NUT-CULTURE 



NUT-CULTURE 



2297 



few attempts made to cultivate this species. Some of the 

 choice varieties with the largest nuts are being collected 

 for experiment, and there is reasonable prospect that 

 by hybridization and selection of seedlings varieties may 

 yet be secured combining the vigor and hardihood of the 

 wild trees with the characteristic natural sweetness and 

 large size of the foreign nuts. Within the last few years, 

 there has been developed at least one very choice variety 

 of our native species that is surpassing in general 

 desirability to all others, either native or foreign. This 

 is an accidental seedling that originated from among a 

 lot of nuts planted by Charles A. Green in his nursery 

 near Rochester, New York. It was sent to E. A. Riehl, 

 of Alton, Illinois, and it grew vigorously and when it 

 came to bear, to his surprise the nuts were very much 

 larger than those of the average of the American 

 species, although possessing the natural outward 

 appearance and sweetness of kernel that are charac- 

 teristic. This variety was named the Rochester. The 

 nuts nearly all ripen at one time and part from the burs 

 easily. Some of its seedlings are said even to surpass 

 the parent. 



The chinquapin, C. pumila, is the smallest of the 

 chestnut family, in size of both nut and tree. Rarely is 

 it anything more than a mere bush. It has rarely been 

 cultivated, although the bushes are productive, the 

 nuts of good quality and ripen very early. 



European species. The Old World chestnut, C. sal- 

 iva, has been under cultivation almost as long as his- 

 tory goes. It was brought to America in the first cen- 

 tury of its settlement by Europeans; but not until 

 within the last twenty-five years has there been more 

 than an occasional tree found on our shores. The acci- 

 dental finding of a chance seedling, which was finally 

 named Paragon and sent out to the public about 1887, 

 and the bringing to notice of the Ridgeley shortly before 

 that time, were the means of exciting the first general 

 interest in chestnut-culture in America. Both these 

 kinds, and a great many more named varieties, are now 

 being propagated and scattered far and wide. They are 

 all of large size but not so sweet as our native chest- 

 nuts, and generally have bitter skins. The trees are of 

 robust character and very productive, but more tender 

 than our natives. 



Japanese species. About the time that the European 

 species was becoming popular in America, attention was 

 drawn to a number of seedlings from nuts that had been 

 brought from Japan during several previous years. The 

 most of them were larger than any that had been known 

 before, either in this country or in Europe. Many of 

 them are now named and widely distributed. Some of 

 the smaller varieties are exceedingly early in ripening. 

 Nearly all of them begin to bear at an early age and are 

 even more productive than the average of the European 

 species. In quality, the nuts of most of them are not so 

 sweet as the European kinds. The habit of growth is 

 less vigorous than that of other chestnuts and the 

 foliage much smaller. 



From these two foreign species have been obtained 

 nearly all of our varieties that up to this time are 

 worthy of general cultivation, except the Rochester. 

 They vary from seed much as do most other improved 

 varieties of fruits, and grafting and budding must be 

 practised, which are exceedingly difficult successfully to 

 perform on the chestnut, as is the case with all other 

 nut-trees. They will both unite fairly well with our 

 native stocks; although sometimes the union is imper- 

 fect and the top breaks off. 



Grafting. The most successful method of propaga- 

 ting nut-trees, so far as the writer has experimented or 

 learned otherwise, is late bark-grafting. This requires 

 that the cions be cut before there is any possibility of 

 the buds starting, and put in some very cool place until 

 after the stocks have begun to leaf out. The stocks are 

 then cut off as for cleft-grafting, but the bark only is 

 split with a knife for an inch or more at the top of the 



stock. The cion is trimmed to a long wedge, all from 

 one side. The point of this wedge is introduced under 

 the bark at the top of the slit and gently forced down 

 until the cut surface of the cion is even with the top of 

 the stump. It is then tied fast with a string and the 

 wound securely waxed. Large trees may thus be top- 

 worked in their branches with considerable success. 

 Small stocks should be grafted just under the surface 

 of the ground and banked nearly to the top of the cion. 



Stump groves. In several cases, large tracts of chest- 

 nut stump lands have been grafted over to the im- 

 proved varieties of the foreign species with good success. 

 All other trees should be cleared away and only two or 

 three of the strongest sprouts left on each stump. These 

 should all be grafted and allowed to grow until it is sure 

 that there will be a sufficient stand, when those that are 

 not needed should be cut away. In future years more 

 may be cut away to give the remaining trees ample 

 room. 



Chestnut orchards. The best results are said to be 

 attained in chestnut-culture by planting grafted trees 

 on open land, about 40 feet apart and in regular orchard 

 form. This plan admits of giving the trees good tillage 

 until they have attained large size, when grass may be 

 sown and stock allowed to graze it, except when the nuts 

 are falling. Such orchards are said, by those who have 

 tried them in comparison with grafted sprouts, to yield 

 more than twice as much to the acre. Well-drained 

 sandy or shaley lands are the best for the chestnut. 



Pests. A fatal fungous disease has become very prev- 

 alent within recent years in the eastern United States. 

 It began on the North Atlantic coast and has gradually 

 moved southwestward until there is scarcely a locality 

 north of southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania where 

 it is not prevalent. In some places the cultivated and 

 wild chestnut trees have been practically exterminated. 

 There seems to be no practicable means of combating 

 this disease, and it is feared that the entire area in the 

 eastern states where the chestnut is found will be 

 reached by it and may be ravaged. Another enemy of 

 chestnut-culture is the weevil. In some cases the nuts 

 are so badly infested that they are practically worthless. 

 The eggs from which the larvae develop are laid by long- 

 snouted beetles while the nuts are growing, and by 

 the time they are mature most of the eggs are either 

 hatched or nearly ready to hatch. By treating the nuts 

 with the fumes of bisulfide of carbon the eggs or larvae 

 can all be destroyed. Scalding with boiling water for 

 about ten minutes will also kill them, but it also 

 destroys the germinative power of the nuts and neces- 

 sitates drying them. Outside the native chestnut area, 

 there are no weevils as yet. See Castanea and Chestnut. 



The pecan (Carya Pecan). 



In the wild state. Of all our native nuts the pecan is 

 the best. Its natural habitat is the lower Mississippi 

 basin, from Iowa to the Gulf coast, but it will grow 

 equally well in any climate and soil of approximately 

 the same character. The tree is almost as hardy as any 

 of the other hickories, except some of its more southern 

 varieties. In size the tree varies from medium, on land 

 of ordinary fertility, to gigantic proportions on the 

 rich river and creek bottoms. The nuts vary in size and 

 shape from round and J^inch in diameter to oblong 

 and 2 inches in length. The kernels are exceedingly 

 rich and sweet, and the shells usually thin. Pecans are 

 found in all confectionaries, and bring almost as high 

 prices as any of the imported nuts. The largest quan- 

 tities of native nuts are secured from Texas and Louis- 

 iana. Millions of pounds are gathered annually in 

 those states and sold to dealers, thus bringing a hand- 

 some revenue to many persons of moderate means. 



Under cultivation. The decrease of the wild prod- 

 uct from the cutting down of the trees, and the better 

 prices obtained from large, thin-shelled nuts have 

 induced the planting of pecan orchards. The nuts 



