THE CHESTNUT. 65 



rial, therefore cannot afford to adopt nature's slow and 

 wasteful processes. 



The principal objection to planting chestnuts in the 

 fall is the danger of having them destroyed by vermin, 

 which abound almost everywhere. There is also danger 

 of the nuts sprouting prematurely in the autumn, and of 

 the young growth being killed by cold or by excessive 

 moisture during late fall rains. But these natural enemies 

 and obstacles prevent an excess in number and the 

 overcrowding of trees in our forests. It is, no doubt, 

 possible and practicable to smear the nuts with poison- 

 ous substances, or those sufficiently offensive to prevent 

 the* depredations 'of vermin, but taking all things into 

 consideration, I am decidedly in favor of preserving the 

 nuts in bulk and in a dormant state until the season 

 arrives for insuring a rapid and continuous growth, and 

 then planting them. To do this in our cold northern 

 climate, as well as in the South, requires more care and 

 attention with chestnuts than with the harder-shelled 

 kinds, like the walnut and hickory nut. As a rule, it 

 may be said that all the hardy kinds of nuts sprout at a 

 rather low temperature and a few degrees above the 

 freezing point, and for this reason it is well to select as 

 cool a spot in the open ground as possible for their winter 

 quarters, and then examine them as early as can be done 

 conveniently in the spring. 



In this matter of manipulating and preserving 

 chestnuts for planting, as well as what follows in regard 

 to transplanting, pruning and grafting, I shall give my 

 own practice, with results ; and while it may differ from 

 that of other propagators, it is one evolved from long 

 experience, many successes, and a few failures. 



Gathering and Assorting Nuts. When the 



nuts begin to ripen and fall, gather as soon as possible, 



and if the trees are on your own grounds and will admit 



of such an operation, thrash them and secure the entire 



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