86 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES 



are of better quality than the imported nuts. Careful selection from tne best types, 

 and systematic crosses with the American nut will doubtless yield varieties superior 

 in quality to any of those we now have. To aid in the supply of material for this 

 work as well as to determine in some degree the comparative hardiness of the 

 European chestnut, the Department of Agriculture in January, 1892, distributed in 

 small lots to 150 nut growers and agricultural experiment stations a bushel of choice 

 Italian chestnuts grown on the slopes of Mount JEtna. They were received by the 

 courtesy of the State Department through the personal effort of Mr. Charles Heath, 

 our consul at Catania ; they were nuts of fair size and of better quality than most of 

 the European chestnuts. 



NAMED VARIETIES. 



BARTRAM LATE. Beported by William Parry, of New Jersey, as a valuable 

 variety, ripening about the middle of October. The nut is medium in size, bright 

 in color, and uniformly three in a bur. Their bright color and freedom from worms 

 insure ready sale at good prices. 



COMFORT. Reported by Mr. Parry as a very productive variety. Nuts above 

 medium in size, borne two to three in the bur, ripening in midseason; of excellent 

 quality. The tree comes into bearing when very young. 



DAGER. Specimens from J. W. Killeu, Felton, Del. A seedling of the Ridgely; 

 larger and perhaps better in quality than the parent. The original tree is about 40 

 years old, growing near Wyoming, Del. It is being propagated by grafting. 



EUREKA. This nut is of Spanish type; quality above the average; tree rapid 

 grower, with spreading habit; productive. Has been grown in Christian County, 

 Ky., bu f , the tree is injured by sudden and severe changes of weather in winter and 

 spring in that locality. 



HANNUM. Ripens at Parry, N. J., October 1-10. A very heavy, annual cropper; 

 nuts large, of brightest color; the number varies in the bur from one to three nuts. 

 Owing to size, color, and earliness, the product usually commands $10 to $12 per 

 bushel in Philadelphia markets. 



MARRON. Literally " Chestnut." This name is applied to several different 

 types of the European chestnut imported from France. One of the best of these, 

 Marron Combale, resembles the Japanese nut in form, but was introduced into this 

 country from France by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, Cal. 



NUMBO (pi. 14, fig. 11). Nut large, 40 selected specimens measuring 1 quart; shell 

 bright, smooth, attractive; flavor of kernel equal to the best European varieties, but 

 lacking the sweetness of the American chestnut; skin on the kernel quite astringent. 

 The tree is entirely hardy in Bucks County, Pa., and is a vigorous grower and a fruit, 

 ful annual cropper. The origin of this variety has been a matter of some doubt, some 

 nurserymen having thought it a Japanese variety because of its peculiar name. We 

 can see no traces of Japanese parentage in this variety, and the following facts fur- 

 nished by William H. Moon, of Bucks County, concerning its history indicate that it 

 belongs to the European chestnut : " My father, Mahlon Moon, imported a great many 

 chestnut trees at different times from France and some from England. A majority of 

 them were tender and winterkilled, but a very few, perhaps one tree in a hundred, 

 proved hardy and came into bearing. I believe that Numbo is [a seedling from] one 

 of these trees, and by far the best of the lot, all points considered. If it is not an 

 original imported tree, it is a seedling from an imported tree. There were no Japanese 

 chestnuts in this neighborhood until more than thirty years after it had germinated. 

 The name Numbo is not a Japanese word, as some have supposed, but was formed by 

 shortening the name Magnum Bouum, which the elder Moon first applied to the 

 variety." 



PARAGON (Great American, pi. 2). This is one of the best varieties of the 

 European type. The nuts are large, measuring from 3 to 4 inches in circumference, 



