A heavy attack from the spring canker worms developed in 1951, but spraying with DDT on May 24th prevented serious damage. No outbreak of canker worms appeared in the spring of 1952. The Japanese beetle has been very little in evidence. The principal bad actors are the mites, _Paratetranychus bicolor._ Although barely visible to the naked eye, the effect they produce of whitening the leaves is conspicuous, especially on the Chinese chestnut and its hybrids. These insects overwinter in egg form on the surface of the bark. Last winter they were so numerous on some of the trees that the bark had taken on a red color--especially on smooth-barked trunks just below a branch. An application of "Scalecide" on April 21, while the trees were still dormant, followed by two heavy applications of "Aramite" (6-7 lbs. per acre) on June 13th and 27th, gave good control for the rest of the summer. Spraying with DDT for weevils was done on August 18th and September 3rd in 1952 with good results. Cooperative Hybrid Chestnut Plantations In 1947 the first hybrid chestnut plantation under forest conditions was made in cooperation with the U.S.D.A. Bureau of Plant Industry, Division of Forest Pathology. The plantations are made in order to test the hybrids under normal forest conditions and different climatic conditions. In general, each plantation consists of about 100 trees, 50 U.S.D.A. hybrids and 50 Connecticut hybrids. The trees are planted at a 10' by 10' spacing, and the overstory is girdled at the time of planting in order to give the plants better light conditions without causing an abrupt change in the microclimate of the forest floor--a method developed by Dr. J. D. Diller of the Division of Forest Pathology (1). Ten plantations at 9 locations have been established since 1947. These are listed below: No. of Plots Location Year Established ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Edward Childs Estate, Norfolk, Conn. 1947 1 Tennessee Valley Authority, Norris, Tenn. 1947 1 Table Rock State Park, Pickens, S.C. 1948 1 Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio 1948 1 Upper Perkiomen Valley Park, Green Lane, Pa. 1949 1 So. Ill. Univ. Fish & Wildlife Service, Cartersville, Ill. 1949 1 Russ State Forest, Decatur, Mich. 1951 2 Nathan Hale State Forest, Coventry, Conn. 1951 1 Ouichata Nat'l. Forest, Hot Springs, Ark. 1952 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Connecticut State Ownership of Sleeping Giant Plantations