62 



trees, about 20 of the most promising were given numbers and were 

 watched veiy closely for several years. Six of them have proven so 

 good that they were named and introduced as new varieties. 



Father shipped his chestnuts to the same general commission house 



in Chicago that had handled his fruit. They very soon found these 



nuts to be superior to both the little eastern nuts, that are generally 



full of weevils, and the foreign chestnuts that are large but mostly 



coarse grained, with bitter pellicle. These chestnuts soon made a 



reputation for themselves. When imported chestnuts are selling for 



from 8 to 12 cts. per pound, ours sell for from 30 to 45 cts., where 



they are known. To illustrate: In the year 1926, when we realized 



that the crop was going to be unusually heavy, we thought perhaps the 



one commission house in Chicago that had always sold our nuts, could 



not handle them all to advantage. So we looked around for other 



markets. INIr. C. A. Reed, whom you all know, secured for us from 



the Bureau of Economics, addresses of several reliable dealers in half 



a dozen nearby cities. We picked out one name in each city and made 



a small shipment to that address. The nuts were immediately sold for 



the highest price on the list of market quotations, which was some- 



tliing like 12i or 15 cts. per pound, when the same nuts were selling 



in Chicago, where they were known, for 30 cts. All to whom we 



shipped were greatly pleased with the nuts and wanted more. But 



they were terribly shocked when we told them what they should be 



getting for them. Gradually, as the buyers came back for more of 



"those good chestnuts", the commissioners asked more for them and 



two of them actually succeeded before the season was over in bringing 



the price up even higher than that which the old house in Chicago 



was getting. 



We make it a point never to ship anything to more than one house 

 in the same city. Then, when the buyers find that our product is good, 

 they have to pay the price to get it. There is no chance of our com- 

 peting against ourselves, as would be the case if the same thing were 

 being sold in two liouses. Of course, when one does that, he must 

 have confidence in the men in his commission house. We are fortu- 

 nate in having inherited our father's friends so we never have any- 

 thing to worry about along that line. 



Making a rough guess I would say we have about 1 5 acres of these 

 steep, rocky hillsides with chestnuts growing in this half-wild state. 



