yo A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 



hundred feet, the Chestnut is less particular on the nature of the soil, though, 

 the same as with the Walnut, the richer and deeper the soil is the more thrifty 

 will the Chestnut grow. 



IRRIGATION. In very dry soil a little water through the summer months 

 will be of great benefit to Chestnuts, but too much water, I believe, would 

 affect the nuts in this way, that it might retard their maturity. Several years 

 ago, in irrigating nursery stock, I had a stream of water running constantly at 

 the foot of a grapevine, and the grapes never matured on the vine, and this 

 summer I had water running almost constantly at the foot of a Chestnut of 

 the very kind maturing its nuts in a shorter time than other varieties and the 

 nuts matured badly, while trees of the same kind in nursery rows, and very 

 little irrigated, matured their nuts splendidly. It shows that intensive irriga- 

 tion is as bad for nuts as it is for fruit and grapes. Fruit, for instance, will 

 grow much larger if given plenty of water, but its keeping qualities will be 

 destroyed and often injured. It is to say that if Chestnuts, like any other 

 class of trees planted in dry soil, will be benefited by irrigation, too much of 

 it might hurt. It would be wise to stop irrigating bearing Chestnut trees one 

 month to six weeks before ripening time. 



REPRODUCTION AND PLANTING. The Chestnut does not reproduce itself 

 very well from the seed, hence the reason why that tree is invariably grafted 

 to obtain those large round nuts known the world over under the name of 

 " Marrons," or French Chestnuts, the kind used as dessert, either roasted or 

 boiled. The American Chestnut is propagated from seed, and is almost barren 

 in California, but much better results would be obtained as to size and pro- 

 ductiveness, if not quality also, if its best types were propagated by grafting, 

 which I myself intend to do hereafter, having for that purpose procured, 

 through the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, scions from two good 

 bearing trees on a farm in old Virginia. 



Chestnuts should be planted from thirty to thirty-five feet in rows, when 

 planted in orchard farther apart if it is desired to plant between the Chest- 

 nuts fruit trees bearing a crop sooner, such as Prunes, Apricots or Peaches; for 

 Chestnuts, like Walnuts, require some time to bear a regular crop. Chestnuts 

 do very well planted in clusters on hillsides, or in rows, alongside fences, but 

 inside of them, or scattered all around, a few here and a few there, either in 

 field, vineyard or orchard; but I would not plant any as shade trees on public 

 thoroughfares, such as streets and roads, for the boys, and girls, too, will go 

 after them in a lively way, throwing stones and sticks into the trees, to make 

 the nuts drop down to the ground, to the great annoyance of the owners of 

 the trees. I know some people in Nevada City who, to put a stop to the 

 nuisance, had their trees cut down, entirely doing away with them. 



In FYance, as with the Walnut, seedling trees are planted to create a 



