222 The Chestnut. 



and the next spring the stump is covered with numerous strong 

 sprouts. 



877. In six or eight years, when the shoots have become thick 

 and strong, the smaller rods are cut out, leaving only two or three, 

 which when thus relieved take a vigorous start, and at the end of 

 six or seven years more are from four to six inches in diameter. It 

 is again thinned out, and at 20 to 25 years from the time of plant- 

 ing, the trees that are left have made a truly wonderful growth. 

 The thinnings from beginning hav-^e value, first, for coarse basket and 

 wicker-work ; and then for hoops and poles, suitable for many uses. 



878. Generally a coppice of chestnut is cut off when twelve or 

 fifteen years old, and in Alsace and Eastern France, the profits 

 from such a cutting are twice as great as from the white oak of that 

 region at twice its age, a hectare at fifteen years being worth 3,000 

 francs.^ It is there recommended to cultivate the ground with po- 

 tatoes and rye two or three years after each cutting, the yield of 

 these harvests being more than double the cost of cultivation and 

 seed. Chestnut coppices thus managed will last in Alsace for a 

 hundred y^ears. This cultivation is thought to stimulate the growth 

 of sprouts, by bringing the ends of the roots to the air, besides rid- 

 ding the ground of bushes and brambles. 



879. The European chestnut is an important article of food, es- 

 pecially in Italy, France, and Spain. The fruit is much larger 

 than the American variety, and runs into differences in quality that 

 have been introduced by cultivation, and that are propagated by 

 grafting. In bearing years, the yield of a single tree is often very 

 large, amounting in some cases to a ton or more of the fresh fruit 

 in a single year. This shrinks about one-third in weight upon dry- 

 ing. When used as food it is boiled or roaste'd. The dried fruit re- 

 duced to a meal is made into a kind of bread called in Italy polenta. 

 It furnishes a principal article of food to the poor inhabitants of the 

 mountain regions through the greater part of the year. 



880. The chestnut product of Italy is about 6,400 tons a year for 

 the markets, and the trees are under cultivation for the fruit upon 

 a million and a quarter of acres. 



881. Chestnut wood is heavier and closer grained when grown in 



' BroUiard's "Trailemeni des Bois en France," p. 108. A hectare is 2.47 

 acres. The rate here mentioned is a little over $240 per acre for 15 years or 

 $16 per acre annually. 



