FLOWERS OF THE CHESTNUT TREE 



They are unendurably sweet, but beautiful to the eye, drooping above the leaves instead of underneath as 

 among the oaks. The trees (Castanea dentata) bloom in July (Massachusetts) and the nuts (note the five or six 

 young burs toward the upper part of the branch) do not ripen until late fall; they are prisoners on the trees until 

 November frosts open the burs — unless perchance some foresighted squirrel bite off the branches a few weeks 

 earlier. Botanists have scarcely begun what is possible in nut tree breeding from the standpoint of food production. 

 Experiment, however, has already obtained, by grafting the chestnut of Japan upon our native chinquapin (which 

 though small is very sweet), an extremely prolific chestnut with all the requirements for commercial handling — and 

 immune to the chestnut blight. The secret to remember is that nut trees are living individuals, no two being alike 

 in rate of growth, tendencies regarding time and amount in fruiting, and size and flavor of nuts, and that a wise 

 selection, with grafting, is certain to revolutionize our ideas as to what can be expected of a nut tree 

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