3H 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 25, 1890. 



In the Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, just issued, 

 he says : " It is possible that this variety may have some 

 foreign stock in it, as the leaves differ slightly from those of 

 our native species." Mr. Engle received the grafts from 

 Mr. Shaffer under the name of Great American, and he 

 changed it to Paragon because he feared the first might be 

 misleading. He knew nothing of its origin, but supposed 

 it might be a cross between our native Chestnut and some 

 foreign variety, since the flavor is nearly aqual to that of 

 our own Chestnuts, while the nut is as large as the foreign 

 sorts. We should be glad to have further information as to 

 the parent tree. A good illustration of the nut appears in 

 the report of Mr. Van Deman. 



(2) Professor Bailey, who has recommended the Crandall 

 Currant highly, is not acquainted with the Utah Currants 

 spoken of, although he has heard of them. Mr. A. S. Fuller 

 commends these Utah forms in his "Small Fruit Cul- 

 turist ; " but he is unacquainted with the Crandall. We 

 should be obliged for a report on the comparative value of 

 the Crandall and these older introductions from any one 

 who has tried both. — Ed.] 



The American Association of Nurserymen. 

 Fifteenth Annual Meeting. — III. 



THE papers which follow conclude our report of the 

 late Convention of Nurserymen in this city. The 

 next Annual Meeting will be held either in Minneapolis 

 or St. Paul, as may seem best to the Executive Committee. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE CHESTNUT. 



Mr. Samuel C. Moon read the following paper on this subject: 



Chestnut culture in orchards is a young industry in this 

 country, and although it has already been proved to be 

 profitable, the subject is as yet imperfectly understood. The 

 Chestnut-tree is widely distributed throughout the country, and 

 yet there are large districts in which it is not found, and the 

 question is often asked whether it will grow on bottom lands 

 or on limestone lands ? I cannot reply to these questions, and 

 would be glad if some experiment station would investigate 

 this subject. In Arthur Bryant's book on forest-trees it is said 

 that " the Chestnut seems to prefer the sides and neighbor- 

 hood of hills and mountains with a dry sandy or gravelly soil, 

 although it will grow on almost any soil except a wet one. It 

 does not appear, however, to grow more rapidly in the rich 

 soils than on the poorer lands. Lands utterly worthless for 

 cultivation may be made to yield an income by planting them 

 with Chestnuts." 



No trees which are equally well adapted for avenues will 

 yield any return like our native nut-bearing trees, and none are 

 more appropriate for shade and ornament about buildings or 

 along farm lanes or in pasture fields. In planting- the Chestnut, 

 whether in orchards or avenues, the trees should be set at 

 least forty feet apart, and some varieties will need forty-five or 

 fifty feet. Like other fruit-trees, they should be mulched, or 

 the land should be kept mellow about them while they are 

 small, and they will come into bearing as soon as Apple-trees 

 or Pear-trees. Wild trees usually commence bearing when 

 from twelve to twenty years old, and grafted ones of the most 

 productive varieties from two to seven years after grafting. 

 A Chestnut-orchard of the Numbo or Paragon varieties will 

 come into bearing condition as soon as an orchard of Baldwin 

 Apples. Both of these varieties possess the qualities which 

 make any orchard-fruit profitable — that is, hardiness of the 

 tree and early fruitfulness, with large size and fine appearance 

 of fruit. 



Efforts to introduce the Maron de Lyon and other large 

 European varieties have not been successful, for although the 

 trees may live a few years, they ultimately die. Trees im- 

 ported from Europe, and trees grown here from imported 

 seed, are not generally hardy ; but stock raised from the seed 

 of the exceptionally hardy European trees that do flourish 

 here have proved hardy themselves, and in this way a strain 

 of European Chestnuts has been secured which will endure 

 the climate of the eastern states. Many individual native trees 

 in different parts of the country have local reputation for supe- 

 riority, and are no doubt worthy of dissemination, but they 

 have never been introduced, and, like other new fruits, will 

 need to be tested in different sections and under varied condi- 

 tions before they can be confidently recommended. As the 

 demand for new and improved varieties develops there is 



little doubt but that superior kinds will be found and 

 disseminated. 



In habit of growth the American Chestnut differs from the 

 European about as the Sugar Maple differs from the Norway 

 Maple. The foreign Chestnut branches low and forms a 

 round-headed tree, while the native variety grows taller and 

 more spreading. The Japan Chestnut seems to be smaller 

 than either of the others, with smaller foliage, and its slender, 

 compact habit makes it an acquisition for small plantations. 

 None of the large Chestnuts, and no foreign Chestnut that I 

 have seen, equals in flavor the small ones on our native 

 trees when they are eaten uncooked. They lack the sweet and 

 delicate taste with which we are familiar, and there is an 

 astringency in the skin which covers the kernel, but boiling 

 or roasting corrects this unpleasantness, and after being 

 cooked there is little difference in the taste of the foreign 

 varieties and our own. When the culinary uses of Chestnuts 

 are appreciated here as they are in Europe, where the cooks 

 prepare them in a variety of ways, the demand for those of 

 large size will rapidly increase. 



I find the Chestnut an expensive tree to raise,, and this cost 

 of production is an obstacle in the way of its general cultiva- 

 tion. I have found difficulty in grafting the trees and loss in 

 transplanting them. It has not paid to graft them until after 

 they are once or twice transplanted and when the stocks are 

 three, or, better yet, five years old. My most successful take 

 of grafts yielded seventy-five per cent, of saleable trees, but I 

 have more frequently had seventy-five per cent, of failure. I 

 have tried taking up one year's seedlings and grafting at the 

 collar as Apples are worked, on whole roots. I have tried 

 collar-grafting of one-year-old seedlings as they stood in the 

 nursery row, using ordinary tongue-grafts, but with no suc- 

 cess. I have failed also entirely with ordinary budding. I 

 have been most successful when I cut the cions early in spring 

 and kept them dormant in an ice house until the stocks 

 started and the buds on them were well swollen. My practice 

 then is to cut off the tops and insert tongue grafts wrapped 

 in waxed muslin in the ordinary way. In some cases the grafts 

 do not unite well and there is no perfect union between stock 

 and cion. Such trees, of course, are short lived and worthless. 

 This defect is more common with some varieties than others. 

 I have one valuable variety that I have never yet succeeded in 

 grafting. Three years ago I headed in a large European 

 Chestnut tree with fifty grafts of the Japanese variety and 

 every one took and looked well. This year, however, I found 

 the unions all imperfect and they will evidently soon decline. 



The difficulty of successful transplanting seems to lie in the 

 extreme sensitiveness of the roots to exposure and their slow- 

 ness in re-establishing themselves in the soil. If the roots get 

 at all dry the vitality of the tree is wasted by evaporation be- 

 fore they become sufficiently established to supply the de- 

 mand upon them. I therefore dig and handle Chestnut-trees 

 on damp and drizzling days and puddle the roots as soon as 

 they are dug. These difficulties are annoying but I do not 

 consider the obstacles insurmountable. What is needed is 

 extra care in every part of the work of handling the trees, 

 from the time the seeds are sown until the grafted trees are 

 set in their permanent positions, and I believe that after intel- 

 ligent effort and experiments have been made by a large num- 

 ber of practical nurserymen in this direction, means will be 

 found by which the trees can be produced as rapidly and 

 cheaply as they are needed. 



In the discussion which followed it was explained by Mr. 

 Fernowthat the Chestnut is not so particular about the chemi- 

 cal composition of the soil as about its mechanical condition. 

 Where the Chestnut does not thrive on limestone land it is be- 

 cause the solid rock not far below the surface obstructs drain- 

 age. In limestone lands where there is an open, permeable 

 subsoil the Chestnut flourishes. The same causes sometimes 

 exclude the tree from alluvial bottom lands. To attain the 

 best growth it needs deep, free and open drainage. 



HARDV PERENNIALS. 



Mr. J. W. Manning, Jr., of Reading, Massachusetts, read a 

 paper on the question whether it is desirable for nurserymen 

 to include hardy herbaceous plants with the trees and shrubs 

 to which their business in this country is generally confined. 

 Mr. Manning replied by saying that a few years ago there was 

 little to encourage nurserymen to cultivate this class of plants, 

 but that a great change had taken place in the character of the 

 material used for ornamental planting. Old-fashioned plants 

 which gave abundant flowers from spring till autumn in a 

 succession of bloom were again coming into favor. They had 

 been for some years removed to the background, and their 

 places had been occupied by stiff arrangements of bedding 



