172 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[June, 



kindly drop us a line, we will so inform our read- 

 ers.— Ed. G. M.] 



Carnation Albani "P. McK.," Montreal, 



Can., writes: " I enclose a bloom of carnation. It is 

 a seedling of last spring. It has been admired here 

 and christened Albani. Please let me know through 

 the columns of the Monthly your opinion of it, 

 and if it is new." 



[A very large salmon colored flower — a color 

 popular for loose flower work. The tube is rather 



too short and too thick for the popular idea of a 

 good flower, especially as it seems to burst the 

 calyx very deeply on one side. In brief it is a fair 

 flower, though hardly first-rate. — Ed. G. M.] 



Double New Life Geranium.— We have from 

 Nanz & Neuner a double variety of the well-known 

 striped geranium, "New life." N. & N. seem very 

 fortunate in getting hold of first-class new things. 

 We fancy this will be as popular as their double 

 Bouvardias have been. 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FRENCH CHESTNUTS. 



BY SAMUEL C. MOON, MORRISVILLE, PA. 



There are few trees more beautiful or desirable 

 for ornamental planting in parks or large lawns, or 

 about farm yards than the French chestnut. It 

 has been pretty satisfactorily proven by experi- 

 ments in various parts of the country that the cul- 

 ture of large varieties of chestnuts for the fruit is 

 profitable when good trees can be secured. The 

 French chestnut is the best, it being the most 

 hardy and productive of the large varieties. There 

 is very little, if any difference, between the French 

 and Spanish, except in vigor, the former being 

 more hardy. These terms, as used in nursery cat- 

 alogues, are synonymous, and if it is certain that 

 the trees are entirely hardy there is no preference 

 as regards these names. The Italian is claimed 

 by some to be the largest variety, but they are not 

 any better flavored, and the trees are too tender to 

 be desirable for general cultivation in this latitude. 



Seedling chestnuts, like all other fruit trees, vary 

 considerably in the important characteristics which 

 make them valuable, viz. : hardiness, productive- 

 ness, size and quality of fruit ; therefore, it is neces- 

 sary to plant stock which has been grafted from 

 bearing trees of known excellence, the same as 

 would be done in planting apples, pears, cherries, 

 or other kinds of fruit. 



Another great advantage arising from grafting 

 is early productiveness, worked trees commencing 

 to bear much earUer than natural stocks. 



In the spring of 1876, we grafted a lot of French 



chestnut seedlings, which were then about three 

 feet high. In the autumn of 1878, two years after 

 grafting, several of the trees had attained a height 

 of eight feet, and were two inches in diameter of 

 trunk, with fine, well-branched heads. Some of 

 them bore fruit that season, the nuts being large, 

 sound and perfect. 



Grafted trees will generally come into profitable 

 bearing at about the same age as apple trees, or 

 from eight to ten years after grafting. 



The seedlings which are imported from France 

 are generally tender, and suffer more or less injury 

 every severe winter, so that if not killed they are a 

 long time in attaining sufficient size to bear a full 

 crop of fruit, while stock raised from the seed of 

 hardy trees which have been acclimated to this 

 country are much hardier and more desirable. 



The characteristics in growth which distinguish 

 the French from the American chestnut are, the 

 darker and heavier foliage, the brighter color of 

 the young wood, and a more compact habit of 

 growth, the true French chestnut generally form- 

 ing a low, rounded head, similar to a large apple 

 tree or Norway maple. 



The quality of the nuts varies very much in dif- 

 ferent trees. When eaten raw there is a slight bit- 

 terness about the skin of nearly all of them, but 

 much more in some than in others ; they are not 

 quite as sweet as the small American nuts, but 

 when boiled or roasted, and the skin removed, 

 their taste is very similar to that of the native 

 variety, many persons being unable to distinguish 

 between them. 



We think that when all the merits of these chest- 

 nuts are better known, they cannot fail to be ap- 



