67 



long before the pistillate bloom was suf- 

 ficiently developed to receive the pollen." 



The Spanish or Eating Chestnut. 



This tree belongs more to the ])ark and 

 the forest than to the farm. In sowing 

 seed of this tree it would seem to be advis- 

 able to choose the finest and largest nuts 

 procurable as seed, so as to have a yield 

 of large nuts, rather than tiny, almost 

 worthless ones. 



The propagation of the Spanish chest- 

 nut is generally accomplished by sowing 

 seeds, and by grafting and budding. Seed 

 is generally sown in October or Novem- 

 ber, in drills four inches deep and six 

 inches from seed to seed, and about two 

 feet apart in the rows. At the end of the 

 first year the young trees are planted into 

 nursery beds, three feet apart, and two 

 feet from plant to plant, where they re- 

 main for another year, after which they 

 are planted into permanent quarters. If 

 the trees are wanted for their fruit they 

 are generally grafted, the scions being 

 taken from good nut-bearing trees and 

 grafted in the ordinary method, upon 



seedlings of two or three years old. If 

 well-grown specimens, the young trees 

 flower the next season. The soil best 

 suited to the chestnut is a light, moder- 

 ately rich sandy loam, and in these posi- 

 tions, if well looked after (due attention 

 being paid to the selection of grafts, as 

 with other fruits), there is no reason why 

 they should not be brought into early 

 bearing in this country, and thus larger 

 fruit obtained for market use. In mai-ket, 

 buyers will not look at English-grown 

 chestnuts, owing to their small size and 

 being able to buy large quantities of the 

 fine " Redon " walnuts from France. 



Southern France and Spain produce 

 large nuts, used there as a staple 

 food; they are also exported largely 

 to England in sacks. The French make a 

 sweetmeat from the chestnuts by crystal- 

 lization in sugar, known as Marons 

 glaces. The timber of the sweet chestnut 

 is almost equal in durability to oak, whilst 

 where it is grown in woods for coppice it 

 provides splendid stakes for fencing, very 

 suitable for fencing fruit plantations, the 

 stakes being driven in between two wire 

 rope strands strained and twisted. 



e2 



