DECIDUOUS TREES. 83 
it, may be covered with this valuable tree. Its nuts always 
command a large price; and the past season (1865), $9 00 
per bushel were paid in New York city for hundreds of 
bushels. I believe the time is not far distant when this 
tree will be planted in large numbers upon land that 
is now considered almost worthless ; and one crop of the 
nuts from a twenty-year-old tree will more than pay for 
the original cost of the land and of planting them. It re- 
quires quite a large tree to produce a bushel of nuts, but 
not a very old one. If we allow forty feet square to each 
tree, we can then plant twenty-seven to the acre; and al- 
lowing only a half bushel to the tree, and five dollars per 
bushel, we have a return far above that of thousands and 
tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land in the East- 
ern or Western States. That it will require several years 
for the trees to grow to a bearing size is quite true; but 
we are now supposing that they are to occupy land that 
now brings no return; if so, there is no loss in waiting, 
except the interest on the small amount invested in the 
trees and labor of planting. If we plant it upon land that 
is cultivatable for other crops, we should plant thickly at 
first, and then thin out as they become large enough for 
use. So soon as the young trees are four to six inches in 
diameter, they are wanted for grape trellises, stakes, rails, 
vosts, fuel, and a thousand other purposes for which wood 
is indispensable. There are other kinds of timber which 
may be more durable than chestnut, but I know of none 
that is more rapidly and easily grown. When the tree 
becomes large, it is even more valuable then when young. 
We have only to look into the work-shop of the cabinet 
