Hybrid chestnut 'Dunstan'

In the mid-1900s, scientists from several organizations began working to try to save the American chestnut tree. One such effort was carried out by plant breeder R. T. Dunstan. In the 1950s, Dr. Dunstan found a surviving American chestnut tree surrounded by dead trees in Ohio. He took cuttings from the canker-resistant tree and crossed them with Chinese chestnut trees. Since canker originated in China, Chinese trees were naturally resistant. He then crossed the young plants resulting from the first cross with the two parent trees. These second generation trees are known as Dunstan chestnuts. Today, 50 years later, not a single Dunstan chestnut tree has died from canker.

Hundreds of thousands of these trees were planted throughout the United States by commercial tree nut orchards, giving rise to a commercial chestnut industry in the United States. One of the main problems those running these orchards faced was that deer were eating all of their nut crops, to the point where entire farms had to be fenced off. Realizing they had discovered a plant ideal for deer hunters.