THE CHESTNUTS FOREIGN CHESTNUTS. 85 



WATSON (pi. 14, fig. 7). E. B. Clark, Fay, Pa. Quite large, flattened, slightly 

 ribbed; quality good. 



WILLIE. J. E. Hawkins, Mountainville, N. Y. Size small, quality good; ripens 

 middle of September. Borne on a very large tree that produces a heavy crop 

 annually. 



FOREIGN CHESTNUTS (Caatanea saliva Miller; Costarica Japonica Blume). 



The European and Japanese chestnuts are by many considered identical, and 

 there are certainly fewer differences between them than between either one and the 

 American chestnut. There are discernible differences in the size and form of the 

 trees and in the general appearance and quality of the nuts, however, and we have 

 retained the specific name for the Japanese nut, as noted above. Neither of them 

 yields nuts of as good quality as the American,-though both excel our nut in size. 

 Considerable quantities of the European nuts are imported from Italy and Spain 

 for sale in our cities, where they are commonly roasted and sold from retail stands. 

 In California cities the Japanese nuts find a somewhat limited demand. Both 

 species can be grown in portions of this country, either as seedlings or as grafted 

 trees on American stock, and there is every indication that varieties combining the 

 desirable qualities of our native nuts with the precocious bearing habit and large 

 size of the foreign nuts will soon be produced. Of both European and Japanese 

 chestnuts, Samuel C. Moon says he has never eaten one that equaled in sweet, 

 delicate flavor the small native varieties. In most large nuts there is more or less 

 astringency in the skin that covers the kernel, but boiling or roasting corrects this 

 defect, and after they are cooked and the skin removed there is but little difference 

 in the taste of different varieties. The majority of imported trees and seedlings 

 raised in this country from imported nuts are injured or killed entirely by our 

 severe winters. It is doubtful if more than 5 per cent of the imported European 

 chestnuts live long enough to come into bearing, but stocks raised from seed of the 

 few exceptional hardy trees which 'do flourish here are generally hardy, and in this 

 way a strain of European chestnuts has been secured that is well adapted to the 

 climate of the Eastern States. In habit of growth the European chestnut differs 

 from the native species about as the Norway maple differs from the sugar maple. 

 The foreign species branches low and forms a round-headed tree, while the American 

 grows taller and more spreading. Another characteristic distinction is in the nuts, 

 the fuzz about the point being thicker and covering a much larger proportion of the 

 shell on the American than on the foreign species. 



EUROPEAN CHESTNUT (Castanea saliva Miller). 



The European chestnut as grown in this country is a moderately strong growing 

 tree with a rather low, flat top. Its leaves are thicker and more leathery in texture 

 and are commonly smaller than those of the American. Many specimens are cordate 

 at the base, though this character is far from constant; the dentation of the margins 

 is less marked and the young leaves are conspicuously pubescent. The nuts of the 

 European species are larger, of a brighter brown color, distinctly ribbed in many 

 instances, and uniformly poorer in quality than the American. Trees from nuts 

 imported from France and Spain have been fruiting for at least a half century 

 near Philadelphia, Pa., and Wilmington, Del. One in Montgomery County, Pa., is 

 reported by H. W. Comfort, 1 as over 50 years old and bearing when full 3 bushels 

 of nuts. The tree is 40 feet high and has a spread of 50 feet. From nuts borne by 

 these scattered trees several seedlings of much promise have been grown, one of 

 which at least, the Paragon, shows some indications of partial American parentage. 

 They are superior to the imported trees in hardiness, and the nuts of some of them 



1 Report Pennsylvania Horticultural Association 1891, page 20. 



