48 



just such abandoned areas. The family of plants to which the weed 

 known as "lamb's quarters" belongs is of this character and some 

 of the seed products have been utilized by the Indians from "time 

 out of mind." We have, furthermore, every reason to think that 

 those plants are capable of as much and as speedy imprO'Vement in 

 quantity and in quality of fruit as any of our other grains. 



There is a most important practical application of these state- 

 ments. With these facts before us, with the real food-producing 

 power of a host of plants, native and foreign, absolutely unknown, 

 what right have we to confine ourselves to a few standard grains, 

 and then failing to derive the old time revenues from them, give up 

 with the despairing cry that "farming don't pay?" There are many 

 things, once done at a profit, that don't pay now. The successful 

 man in such an emergency seeks for something in his line of work 

 that will pay. If a farmer, he looks about him for a new crop. It is 

 to this point that we have been leading. 



A walk through our cities during the autumn and early winter 

 will show that large quantities of chestnuts are roasted and sold 

 on the important corners. It will be observed that all of these, or 

 nearly all, are of the large kinds which we collectively call Spanish 

 chestnuts. It is impossible to give an exact estimate as to the quan- 

 tity which are so sold. The suggestive fact is that most of them are 

 imported. Is there any reason why they should be? Rather, is 

 there no-t every reason why they should not be? Already a well- 

 established market exists for more than we produce. There is every 

 reason to think that the demand for fine chestnuts would increase 

 as it has for fine grapes, fine oranges and fine mushrooms. It is the 

 invariable law that increase in demand comes with improvement in 

 quality. The mere fact that prices fall to such an extent that what 

 at first is considered as a luxury becomes later to be regarded as a 

 food, enlarges and steadies the demand and usually removes the 

 product from an extravagant to a business basis. 



These remarks are suggested by a recent visit to the "chestnut 

 orchard" of Mr. Henry M. Engle. The hillside, which, from across 

 the Susquehanna, fronts the town of Marietta, is the scene of his 

 operations. It will probably be admitted by those who notice the 

 place from a distance that any ordinary agricultural operations 

 there are out of the question. It certainly will be allowed by those 

 who climb the rocky slope that its only natural production is the 

 growth of timber. Mr. Engle found it covered with a growth of 

 thrifty chestnut trees. These he cut down and allowed sprouts to 

 arise from the stump. When the sprouts were a year old, into the 

 best of them, he placed grafts from the Paragon chestnut. His ob- 

 ject being to graft a whole head of the sprout at one time. Of course 

 this implied as a subsequent operation keeping down all lateral 



