PLANTING CHESTNUT TREES. 65 



May, when they may be supposed to be out of danger 

 from frosts. In sowing, it is generally customary to 

 prepare beds four feet wide. One bushel of seed will 

 plant a bed of thirty yards in length, four feet wide. 

 They are sometimes sown in drills sixteen or eighteen 

 inches apart, the seed being placed about three inches 

 from each other, and covered up with one inch of soil. 

 In very rich land the plants will continue to grow 

 to a late season. When this is the case, they fail to 

 ripen their wood before the frosts set in, which will 

 cause them to lose their tops, and they then will 

 become branchy and bushy. The plants are removed 

 from the seed-bed at one or two years of age, and 

 transplanted in lines. When they are lifted, they 

 should be assorted in sizes, and have the extremities 

 of their tap-roots cut off, so as to make the root grow 

 more fibrous. The lines should not stand more than 

 sixteen inches asunder, and the plants six inches from 

 one another. If a more liberal space is allowed, the 

 plants are apt to become crooked, and stand in need 

 of pruning. After having stood two years in nursery 

 lines, the plants will be from two to three feet high 

 generally speaking, which is the size and age best 

 adapted for forest planting. If they are wanted of a 

 larger size, they must be transplanted again every 

 second year, increasing the space between them in 

 which they are to grow. They can be removed any 

 time in open weather, between October and March. 



Many writers have asserted that the chestnut tree 

 is a native of Britain, but it has been pointed out on 

 the other hand, that although the tree is remarkably 

 free from disease, yet all who are familiar with its 

 growth and cultivation, are aware that it is affected 



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