470 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



lastingly at it. Let those who represent you in the legislature and 

 congress know that we are in earnest and believe in the necessity 

 of these things and the forests of our State will be protected and 

 perpetuated and made a source of pride and of profit to our people. 



COMMERCIAL CHESTNUT CULTURE. 



Mr. HORACE ROBERTS, Morristown, N. J. 



I don't know which surprised me most, to find that you are in- 

 terested in chestnut culture, or to learn that you had heard of my 

 interest in that line. I have been raising nuts a good while. I 

 stai ted when a very young man. The business was new, so I started 

 in a small waj^, not putting any money in it at all. Such a thing as 

 grafting chestnuts was more rare then. I went into the pine woods 

 where there were seedling chestnuts, cut trees out of the way, put a 

 fence around a ten acre block and let the cattle come in to help us 

 do our trimming. In this way, we worked at a minimum expense. 



Now, I do not think that where you can raise apples or peaches 

 or other nice fruits, it is worth while to plant chestnut trees. You 

 can get more out of the fruits. But I had land that was not i>aying 

 ■anything and a little care has turned this into a nice chestnut 

 grove. It makes the farm more attractive and at the same time 

 brings revenue. The commercial side, is the side you gave me to 

 talk upon. But there is another and more valuable point from 

 which to regard this topic. Chestnut trees are worth more around 

 the farm as a home-maker than you would think. Conditions in 

 the farmyard seem to suit them. For instance, the worst enemy of 

 the chestnut with which we have to contend is the weevil and in the 

 farmyard, the chickens pick up the weevil. Nut trees planted 

 around the yard help to make it attractive. Nothing will make a 

 child more attached to its home than to gather these chestnuts and 

 earn a little pin money — a point which it is well for us to remember. 



I have only practiced one form of grafting. The regular cleft 

 graft, same as we use for apple. We cut our wood early in Feb- 

 ruary, put it in the ice-house to hold it back, and wait until about 

 the 20th of April, when we are done all other grafting, before we 

 start on our chestnuts. Many die back, but we keep working away 

 at them year after year till we get a stand. The chestnuts have al- 

 ways paid me from the start. I enjoyed the work and at once began 

 to sell wood for grafting purposes and very soon began to derive 

 revenue from the nuts. 



MR. PRICKETT: How high do vou cut the sprouts to graft? 



MR. ROBERTS: About as high" as my eyes. 



MR. PRICKETT: Wliat is the average size sprouts should be for 

 grafting? 



MR. ROBERTS: About as thick as two fingers. You can cut off 

 almost any size in apple and the cut will heal over properly but it 

 is not BO with chestnuts. I am going to read to you the experience 

 of some others who went into the business about the same time I 

 did but with different results:- 



"We have had experience with most all the vicissitudes to 

 which the chestnut business is subject, such as fire, frost, hail, 

 windj drought, insect pests, faulty preparation for market, and 



