CHESTNUT CULTURE- IN THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. lOI 



N^^stems of Management. 



Two distinctive methods of chestnut culture are in vogue in the Eastern United 

 States. Tiie one is the metiiod of grafting young native chestnut coppice (sprouts) 

 with the scions of Japanese, European, or native varieties, and depending on the 

 roots of the old stump, and the new roots which are developed, to afford nourish- 

 ment and give the necessary mechanical support. Where the natural stump sprouts 

 are thus grafted the resulting growth is called a " chestnut grove." 



The other method is to grow young plants from seed, graft them in the nursery 

 when two or three years old and the following year set them in orchard rows in 

 cleared or cultivated ground. When nursery seedlings are cultivated in this way 

 they are described as a " chestnut orchard." 



The propagation of chestnuts in groves by the grafting of numerous young 

 sprouts is decidedly the most advisable, both from an economic and purely horticul- 

 tural standpoint, in a country where native trees are at all common. If only a par- 

 tial stand of sprouts can be obtained, they should be encouraged and grafted, and 

 seedlings planted in the blank spaces between, other species of course being 

 cut out. 



The grafted sprouts by virtue of the old established root system are furnished 

 an abundant supply of nourishment and make a surprisingly rapid growth, often 

 bearing fruit profusely when only tliree or four years old. One little Paragon graft 

 in ]\Ir. Sober's grove matured 56 large burs when only two years old. Trees three 

 to five years old bear several pints of nuts annually, while their crop when more 

 than fi\'e years old may be counted in quarts. Paragon grafts when ten to tweK'e 

 years old produce on an average a half a bushel or more of nuts. With a chestnut 

 grove there is, too, less liability of failure in obtaining a full stand of trees, as the 

 loss attendant upon transplanting is eliminated, while the great number of sprouts 

 which spring up in a newly cut-over chestnut forest gives an abundance of stocks 

 ujjon which to graft the scions. With experienced men there is little loss in the 

 grafting process, and under favorable circumstances ninety per cent of the grafts 

 ma\- be expected to take. By grafting a large number of sprouts per acre there is 

 sure to be left, after deducting for all probable loss, a thick stand, which ma}' be 

 thinned as conditions require, thus keeping the ground continually covered, and 

 production, even at the outset, at its ma.ximum. The newly grafted sprouts which 

 are removed to make room for others furnish a fine supply of new scions, if cut in 

 the late fall or winter. 



The trees whicii are ultimately to cover the ground and produce the fruit should 



