Issued January 19, 1907. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE Circular 71. 



GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. 



FOREST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



CHESTNUT (Castanea dentata). 



SIZE AND FORM. 



The chestnut is among the largest of our hardwood trees, and in the 

 region of its best development has been known to reach a height of 

 120 feet and a diameter of great size. Throughout the greatest part of 

 its range, however, it is much smaller, with an average height of 80 to 

 100 feet and a diameter of from 2 to 4 feet. When grown in the for- 

 est it forms a tall, clean, fairly cylindrical trunk; in the open it as- 

 sumes a form like a fruit tree, with a short, thick trunk and a broad, 

 spreading cr"own. The bark is thick and deeply ridged, and the root 

 system is extensive, in both lateral and vertical development. 



RANGE. 



The chestnut is distributed throughout the eastern part of the United 

 States at elevations varying from sea level in Massachusetts to 5,000 

 feet in North Carolina. It ranges from southern Maine southward 

 through New England, but in this region is most abundant in the lower 

 valleys of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers. Except near the 

 sea, it is common in Rhode Island and Connecticut and as far south 

 as Delaware. It is found also in the Province of Ontario and in the 

 Eastern States, especially in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and parts of 

 Maryland. Further south it is found along the Appalachians to 

 Alabama, growing well in all soils above 2,000 feet in elevation, but 

 less abundantly below. In the Middle West it is confined to Michi- 

 gan, Indiana, and Illinois. 



Large areas throughout the East, particularly in New England, 

 New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, are well adapted to chestnut. 

 Outside of its natural range, however, the success of this species is 

 doubtful. Chestnut can be grown fairly well throughout Missouri and 

 southeastern Iowa, in the eastern counties of Nebraska and Kansas, 

 and in the southern half of Minnesota, but nowhere on prairie soil 

 is it long-lived or of first-rate growth. In Colorado it grows well 

 under irrigation, and would probably succeed in other parts of the 

 West if well watered. If it is planted too far north the shoots fail 

 17082 No. 7107 M 



