88 



THE XUT CCLTUKIST. 



cific names of the distinct groups of varieties, whether 

 it be strictly in accord with the ideas of eminent author- 

 ities or otherwise, because it will be more convenient to 



do so, and certain phases will 

 thus be made clearer to the 

 practical cultivators of nut 

 trees, for whom this work is 

 written. My wish is to assist 

 those who do not know, but 

 want to learn how to obtain, 

 plant and make nut trees grow 

 and bear remunerative crops. 

 CASTAXEA AMERICAXA 

 (American sweet chestnut). 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, ser- 

 rate, with rather coarse teeth, 

 each terminated with a feeble 

 prickle or spine ; smooth on 

 both sides (Fig. 19). Burs 

 thickly covered with sharp, 

 branching spines a half inch 

 long or less, . from a fleshy 

 green envelope, becoming 

 hard and somewhat woody ; 

 opening by four valves or di- 

 visions when mature. Usu- 

 ally three nuts in each bur, 

 the center one flattened by 

 compression, the two outer 



I FIG. 



10. AMKKIC'AX CHESTNUT 

 LEAF. 



ones plano-convex. Shell 

 tough and leathery, dark 

 brown, smooth, or more or less inverted, with a silvery 

 pubescence from the point downward ; variable in size 

 from five-eighths to an inch in diameter. Kernel sweet 

 and fine-grained. A very large and common tree in the 

 Middle and Northern States, living to a great age. 



