A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 65 



live Japanese varieties produced a very heavy crop upon a tree less than six 

 feet in height, each burr being even smaller than those of our wild natives; but 

 invariably with a single large, round nut in each. 6. Paragon is nearly, 

 though not quite equal in quality to our natives, and in size, fully the equal of 

 the Europeans. The Japanese, above referred to, is of similar size and quality; 

 but with a slight astringency, which disappears when dry enough for use. 

 7. It is my conviction that, with the Paragon, and, probably, with some of the 

 Japanese varieties, a profitable orchard business may be conducted upon a 

 suitable soil. This conviction is based upon a two or three years' experience in 

 fruiting the Paragon, and but a single season's fruiting of the European and 

 Japanese varieties, 



Needs Careful Work to Propagate. 

 C. H., Conestoga y Pa. 



My experience with Chestnut culture is with Paragon, an imported Japan, 

 and the Italian. I have not found the last two profitable. The Japan is very 

 large and fine looking, better in quality than the Italian, but not so good as 

 the Paragon. It is not productive many of the burrs are nutless. I. It is 

 important to have a strong stock, an inch or more in diameter, but for a good 

 union the graft and stock should be of the same size; therefore we must set the 

 graft two to four or six feet up. 2. Often defective. This is another reason 

 for not grafting in the heavy stock near the ground. The wind would break it 

 off sooner than the graft set on the "pliable stock. 3. Yes, but so far not 

 seriously. It sometimes makes unsightly knots; how these will behave when 

 the trees become large remains to be seen. I had hoped to avoid these defects 

 by root grafting, but my root grafting did not prove a success. Budding 

 makes the best union, but this is also very uncertain. In fact, success in 

 propagating Chestnuts does not by any means amount to one hundred per 

 cent. 4. Usually the second year after grafting I have had from three to four 

 quarts on four-year-old grafts worked in the top of a two-inch stock. 5. Gen- 

 erally three. 6. The average Paragon would probably weigh three to four 

 times as much as the average wood Chestnut. In quality it is nearly as good. 

 7. I think it does. The trees bear young and abundantly, and rarely fail to 

 make a crop. Rough land not adapted to general farming is suitable for a 

 Chestnut orchard. Grafts set on young sprouts in the wood lot will be profit- 

 able in three years. 



