A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 57 



standard price of Chestnuts in this country, from $4 to $8 per bushel, and 

 remember that Chestnuts can be produced cheaper than wheat, we see at once 

 the enormous margin of profit in favor of Chestnuts. When we further reflect 

 that any enterprising grower can secure from $6 to $10 per bushel for a large 

 part of his nuts, we are able to appreciate the profitable nature of the crop. 



" The reasons for this state of affairs are several. One is the long time, 

 judging from the common American Chestnut, that it would require for a 

 Chestnut Orchard to come into bearing; another, that comparatively few 

 farmers are acquainted with the improved varieties of Grafted Chestnuts, and 

 it is only these that are worthy of being cultivated; still another, that many 

 farms are worked by renters, and these would not be likely to plant orchards 

 of Chestnuts. These causes will continue to be operative for many years to 

 come, and it is for this reason that Chestnut growing is such an attractive field 

 for the enterprising horticulturist. For many years in the future it must re- 

 main a pursuit of large profit and with little competition. Individual trees 

 frequently yield from $30 to $50 each, and yields of over |ioo per tree are on 

 record from trees standing alone. An orchard could not be expected to aver- 

 age more than one-quarter of these amounts. A planter, however, can reason- 

 ably expect an average yield of over a bushel per tree, or about $200 per acre, 

 and this with but very little expense for either care or fertilizers. 



" In planting a Chestnut Orchard, care must be taken in selecting the site. 

 It is more particular in this respect than either the apple or the pear. Wet 

 land, even if underdrained, is not suitable. Neither is dry land, with a com- 

 pact, impervious, clay sub-soil. The Chestnut loves a loose soil, with a deep, 

 open, porous sub-soil, and if this porous sub-soil is fifteen to twenty inches 

 deep it will be all the better. 



' ' In setting out an orchard of Chestnuts the trees should be about forty 

 feet apart, and in the center between four Chestnuts place an Apple tree, and 

 between Apples and Chestnuts two Pear trees or Plum trees of upright growth. 

 By this means a larger return from the ground will be had at first, and, as the 

 Chestnuts need the room, the other trees can be cut away. Any crop that is 

 cultivated and fertilized may be grown among the trees as long as it will pay. 

 An orchard planted in this way will pay its way from the start; in five years 

 the trees will begin to make handsome returns, and in ten years should yield 

 from $200 to $300 per acre annually. 



" Now, as to varieties. There is as much care needed in planting a Chest- 

 nut Orchard as an apple or pear orchard. An orchard of seedling Chestnuts is 

 just as worthless as an orchard of seedling apples or pears, no matter how large 

 the nuts may have been from which the seedlings grew. None but grafted 

 trees are worth considering. There are two other requisites as important as 

 size, and these are earliness and productiveness. 



