MR. JONES: Some of your varieties are hybrids aren't they? MR. VOLLERTSEN: They are all hybrids. I have a few of the real, original _avellana_ type I think got there by accident. PRESIDENT REED: I believe the next paper is one the secretary has from Mr. A. H. Graves. DISEASE RESISTANCE IN THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT[1] ARTHUR H. GRAVES (Read by the Secretary) Your secretary, Mr. Bixby, has asked me to tell you about the native chestnut trees in the vicinity of New York City which I have found to be resistant to the destructive bark disease. I commenced the search for such trees in the summer of 1918, at the suggestion of Dr. Haven Metcalf, of the laboratory of Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry. During the campaign in Pennsylvania against the bark disease, scouts had been on the lookout for immune or resistant trees, but without result. As far as I am aware, no systematic organized search had been made for such individuals. It was our plan to commence the search in the region of New York City, because this area is probably the oldest center of infection in the United States. Apparently this is the port of entry where the undesirable immigrants (Japanese or Chinese chestnuts) passed through quarantine and were allowed to disembark carrying their terrible scourge with them unnoticed. According to Metcalf and Collins,[2] this was probably as early as 1893. This was why we selected this area to begin on, for here the disease has had a longer opportunity to run its course than anywhere else, and, consequently, has had ample time (more than a quarter of a century) to call out the non-resistant trees. Those remaining, if any could be found, might be suspected, _a priori_, of being resistant. As the work progressed, I soon realized that it would be most difficult, or perhaps impossible, to locate resistant or immune trees in a region not so long exposed to infection; for, in such a region, one would have to inoculate all individuals suspected of possessing resistant qualities, in order to ascertain whether their healthy condition was actually due to resistant qualities or simply the result of a chance escape of infection. We therefore decided to restrict the work, for the present at least, entirely to a definite area about New York City. This area includes all of the territory within a radius of about 16 miles from New York City Hall, and therefore comprised in a general way, Greater New York and the adjacent parts of New Jersey. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY