OUR NUT TREES 



The type and the best known varieties have been 

 introduced into this country. The trees grow rapidly 

 and fruit at a comparatively early age, and it is 

 regrettable that they are not more disease resistant. 

 More valuable is a Chinese Chestnut (C mollis- 

 sima) introduced into this country from Peking by 

 Professor Sargent in 1903. The nut is rather smaller 

 than those of the preceding species but is sweet and 

 of excellent flavour. It is a tree of moderate size, 

 wide-spread in China from east to west and north- 

 ward into Manchuria. It is cultivated in northwest 

 Korea and is esteemed above the native species. 

 Long, shaggy hairs on the shoot distinguish this 

 species from all others. Though subject to Chestnut 

 blight in the Orient this species seems to be immune 

 or nearly so in this country, and this combined with 

 its hardiness makes it a most useful tree for culti- 

 vating and breeding purposes here. The largest of 

 the Asiatic Chestnuts is C. Henryana, which is occa- 

 sionally 100 feet tall and 18 feet in girth of trunk and 

 is characterized by having normally a solitary, ovoid 

 nut in each spiny husk. The leaves are smooth, 

 without glands, and the lateral nerves project beyond 

 the margin in long, hair-like points; the petioles and 

 shoots are quite smooth and dark coloured. The 

 nut, though small, is very sweet and of most excellent 

 flavour. It is common in central and western China, 

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