On April 11, 1951, at a meeting at the "Little Red House", Sleeping Giant Mountain, the lands on the Sleeping Giant Mountain, Hamden, Connecticut, about 10 acres, on which about 1500 chestnut trees are now growing, including nearly every chestnut species known to science, and many valuable, blight resistant hybrids, were formally deeded over to the State of Connecticut by their owner, the senior writer of this report. The meeting was attended by officials of the Sleeping Giant Park Association, the Connecticut State Park and Forest Commission, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Yale School of Forestry. The transfer to the State was made with the understanding that The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station would continue the chestnut breeding work. The whole region is now undergoing a fairly rapid housing development, and in the ordinary course of mortal events this plantation would have been divided into building lots within the next few decades. The State ownership will obviate this, and The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station sponsorship will assure a continuation of the breeding work. Literature Cited 1. Diller, J. D. Growing chestnuts for timber. 37th Ann. Rept. of Northern Nut Grower's Assn. for 1946. 66-68. 1947. 2. Graves, Arthur Harmount. A method of controlling the chestnut blight on partially resistant species and hybrids of _Castanea_. 41st Ann. Rept. of Northern Nut Growers Assn. 1950. 149-151. 1951. 3. Hauser, Willibald. Zur Physiologie des Gerbstoffes in der Pflanzenzelle. III. Protoplasma 27:125-130. 1936-37. 4. Nienstaedt, Hans. Tannin as a factor in the resistance of chestnut, castanea spp., to the chestnut blight fungus, _Endothia parasitica_. Phytopathology 43:32-38. 1953. 5. Nierenstein, M. The natural organic tannins. J. & A. Churchill. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 18: Also of The Division of Forest Pathology, U.S.D.A., Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland.] [Footnote 19: Records furnished by the U.S. Weather Bureau at New Haven, Conn.] [Footnote 20: October, 1952, was among the six driest Octobers on record. These were: 1879, 1892, 1897, 1916 and 1924. From U.S. Weather Report, New York City.] Effect of Vermiculite in Inducing Fibrous Roots on Tap-Rooting Tree Seedlings HERBERT C. BARRETT[21] and TORU ARISUMI[22] When seedlings of nut trees and other tap-rooted species are transplanted from nursery to orchard, the percentage of survival in often quite low. Perhaps the chief reason for this failure is the marked and pronounced tendency of most tap-rooted plants to produce little or no fibrous, branched roots in lieu of the long, straight, and seldom branched tap roots.