[Daffynition]

[ClearCase_guy]

I won’t live long enough to see it, but it would be a great thing to have elms and chestnuts become common again.

[cripplecreek]

I have a vague recolection of a few Chestnut trees that grew in my hometown.

[Lil'freeper]

Leila Pinchot

Apropos surname for such an endeavor.

[trisham]

I hope it works. I love trees, although I’m allergic to them. :)

[madison10]

Wonderful news!

[IrishCatholic]

Truly inspirational.

[CholeraJoe]

Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

Longfellow

[fella]

Dolly Parton ( somebody post some pictures) has been financing studies to bring back the American chestnut at her Dollywood entertainment park for a number of years.

[firebrand]

This is great news.

My father's ancestors come from the level of the mountains where the chestnut trees grow, in Italy. All the men were all carpenters when they came here. Usually when all the immigrants from one town have the same profession, it's because the older immigrants teach the newer ones from their same town. In this case, it's because the sawmill was there (Serra San Bruno) and they all learned to make beautiful things out of the wood.

At Christmastime, I used to watch the old men taste the chestnuts, like they were sampling a fine wine. It's a mystery to me why we have no fabulous chestnut recipes in our family, though. Maybe the chestnuts were considered too marvelous and rare, since the trees bore only a short part of the year. Would you chop them up and make something else out of them?

[SunkenCiv]

some little bit of info about chestnut and elm:

http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/projects_saving.php

ah ha! Here it is.

http://www.libertyelm.com/about.htm

The Liberty elm is not a hybrid. ERI’s American Liberty elm is actually a group of six genetically different cultivars. All six look like classic, old fashioned American elms. “You have to look closely and know what you’re looking for to tell the difference among the six,” says Hansel. “To be sure which one you have, you really need DNA analysis.”

Genetic differences provide diversity. Having six cultivars in the series is insurance against all the elms being wiped out by any disease or problem, even one that might show up in the future. ERI mixes all six cultivars in its shipments.

[bert]

I have approximately 30 All American Chestnut trees growing in what is known as the Paty Grove.

I have 20 more at a second site

The trees are from similar crosses with old Chestnut trees that have escaped the blight. they are second and third generation crosses.I have 6 trees that produce nuts. One is blight free. The others exhibit some symptoms.

I work with The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation. The scientists allow no Asian or European genes and are working with All American trees.

Here's the website http://ipm.ppws.vt.edu/griffin/accf.html