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American Chestnuts make a male and
female flower. They are not self fertile. Two mature chestnut trees are
required to make nuts.
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Controlled cross-pollinating to
make second generation all-American intercrosses on 3-year-old Miles
and Ruth grafts: volunteers put Ruth pollen on Miles
flowers and Miles pollen on Ruth flowers.
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Bags keep stray pollen away
from the Miles and Ruth flowers. This all-American intercross has
the best chance, at present, of producing chestnuts that breed true for
blight resistance. We plant these for testing.
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Meanwhile, this same cross,
as well as other interesting combinations, may turn up at random among the open pollinated seednuts we distribute to
our growers.
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