Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.

Nut Work of the Minnesota Experiment Station

March 27, 1950

Mr. Gilbert Becker,
Climax, Michigan

Dear Mr Becker:

I have heard that not long ago you sent out a questionnaire relative to
nut growing and grafting. Perhaps you would like to include the work
which has been going on at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
since 1918.

When this study was started, we had no information to give to many who
came to us with questions on nut growing possibilities in this state. At
no time have we attempted to promote commercial development as the
interest here seems to be almost wholly amateur.

Our first efforts, begun in 1918, were designed to test kinds and
varieties which could be grown in Minnesota. Black walnut varieties
such as Thomas, Ohio, Ten Eyck, Stabler and Miller were planted at
University Farm. Also sweet chestnuts Boone, Rochester, Cooper, Paragon,
Fuller and Progr