STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER 



and different trees follow various systematic 

 arrangements. When the leaves or leaf-scars 

 are alternate on the stem, as they are in those 

 of the chestnut, the arrangement is spiral and 

 one leaf follows another up the stem in ranks 

 of two, three, five or more in definite order 

 according to the kind of tree. In the chestnut, 

 however, the phyllotaxy is frequently variable 

 in different twigs of the same tree, and it follows 

 an unruly, wayward leaf arrangement. 



The wood of the chestnut is light, soft, and 

 not strong, but it is used for making cheap 

 furniture. It is also made into rails, posts, and 

 railroad ties, as it is durable when used in 

 contact with the soil. The nuts are sweet and 

 edible and have great market value. The 

 trees bear fruit when they are very young, and 

 some Western farmers find that orchards of 

 these trees bring better returns than the same 

 amount of land in farm products. 



The chestnut is closely allied to the sweet 

 or Spanish chestnut of Europe. The nuts of 

 the American species are sweeter than those of 

 the Spanish chestnut, but they are much smaller. 

 From a French experiment it was found that 

 the kernel of the chestnut yields sixteen per 

 cent of good sugar. 



The generic name was taken from Castanea, 

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