THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREE 



959 



ern Ohio and eastern West Virginia, and in southern 

 Virginia and North Carolina. 



The chestnut tree is noted for rapidity of growth and 

 and for its ability to sprout freely. The rate of growth 

 varies with the conditions under which it grows. An 

 average growth in diameter is about one inch in three 

 years. Under normal conditions the chestnut tree lives 

 to a great age. It grows on a great variety of soils, but 

 does best on porous soils of moderate depth and fer- 

 tility. It is well suited with rocky hillsides and gravelly 



CHESTNUT TREE IN WINTER 



Trees may be identified in winter when they have lost their leaves by the 

 general contour of the branches and by the bark. The student will 

 do well to study them so thoroughly that it becomes easy to identify 

 them at any time of the year. 



or even sandy soils, but it is seldom found on limestone 

 soils. 



The chestnut produces great numbers of vigorous 

 sprouts from the stumps of young and middle-aged trees. 

 These sprouts grow more rapidly than seedlings during 

 the first thirty years of their life, and in the past, because 

 of this valuable characteristic, the chestnut has been one 

 of the most profitable trees in the farmer's woodlot. It 

 is easily grown from seed but natural seedling growth 

 is usually not abundant because the nuts are so highly 

 prized for food by squirrels, mice and other animals, as 

 well as human beings. In view of the relentless destruc- 



Photo by Edith R. Mosher, U. S. Forest Service. 



CHESTNUT TREE IN BLOOM 



Ivong after other trees have bloomed, the chestnut, early in July, sud- 

 denly blazes into a wealth of odorous, cream-colored blossoms and 

 becomes one of the most striking features of the landscape. These 

 blossoms are the clustered catkins of the pollen producing flowers. 



tion of the chestnut by the bark disease and its many 

 other enemies, the planting of this species is not advisable. 



The wood of the chestnut is of a brownish color, light 

 in weight, coarse grained, fairly soft, of medium strength, 

 easily worked, and the grain has a pleasing pattern. It 

 is durable in contact with the soil, on account of the high 

 tannic content, which ranges from five or six per cent 

 in young trees to ten to fourteen per cent in very old 

 trees. The wood has a great variety of uses. 



The nuts of our native chestnut are superior to the 

 European and Japanese species, and to a less extent, to 

 the Chinese. Chestnuts are an important article of food 

 in Italy and some other foreign countries. They are 



Courtesy of Manual Arts Press. 



AREA OF CHESTNUT GROWTH 



This map shows the general range of the chestnut, which is toulincd to 

 the States east of the Mississippi. 



