64 THE NUT CULTUBIST. 



classification of plants, many of them placed the chest- 

 nut in the same genus as the beech, retaining the gen- 

 eric name of Fagus for both. 



Linnaeus, in his Systema Naturm, 1766, Vol. II, 

 p. 630, describes two species of the chestnut and one of 

 beech in the genus Fagus, although Tournefort, in his 

 "History of Plants Growing About Paris," published 

 seyenty years before that of Linnaeus, had recognized 

 the distinctive characteristics of these two groups of nut 

 trees, and he adopted the pi'csent name of Gastanea for 

 the generic name of the chestnut, and Fagus for that of 

 the beech. But nearly all of the English and earlier 

 American botanists adopted and followed Linnaeus in 

 his classification, ignoring the works of the earlier as 

 well as contemporaneous continental botanists. I merely 

 refer to this matter of botanical nomenclature because 

 some of my readers may have occasion to consult the 

 earlier authors who describe American plants, as, for 

 instance, such works as John Clayton's "Flora of Vir- 

 ginia," 1739, Thomas Walter's "Flora Caroliniana," 

 1787, or Humphrey Marshall's "American Grove," 1785. 

 In all of these, and others, the chestnut is described as a 

 species of beech {Fagus). 



Propagation of the Chestnut. — The usual mode 

 of propagating the chestnut is from seed, when trees are 

 wanted for general planting or for stocks upon which 

 to graft improved and rare varieties. Under some con- 

 ditions and circumstances, it is best to plant the nuts 

 soon after they are ripe in autumn, and this appears to 

 be the most natural method ; in fact, it is the way in 

 which forests have been produced and are constantly 

 renewed and perpetuated, when man does not interfere 

 to prevent it. But nature is in no hurry in such mat- 

 ters, while man always is, because his time is limited ; 

 consequently, in our attempts at the multiplication and 

 cultivation of plants we aim to save both time and mate- 



