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Naturally they would do a great deal better if grown in good soil 

 and cultivated. But we find them a very profitable and the most re- 

 liable crop that we can grow here. They never fail. Looking through 

 our father's account book I find there has been a steady increase in 

 our crop, and the proceeds therefrom, over a period of eleven years. 

 In the year 1916 our chestnuts sold for $122.00. In 1926 for $2,460.00. 

 This from practically the same acreage. The increase is due to the 

 greater age and size of the trees. Last year was an exception to the 

 rule. Though the crop did not fail entirely it was only about one- 

 third of what it was the previous year. This was caused by great 

 floods of rain that continued all through the blossoming season and 

 interfered with pollination. 



The average price for Illinois grown chestnuts is around 30 cts. 

 per pound. That is, they sell out of the commission houses for that 

 price. The grower gets that much, less the commission and express. 



Considering all points, I mean thriftiness of tree, earliness of 

 bearing, productiveness, quality, etc., we like the Fuller variety best 

 of all and would plant it more largely than any other. But we do not 

 recommend planting any one variety alone, as chestnuts seem to need 

 cross-pollination in order to bear abundantly. It is quite possible that 

 our success with chestnuts is partly due to the fact that there are so 

 many varieties growing together. Many of the original seedlings are 

 still standing among the grafted trees. Thus we have a great variety 

 of pollen. Any tree is likely to get pollen from some other variety 

 blooming at the same time. 



Chestnut trees come into profitable bearing about as early as do 

 apple trees, with the same care and advantages. And the varieties 

 vary as much in this respect as do the different varieties of apples. 

 I have known a chestnut tree to bear and mature nuts seventeen months 

 after the seed was planted. This, of course, is not the rule. The young 

 trees usually bear from one to three pounds of nuts the third or fourth 

 year from the graft, and double the crop the next year. So much de- 

 pends on the location and other chances the tree has in this uneven 

 land of ours, that it is hard to give statistics. It is impossible to 

 calculate the average yield per tree. 



It may not be out of place to give here the early history of the 

 Boone variety. In the spring of 1895, Mr. Geo. W. Endicott, of Villa 

 Ridge, 111., fertilized blossoms of the Japan Giant with pollen of the 



