408 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Keeping- Tomatoes. 



Prof. Massey, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, writes 

 the Garden and Forest that when frost is imminent he gathers the 

 green tomatoes, wraps them separately in paper (old newspapers will 

 answer) and packs them in boxes, which are stored in a place just 

 warm enough to be secure from frost, the object being to keep them 

 and not to ripen them. Then, as the fruits are wanted, a few are 

 brought out at a time and placed in a warm position, where they will 

 ripen in a few days. In this way he has kept his table supplied with 

 sliced tomatoes up to midwinter. 



Sweet Chestnuts. 



The sweet chestnut is such a valuable timber tree, and bears such 

 well-flavored and valued nuts that it is much sought tor by those who 

 desire to plant trees for profit. In Pennsylvania, where the native 

 species is abundant, a good woods of them is looked upon as a valuable 

 possession. Chestnut rails have been used nearly altogether for fenc- 

 ing, and are still put to the same use where wire has not superseded 

 them. As fuel it has hardly an equal, save the oak and hickory. It 

 has a habit of poping when burning, as most farmers of this State know, 

 so that it does not do to burn it when no one is about, for the flying 

 sparks may start a fire on the carpet. The nut of this tree is the best 

 flavored of all the kinds, and there are two others, viz. : The Spanish 

 and Japanese. Both of the two have larger nuts, but of inferior 

 quality, and our native tree, too, makes the fastest and largest growth. 

 It is an upright, straight grower, and a comparatively fast one, and it 

 does not take more than about a dozen years from seed before it be- 

 gins to bear nuts. After this it will last, for a hundred years or more, 

 in good condition, rarely failing to produce fruit every year. There 

 are trees here of fully this age, and four feet or more in diameter, which 

 still bear large quantities of nuts annually. 



The Spanish chestnut makes a large, spreading tree. It makes as 

 large a trunk as the native one, but does not grow nearly so tall, con- 

 sequently it is never planted for timber hereabouts. It succeeds in 

 Pennsylvania, does well in Kansas generally, and is planted in Missouri. 

 The young seedlings seem a little tender in this State, but after a few 

 years they do not suffer. This occurs only with seedlings from im- 

 ported seed. When the nuts are home grown, the seedlings are hardy 



