64 A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 



3. I have had no tops blow off. 4. At three years, they bear a few. 5. 

 Usually three nuts to a burr. 6. The size is fully double the average native 

 Chestnuts; quality less than half. 7. Only moderately so. I would rather 

 expect to profit more from an Apple than a Chestnut Orchard. 



Notes from a Big Grove. 



By Joseph L. Lovett, Bucks County, Pa. 



I have a grove of nearly one thousand Paragon Chestnut trees, i. I gen- 

 erally graft my trees four to five feet from the ground. 2. The scion does not 

 always unite perfectly on American stocks, but on Spanish there is in every 

 case a perfect union. 3. In all my experience, I never had but one top blow 

 off, and that happened when the tree was loaded with nuts; it broke at the 

 union of the scion with the stock. 4. My Paragon trees commence to bear 

 when four to five feet high ; they bear the second year from the graft. The 

 great trouble with me is that they bear too full every year. Paragon has no off 

 years. 5. Generally three nuts to the burr; sometimes as high as five to seven 

 to a burr. 6. The size is very large; forty selected nuts will make a quart, dry 

 measure. They sell at forty cents a quart, or one cent apiece. When boiled, 

 the quality is as good as the wild nuts. Paragon ripens from ten days to two 

 weeks ahead of the common wild Chestnut; for that reason a better price can 

 be had for them. 7. There is great promise in Chestnut culture for those who 

 have the time, money and patience. But little attention has been given to it; 

 the wild or American has become almost extinct in some sections. What will 

 prevent extensive planting is the great difficulty of getting the trees to grow; 

 some seasons from one-half to three-fourths will be lost by transplanting. 

 Another great difficulty is the grafting, which will make the tree always sell at 

 a high price. 



A Profitable Business on Suitable Soil. 

 T. T. Lyon. 



i. One, a Paragon, is grafted about two feet above the surface. Others, 

 Japanese, at or beneath the surface. 2. The Paragon, grafted at two feet, does 

 not form a satisfactory union ; although other Paragons, Japanese and Euro- 

 pean varieties, seem to form satisfactory unions at or beneath the surface. 

 3. None of these, in my case, has been broken off, at the point of union, by 

 wind or otherwise. 4. Two-year-old grafts have generally fruited at from one 

 to three years from the date of planting. 5. Paragon has generally produced 

 two or three nuts to the burr, while the number of burrs has sometimes been 

 such that one-half was removed soon after setting. One of the most produc- 



