THE CHESTNUT. 79 



rising ground, but by Norway spruce and American 

 arbor vitae hedges twice as high as the grafted chestnut 

 trees in the nursery rows, and yet almost every season 

 some of the stronger-growing grafts are blown out or 

 broken off by the wind. After the first season there is 

 little danger of injury, probably because the union be- 

 tween cion and stock has become stronger. 



Grafting Chestnut Sprouts. In grafting the 

 vigorous sprouts that always spring up from the stumps 

 of old trees that have been recently cut down, we may 

 reasonably expect a prodigious growth of the cion the 

 first season, as well as in succeeding ones, and if all goes 

 well with them we will secure large bearing trees in a 

 very few years, but such stocks are only available where 

 old trees are sacrificed for their timber or other purposes. 

 Having a few such sprouts on my place, they have been 

 utilized from time to time in testing some of the newer 

 varieties. In one instance I allowed the cion, set on a 

 sprout about one inch in diameter, six feet from the 

 base, to grow unchecked throughout the season, as it 

 was in a protected position, and in the fall the entire 

 length of the main stem and lateral branches was sixty- 

 five feet, and all from one bud on a cion set early in the 

 spring. The third year this tree bore about a peck of 

 very large nuts, to which I shall have occasion to refer 

 again under "Injurious Insects." 



Grafting Large Trees. Grafting large chestnut 

 trees with stems of six inches or more in diameter, and 

 with large spreading heads, is possible, but far from 

 being economical or practicable, especially if the trees 

 stand out where they will get the full sweep of prevail- 

 ing winds. By cutting off and grafting a few of the 

 branches at a time for several seasons in succession, one 

 may, in a few years, succeed in getting the entire head 

 grafted, but there is constant danger of some of the cions 

 being broken out if they make a vigorous growth, leav- 



