A new Maine orchard aims to help bring back American chestnut trees

A new Maine orchard aims to help bring back American chestnut trees

For decades, the Viles Arboretum in Augusta played a small part in one plan to bring back American chestnuts, the once-ubiquitous tree almost eliminated by blight. It was home to hybrid trees that scientists tried to cultivate with genes from Chinese chestnuts, which could survive the disease. But the blight got those trees too. Now, the arboretum has made room for a new seed orchard. The seedlings to be planted there represent early steps in a …