CHESTNUT 



CHESTNUT 



743 



food and marketed in considerable quantities. The 

 species is sparingly introduced to cultivation and in its 

 native region is being somewhat grafted upon in place 

 with the choicer varieties of chestnuts. It has some 

 promise as a dwarfing stock but is subject to the trouble- 

 some fault of suckering rather abundantly. Two named 

 varieties, the Fuller and the Rush, have been pub- 

 lished and somewhat propagated. (Upper part of Fig. 

 913 illustrates common chinquapin bur, and nut in 

 natural size.) Apparent intermediates between this 

 species and the American chestnut, probably of hybrid 

 origin, are found in various localities from Pennsyl- 

 vania southward and westward to southern Arkansas 

 and eastern Texas, in some localities attaining truly 

 arborescent proportions. (Lower figure in Fig. 913 

 illustrates bur of hybrid chinquapin.) 



Bush chinquapin (C. alnifolia). A shrub, rarely 

 more than 3 feet in height, forming small thickets, 

 by means of stolons, in sandy barrens. South Atlantic 

 states, westward to Louisiana and Arkansas. Distin- 

 guished from C. pumila by larger, oval-lanceolate, 

 mostly obtuse leaves, which are but slightly tomentose 

 beneath, and by its larger nuts, which ripen earlier. 



The cultural range of Castanea in America is not 

 well defined, but extends from Florida and Texas to 

 Massachusetts and Wisconsin, and on the Pacific 

 slope. The three species cultivated in America thrive 

 best on dry, rocky or gravelly ridges or silicious uplands, 

 failing on heavy clays and on limestone soils unless 

 deep, dry and rich. 



Propagation of chestnuts. 



Propagation of species is by seeds. Certain types 

 reproduce their striking characteristics in their seed- 

 lings, but varieties are perpetuated by grafting, occa- 

 sionally by budding. Seeds for planting should be free 

 from insect larvae, and should not be allowed to dry out 

 before planting. They may be planted in drills in fall 

 on deep and well-drained loam, or, to avoid damage by 

 rodents, may be stratified in damp sand until spring. 

 Nuts held in cold storage at 15 F. from October to 

 April have germinated well at Washington, D. C. 

 Young trees destined for removal to orchard should be 

 transplanted in nursery at one year old, to promote 

 symmetrical development of root system. Grafting 

 may be done on any of the species of Castanea, and on 

 some of the oaks, notably the chestnut oak, Quercus 

 Prinos, though the durability of grafts on the oak is 

 questionable. Where the chestnut is indigenous, bear- 

 ing orchards of improved varieties are quickly secured 

 by cutting down and removing the timber, and graft- 

 ing the young sprouts which spring up in abundance 

 about the chestnut stumps (Fig. 914). Recently the 

 chinquapin has been similarly used with good success 

 where chestnut does not occur. Grafting may be by 

 splice method on one-year-old seedling roots; by splice 

 or cleft at crown on two- or three-year trees in place; 

 or by veneer, splice or cleft methods on one- to three- 

 year-old sprouts or branches. Top-working of old trees 

 is uncertain and practised only in special cases. Cipns 

 should be dormant, and work may be done at any time 

 after freezing ceases, but in trunk- and branch-grafting 

 best results are secured by most grafters if work is 

 done after leaves begin to unfold. Two- or three- 

 bud scions are preferred. The fitting of cion to cleft or 

 splice and the waxing should be carefully done. If 

 strips of waxed muslin are wrapped about the stubs, 

 the danger of loss by summer cracking of wax is les- 

 sened. In cleft-grafting young sprouts or seedlings, the 

 stub should be cut 2 or 3 inches above the departure 

 of a branch, to prevent too deep splitting of cleft. Two 

 or three weeks after growth begins the waxing should 

 be inspected and repaired if cracked. If grafts make 

 rank and brittle growth they should be checked by 

 pinching, and if in exposed situations, tied to stakes to 

 prevent breaking out of cions. Budding is sometimes 



practised, usually by use of dormant buds inserted in 

 shoots of previous year, when the bark "slips" after 

 growth has begun in spring. There is a growing con- 

 viction in the minds of close observers that certain of 

 the popular varieties, especially Paragon, under cer- 

 tain conditions do not find the American chestnut a 

 congenial stock. In several orchards, Paragon, when 

 grafted on native sprouts, although apparently making 

 a good union at the start, has within eight to ten years 

 developed weakness at the point of union, followed by 

 loss of vigor and death of the top without other appar- 

 ent cause than lack of congeniality of cion to stock. 

 For this variety, at least, the grafting upon seedling 

 stocks grown from nuts of the variety appears advisable. 

 The chestnut is admirably adapted to ornamental 

 planting, either singly or in groups on suitable soils. 



913. Chinquapin. (Nut and bur natural size.) 



The native species is successfully used as a roadside 

 tree in many sections outside of its natural range. It 

 requires a space of at least 40 feet for development 

 when thus used, the European species 30 feet, and the 

 Japanese 20 feet. If in orchard, the last-mentioned may 

 be planted as close as 20 feet, and thinned when the 

 trees begin to crowd, thus securing several crops of 

 nuts from land otherwise unoccupied. 



Care of chestnut orchards. 



Planted orchards are yet few in America, most of 

 the extensive commercial efforts having consisted in the 

 grafting of sprouts on rough lands where the American 

 chestnut is indigenous. On such lands no cultivation 

 is attempted, the brambles and undesired sprouts 

 being held in check by occasional cutting in summer, ' 

 or by pasturing with sheep. Much care is necessary 



